Business

Amen Corner: Tiger, Golf Digest to drop column

With Tiger Woods‘ golf game in the rough, he’s parting company with Golf Digest, a Condé Nast title that was reportedly forking over $1 million a year to carry the pro’s monthly column and run exclusive photos of him as a “playing editor.”

“Golf Digest and Tiger Woods have mutually agreed to stop his monthly bylined articles,” said Jerry Tarde, chairman and editor-in-chief of Golf Digest. “His last regular column will appear in the February 2011 issue of Golf Digest, at which time he will also leave the masthead. We appreciate the insights Tiger has provided to our readers.”

Even at the height of the sex scandal a year ago on Thanksgiving, Golf Digest merely suspended the column for several months while retaining the rights when he resumed playing.

Woods has been on the magazine’s masthead for almost 14 years — since 1997 — and wrote a monthly “Tiger Tips” column. Golf Digest also retained exclusive rights for photo shoots.

Insiders said the reason Tiger and the magazine decided to split wasn’t so much about the money as it was Woods wishing to take an indefinite amount of time off to regain his stroke.

He resumed golfing at the 2010 Masters last April, following a stint in a rehab center for sex addiction after a parade of beauties came forward to testify that they had bedded the golfing legend before and during his marriage to then-wife Elin Nordegren. The marriage has since ended in divorce, with Nordegren pocketing a multi-million dollar divorce settlement.

Woods said in a statement, “I enjoyed my relationship with Golf Digest, but we have decided it’s now time for a break. I wish my friends at Golf Digest continued success.”

Fresh start

American Media Inc., the owner of the National Enquirer, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a much brighter outlook.

Standard & Poor’s assigned a “stable” outlook to American Media, its first credit rating since emerging from bankruptcy protection at the end of December with a lighter debt load of $490 million.

When AMI, which also publishes Star, Shape and Men’s Fitness, first defaulted on its old debt in June, the debt rating was dropped to D. At the time, the company had total debt of about $875 million before wiping out more than $350 million through bankruptcy.

AMI’s new $385 million of debt was assigned a B rating with a recovery rating of 4, which means an average 30 percent to 50 percent recovery for noteholders in the event of a future payment default.

“The rating on American Media reflects our expectation that leverage will remain relatively high and interest coverage will remain low,” said S&P’s credit analyst Tulip Lim. “But that the company will maintain a cushion of compliance under its financial covenants of over 15 percent.”

Its remaining secondary debt of $104.9 million senior, second-lien secured notes due in 2018 were given a rating of CCC+, which is two notches below the B rating. That debt is held primarily by Angelo Gordon and Avenue Capital.

“It’s a big difference from where we were,” said AMI Chief David Pecker. One day after it received its new ratings, AMI combined the Los Angeles bureaus of the National Enquirer and Star into one operation and laid off four Star staffers, including Senior Executive Editor Annabel Vered.

Marc Cetner, who had been running the Los Angeles bureau for the National Enquirer, is now LA bureau chief for the combined, 15-person bureau. Neil Blanko, who was the bureau chief of Star, is now deputy bureau chief of the combined bureau.

In recent years, both the Star and the Enquirer engaged in what is known as checkbook journalism, or paying sources for their stories.

Historically, the Enquirer never had any qualms that it paid for stories, a practice that is frowned upon by many American mainstream competitors.

Tony Frost, the Enquirer’s editor-in-chief, insisted that the practice helped break stories such as the John Edwards affair with Rielle Hunter in 2008 and more recently the pictures of their love child. When Star first converted from a tabloid into a glossy magazine under Bonnie Fuller — now at online gossip site Hollywood Life — it officially claimed to have stopped the practice of paying for stories. That stance was reversed several years ago, however, when Candace Trunzo came aboard as editor-in-chief. But appar ently some of the sources were double-dipping at both titles.

“I was getting creamed by the same sources, paying for the same stories,” said Pecker. kkelly@nypost.com