In a week of player-power, Tiger Woods is the latest to flex his muscles. And the timing is especially interesting, with the USPGA Tour about to renegotiate a $500 million contract with the American television networks.

Woods, with emphatic support from management company IMG, is unhappy with the manner in which his likeness, mainly in photographic form, is being used for advertising purposes, especially by companies with which he doesn't have any professional relationship. In other words, a deal with the US Tour shouldn't be viewed as a deal with Woods.

But it goes deeper than that. Reading between the lines of an interview in the US magazine Golf World, it is clear Woods believes he is worthy of special treatment from his tour. And he deeply resents pressure to play in additional events or alter his schedule for the benefit of tournament sponsors.

Regarding his status as a USPGA Tour member, Woods, who opens the defence of the American Express Championship here at Valderrama this morning, said: "They're a business and we're called independent contractors.

How can we be called independent contractors when we have to play a certain number of events for membership? How independent is that?"

Later in the article, he says: "I believe what I believe in," he added. "I understand the whole picture. What amazes me is how much the public doesn't understand."

Woods concluded by saying that the situation was "serious enough that if we don't make everyone aware of it now, it could escalate into a bigger situation".

To emphasise the point, Mark Steinberg, Woods' manager within IMG, referred to the so-called Fall Finish, sponsored by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. It seems that when Woods earned the $200,000 bonus for the best cumulative finishes in autumn tournaments, the sponsors immediately wanted to advertise his success, with a photograph of the player. But one of Woods' leading sponsors, American Express, are major rivals in the financial world.

"Those are the types of things that drive me absolutely crazy," said Steinberg. "Something like that is an implied endorsement. That's an infringement of Tiger's rights. It's stuff we won't stand for."

Without knowing the legal ramifications of the situation, one hesitates to comment on Steinberg's reaction. But in an area such as tournament golf, where so many sponsors are involved, conflicts would appear to be inevitable. And Woods isn't the first player to be caught in such a situation.

An innocent observer might be tempted to conclude that he expects to be exempt from such conflicts. As it happens, in common with his fellow USPGA Tour members, Woods is bound by a regulation which permits the use of players' images in "congratulatory adverts". Which is precisely what his manager, Steinberg, was railing against.