Tough Days For Those Riding The Tiger

Lost in all this hoopla about poor little rich Elin are the real victims of Woods's indiscretion: celebrity impersonators and video game makers.

Canh Oxelson is a Tiger Woods lookalike, and has made a good chunk of change making TV and corporate appearances. It's a pretty cushy job, considering a Nike cap and red t-shirt and his genes are the job requirements. But nothing good lasts forever. Work's been hard to come by after Woods made himself temporarily as unmarketable as possible.

I was supposed to be a stand-in for a commercial a week after this all came out and that never came to fruition. And since then, I've had other people pull contracts off the table.

I've had companies ask me if I'd do a parody of Tiger. But I don't want to be piling on the guy."

I guess he'll just have to fall back on his master's degree from Harvard (really).

Meanwhile, EA Sports announced it's going to go ahead with its MMO golf game, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online. Considering it's been in development for a year and who knows how much money has been sunk into it, they'd be stupid not to.

By his own admission, he's made some mistakes off the course. But regardless of what's happening in his personal life, and regardless of his decision to take a personal leave from the sport, Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history.

Perhaps Woods's newfound infamy will work in favor of the few still marketing him. Golfers don't generally make for role models, but I'd bet there are people out there who wish they could live Tiger's life — especially in light of recent revelations.

Tiger Lookalike Might Struggle In 2010 [CNBC] EA SPORTS Moves Forward with Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online Launch in January [EA Sports]