WSJ Confirms American Media, Tiger Quid Pro Quo Deal

An early NY Post story in the Woods saga that never gained much attention has been investigated and confirmed by the Wall Street Journal's Reed Albergotti, Vanessa O'Connell and Russell Adams.

Among the more interesting details:how the National Enquirer's parent company swung a deal to kill a story in exchange for Roy Johnson's Men's Fitness cover story on Tiger's fitness program.

Under Golf Digest's contract with Mr. Woods, the monthly, which is owned by Condé Nast Publications Inc., spent as much as $1 million annually on donations to the Tiger Woods Foundation, printing the charity's annual report and sponsoring many of Mr. Woods's preferred tournaments, according to a person familiar with the terms. In return, Mr. Woods agreed to contribute monthly articles on golf techniques and limit his appearances in competing publications.

Yet never had Golf Digest been granted the level of access to the golfer's private life allowed for in the article and photo shoot published in Men's Fitness in August 2007. Mr. Tarde says he did not object because the interview wasn't a violation of Golf Digest's agreement with Mr. Woods. He said he assumed Mr. Woods had agreed to the interview as a way to generate publicity for his trainer, Keith Kleven. Mr. Kleven, who was quoted extensively in the Men's Fitness article, did not return calls for comment.

Mr. Woods had cut an unusual deal with American Media Inc., the owner of both Men's Fitness magazine and the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper. Mr. Woods agreed to the cover shot and photo spread in Men's Fitness, whose circulation of about 700,000 per issue is less than half of Golf Digest's nearly 1.7 million, in return for the National Enquirer squelching a story and photographs purportedly showing Mr. Woods in a liaison with a woman who wasn't his wife, according to people directly involved in the arrangement.

This would seem to contradict the widely reported $2 million annual pay package normally attributed to the Woods-Digest relationship.

The WSJ story goes on to explain the vital role played by Tiger's L.A. lawyers, Lavely and Singer.

Within hours, representatives of Mr. Woods told the Enquirer that Mr. Woods wouldn't comment on the alleged affair, say people close to the matter. But the representatives made an offer: If the Enquirer dropped the story, Mr. Woods would sit for an elaborate interview for sister publication Men's Fitness, according to people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

After Mr. Woods's camp offered the interview to American Media, people familiar with the matter say the company began negotiating with Lavely & Singer, a 15-lawyer firm in Los Angeles that is known for its aggressive tactics in disputes surrounding the publication of controversial articles about celebrities. Neither Jay Lavely Jr., who represents Mr. Woods, nor his partner, Martin Singer, responded to questions from the Journal.

Speaking of the Johnson story, a reader noted this unfortunate line: