Tiger still working for AT&T

Well, not in an official capacity. AT&T announced on New Year's Eve that it had ended its sponsorship arrangement with Woods, whose golf bag had featured AT&T's logo.

Bloomberg reports that "with Woods playing, a 30-second commercial is worth $500,000; without him, it's valued at about $350,000, based on comparable events, said Brad Adgate, director of research at Horizon Media Inc., an ad company in New York."

AT&T is one of three companies (IBM and Exxon are the others) to have paid a flat fee to advertise on the Masters telecast, the story notes.

In other words, AT&T is likely to get 43 percent more for its money than it would have had Woods decided not to play at Augusta.

-- John Strege