So, the Open Championship (or the British Open) is set to tee off in Scotland later this week -- and I found an interesting article taking a look at how golfers pick what they will wear. Yes, they go the same route that I went when I was in elementary school -- someone else (my mom in my case, Nike, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in Tiger Woods') picks out the clothes for them. This New York Times article takes a look at this week's British Open and lets us know exactly what Tiger will be wearing this week. What I find interesting is that Nike determined what Tiger would wear more than a year ago - which is the case with every major tournament this year. In fact, the article notes that Nike started meeting about Tiger's British Open outfits roughly 17 months ago.

Is Northwest shoe behemoth Nike (NYSE: NKE) starting to feel the sting of the economic crisis? It certainly appears that way with the company announcing that it will cut 1,750 jobs, or roughly 5% of its total work force. The cuts are the largest in the company's history, and roughly 500 of the positions will be eliminated from Nike's Oregon headquarters, which employs more than 3,000. A majority of these cuts will occur over the next week.

Nike is making the move in hopes of cutting costs and boosting competitiveness, which I will address in a moment. Back in February, Nike hinted that a review of its operations would result in a 4% cut to the firm's staff. Furthermore, the athletic apparel and footwear firm has cut production at Chinese and Vietnamese factories, cut marketing spending, and has reorganized its global business into six geographically based groups. All of these moves have been made to help the company deal with the current economic slowdown and its impact on the consumer.

Well, just in case you were wondering when we would see Tiger Woods tromping down the fairway, this site has the answer. Not only do we find out Tiger will return, but the kind folks at Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) let us know what he will be wearing each day of the upcoming tournament (the Accenture Match Play Championship).

Golf fans know, and the Nike site quickly shows, that red is Tiger's signature Sunday color... and unfortunately it has become Nike stock's signature color as well.

I know that discretionary spending is light thanks to the current economic crisis, but I found an interesting article on MSNBC.com that looked at what athletes other athletes would pay to watch. The number one answer was no surprise, Tiger Woods. Keep in mind that this wasn't a broad survey of athletes; in fact, it was just 40 athletes. Nevertheless, Tiger beat Michael Jordan (MJ) as the athlete most athletes would pay to see.

I have seen MJ play in person (the good MJ, not the Wizards MJ), so I would have to say that I would pay to see Tiger (which would have happened if he hadn't been forced out of the Ryder Cup) knock that dimpled white ball around for 18 (or more) holes.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) has finally ended its nine-year endorsement deal with Tiger Woods. Tiger had been carrying a Buick golf bag since 2000, and GM said the separation was "mutual and amicable" and that Woods had a "desire for more personal time."

GM, meanwhile, has a desire to keep the lights on for a few more months. The contract will now end on December 31, 2008, a year sooner than it had previously been set to expire.

The Tiger-Buick deal was always awkward. The average age of a Buick driver is around 63-years-old, and the notion of Tiger Woods tooling around in a Buick simply wasn't believable. The $7-million per year deal did little to stop the decline of the brand, and as with any endorsement deal involving a sports icon you have to question the motivation behind the deal.

Were GM executives looking to create shareholder value or were they buying the opportunity to show up at the Buick Invitational and have a few beers with Tiger and Vijay? We'll never know.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is recently up 26 cents to $61.09. PG is expected to report Q4 EPS in early August.

PG announced on June 30 that Derek Jeter, of the New York Yankees, will join Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry as Gillette Champion ambassadors.

PG call option volume of 5,770 contracts compares to put volume of 38,520 contracts. PG August option implied volatility of 23 is above its 26-week average of 20 according to Track Data, suggesting price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

After a U.S. Open victory that was perhaps the most thrilling of his entire career, Tiger Woods will miss the rest of the season to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee.

Obviously this is bad news for his main sponsor, Nike (NYSE: NKE). They pay him handsomely to hit their clubs and wear their hat (although his bag bears the logo for Buick), and watching a close-up of his 18th hole birdie was priceless marketing: as the ball rolled, the Nike swoosh was in plain view.

And in a larger sense, this is bad news for anyone who's marketing on the PGA Tour. It's a well-known fact that golf's ratings plummet for any event Tiger isn't playing in. I mean, who really cares about Justin Leonard and Geoff Ogilvy? There's Tiger and then there's everyone else. Wake me when it's over -- maybe I'll go watch some arena football.

Tiger Woods has been the face of General Motors's (NYSE: GM) Buick brand since 1999, but that's about to change. Faced with increasing competition for leaner overseas competitors, GM has decided it can get more mileage out of Tiger by using him with corporate level marketing, especially OnStar, a navigation service available in all eight of GM's brands.

The change makes perfect sense because it will allow GM to use Woods to sell all its cars, not just Buicks. But I have to disagree with some of the analysis of the decision. According to marketing expert Laura Ries, "The brand personalities just didn't go together, like oil and water," she said. "Buick is an older person's car. Tiger is very young, very cool and at the top of his game. You imagine him driving a Bentley or a Mercedes or a Lexus."

I think that is actually a big part of what made Tiger such an effective spokesman. Let's face it: Youth is in and even if the average age of a Buick driver is 61, I would bet that most Buick drivers don't want to think about that. Using Tiger Woods, who is young and cool, helped to revitalize that brand

As Mark LaNeve, Vice President of North American sales at GM said: "Tiger's a great asset. We can use him in lots of ways. Why shouldn't we use him in ways other than Buick?"

That's why the switch makes sense, and GM needs all the help it can get in remaining relevant.

If mere athletic talent sold product, kids would be lining up for Tim Duncan's shoes, since he is the best player in the NBA. But it doesn't. It takes a combination of extraordinary athletic accomplishment and charisma to push a brand over the top. Three such athletes, Amanda Beard, LeBron James and Tiger Woods, are front and center in this week's news.

Two are at the peak of their pulling power. LeBron James (Nike, NYSE: NKE, Coca-Cola's (NYSE: KO) Powerade) fresh from an astonishing game five of the NBA Eastern conference playoffs, is dominating the sports page, if not the San Antonio Spurs. The Cleveland franchise has gained $185 million in value since his signing, and the $90 million he received from Nike seems like a bargain now. When his contract expires in 2008, he could demand -- $250 million? $500 million? It is possible, by the end of the career, he could be the first $1 billion athlete?

If Tiger doesn't beat him to it. Beginning tomorrow, Tiger Woods (Nike, Buick, General Motors, NYSE:GM) starts his pursuit of the 2007 U.S. Open. He's inked a 5-year, $40 million deal with Nike, and $25 million from Buick. Unlike LeBron, Tiger can look forward to another 30 years of playing, with lots of green jackets and green cash to come.

Our correspondent, Mike Brewster, is a freelance writer and sports enthusiast. We asked him to begin contributing pieces on the business of sports.

Following the shortest drive of his career (about 10 feet of stage while behind the wheel of the newly introduced Buick Enclave last week at the L.A. Auto Show), world number one golfer Tiger Woods is back making business news, re-upping with NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Tuesday for a third successive multi-year contract.
While terms weren't announced, this pact is bound to exceed the two previous five-year agreements, which at $40 million and $100 million were relative bargains for the Oregon sporting goods giant.

Interestingly, Nike's stock price took a tumble on the news, thereby temporarily disproving my "As-Tiger-Goes-So-Goes-Nike" theory. Ever since Tiger regained his form over the summer and posted six consecutive PGA Tour wins, Nike's stock has risen from a 52-week-low of $75.52 on August 10 to a high of $99.30 on November 30. But today, the stock fell nearly a full percentage point. Maybe Tiger's deal is for a little more scratch than we thought?