Playing up on your wife doesn’t pay.

That’s a tough lesson for brand Tiger Woods, rename Cheetah Woods, to learn the hard way.

Hot on the heels of Accenture, Gillette and others, AT&T has joined the crowd, severing its ties with the golfing pro, joining a growing list of marketers distancing themselves from the golfer amid the public furor surrounding allegations of his infidelities.

“We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future,” said a spokesman for AT&T on Thursday.

AT&T’s relationship with Mr. Woods began more than five years ago when the telecommunications company started sponsoring Tiger Jam, an annual star-studded concert that is the biggest fund-raiser for the Tiger Woods Foundation.

That contract gave AT&T the right to have Mr. Woods conduct golf clinics for its customers, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The phone giant further expanded its relationship with the golfer in February to include having its corporate logo—a blue and white sphere—appear on Mr. Woods’s golf bag.

The company picked up the coveted spot after General Motors Co. dropped the golfer because of its financial problems.

AT&T’s extended pact, according to two people familiar with the matter, gave AT&T the right to use Mr. Woods in its ads. However, AT&T hasn’t done so.

A spokesman for AT&T said the company wouldn’t comment on details of its endorsement contract nor elaborate on the reasons for parting ways with the golfer.

See more at the Wall Street Journal.

UPDATE:

Tiger Woods and his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren officially finalised their divorce in August 2010.

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