Tiger Woods lost his cool over Augusta National painting and took artist to court

Few dared cross Tiger Woods when the all-time great was in his prime whether it be on or off the golf course. And that’s something that artist Rick Rush nearly found to his cost, despite his reputation for seamlessly reproducing famous sporting scenes. 

The dispute centred around one of the former world No.1’s most iconic career moments, his maiden US Masters title at Augusta in 1997.

The 48-year-old would go on to win a further 14 major titles, and become one of the most marketable stars in sporting history.

But just a year after he donned the green jacket for the first time in his career, Jireh Publishing, owned by Rush's brother Don, issued a limited-edition print of his sibling’s painting depicting the golfer winning this maiden Masters. The prints duly went on sale at around £550 each. 

However, lawyers for ETW, a company founded by Woods to control the marketing of his image, soon acted. What followed was a five year legal battle, where the temper of the American seemingly boiled over.

According to reports at the time, Woods had been adamant there needed to be a clamp-down on his likeness rights. As a result, Rush was caught in the crossfire and although a Federal District Court in Ohio initially ruled in favour of Jireh Publishing, in 2002 the star opted to sue.

His legal team claimed that Jireh Publishing engaged in trademark infringement when it sold copies of the Rush painting. However, the following year an American court ruled that Rick Rush himself had not violated Woods’ trademark.

Delivering the verdict, Judge James Graham stated: “ETW asks us, in effect, to constitute Woods himself as a walking, talking trademark. As a general rule, a person’s image or likeness cannot function as a trademark.”

Rush himself, now 78, lauded “a huge victory for freedom of expression.” The media labelled it a win for ‘David over Goliath’, and one of the rare occasions when the icon didn’t emerge as a winner. 

Woods, who by then had eight Major championships under his belt, declined to address the matter publicly. But later in his career he would go on to have deeper legal troubles, most notably in 2017 when he was not the aggressor in court.   

In May that year, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs after being caught asleep in his car. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving, and received a year of probation, fined almost £200, and ordered to undergo 50 hours of community service.