EA may be cool with Tiger Woods using that five wood to knock his balls into every patch of grass he can, but there's one thing it can't put up with forever: a loser. Speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit, EA CEO John Riccitiello said that what he was expressing wasn't a "threat" against Woods, but that the company has the athlete's name on the game because of his standing in the sport.

Riccitiello explained the company has no plans to drop Woods, but it's a business relationship based on the publisher and the athlete bringing their "best." He expressed, "Both of those things need to be true in the long run for the partnership to make sense."

Woods hasn't won a tournament and has dropped in rank since his personal proclivities became very public last year. EA made good on sticking by the golfer, even as other corporations walked off the green. Riccitiello says the company is willing to give Woods the opportunity to turn it around "for a period of time." The executive now keeps a standard alarm clock and a "Tiger Woods patience timer" by his bedside.