Nike announced on Wednesday it is exiting the golf equipment business.
It followed years of declining sales of golf clubs, balls, and bags. Last year, sales within Nike's golf division fell 8% to $706 million.
Why is its golf business in decline? This Google Trends chart, highlighted on Twitter by Tim Crow, the CEO of London and New York-based sponsorship agency Synergy, gives some indication.
Nike created its first line of golf apparel in 1984, but it only really began booming when it signed a 20-year-old Woods in 1996 and invested heavily in major
A study carried out by the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in 2009, reported by CBS News, found that in a decade of sponsoring Woods, Nike's golf ball unit alone added $91 million in additional revenue and $60 million in extra profit. When Woods endorsed Nike, 4.5 million new customers followed, according to the study.
But during his absence from the game following the 2009 scandal, the entire golf ball category lost $10.2 million in revenue, the study said. Woods' period of leave also saw ticket and sponsorship sales slump 15 to 20%.
Fast-forward to today and Woods - who re-signed with Nike in 2013 - hasn't played golf for an entire year and his performance at the most-recent majors have been dismal compared to his previous standards, as ESPN reported.
Nike's other big golfing asset, Rory McIlory, hasn't won a PGA Tour this season. The winners of the past eight majors haven't been Nike athletes either.
In a press release, Nike said it will still continue to manufacture golf footwear and apparel.
But it's clear the Tiger Effect has run its course.