Airplane Banners Taunt Tiger Woods During His Return to the Masters

(April 9) -- Tiger Woods may have weathered the worst of the public relations storm set off by his now-notorious sexual dalliances, but the skies above him remain anything but clear.

Just moments before Woods teed off Thursday at the Masters in Augusta, Ga. -- marking his highly anticipated return to professional golf -- a small plane flew over the course trailing a banner for all to see: "Tiger: Did You Mean Bootyism?"

The question was a pun on Woods' statements about Buddhism, a faith he says he actively practiced as a child but "drifted away from" during his string of extramarital affairs. He's now attempting to resume Buddhist practices, like meditation and wearing a prayer bracelet, as part of his "recovery."

A plane tows a banner over the Augusta National Golf Club during the first round of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., April 8.

Charlie Riedel, AP

A plane tows a banner reading, "Tiger: Did You Mean Bootyism?" over the Augusta National Golf Club during the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., Thursday.

The "Bootyism" banner wasn't the end of Thursday's Tiger-baiting, though. Just hours later, another airborne insult appeared over the tournament links: "Sex Addict? Yeah. Right. Sure. Me Too!"

The banners were flown by Ohio ad agency America Aerial at the request of an anonymous prankster, said company spokesman Jim Miller, who added that the client plans to run six more, "better and better" messages. Without naming the price for these specific banners, Miller told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Rhonda Cook that his firm's services usually run "$1,200 an hour plus expenses."

Whatever the intention behind the mocking messages, they did not appear to impede Woods' performance. On the contrary, he had his best first-round performance ever at the annual championship tournament.

Asked whether he had even noticed the messages, Woods told reporters he had not but also said "it wouldn't be the first time" someone had tried to prank him with an airplane banner.

Indeed, another sky-high message inspired by Woods' sex scandal appeared over San Diego's Farmers Insurance Open back in January.

At the time, Woods was still hiding out from the press, as more accounts of his philandering surfaced. A local strip club called Deja Vu Showgirls seized on his absence from the tournament as a golden marketing opportunity and paid for a plane to fly over the course bearing the words: "We Miss You Tiger! Deja Vu Showgirls."

The manager of Deja Vu Showgirls later told a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter that she "can't say" whether Woods had ever actually visited the club. But other area strip clubs liked the idea so much that they followed suit with their own banners.

The messages running at the Masters could be part of a lowbrow marketing scheme as well -- but it's hard to say, since so far they have remained free of any overt sales pitch.