It would be fair to say that recently Tiger Woods has been hitting the news for all the wrong reasons over the last 5 years. His failed marriage and injuries have caused him to drop significantly in the world rankings. He was in need of good publicity to lessen the heat from the press and attract new endorsement dollars.

Fortunately for the Nike-sponsored athlete, Woods activities with the Tiger Woods Foundation has started to garner positive media attention from the same world media that feasted on the demise of one of the sport’s greatest players.

In 1996, Woods and his father Earl established the Foundation aiming to give underprivileged children the chance to obtain a higher education, even if they didn’t have the funds to finance their college dreams. Now, 18 years later, the Foundation has never been stronger with the Earl Woods Scholarship System offering potential applicants a $5,000 scholarship.

It’s a welcomed break from the bad publicity that has followed Woods over the last 5 years. Through the Foundation, he also hosts the annual Tiger Jam event, which this year saw One Republic headline at the Mandalay Bay Events Center

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But that isn’t the biggest event of the Tiger Jam. Every year, Woods and the Foundation hold a charity celebrity poker event hosted by the enigmatic Phil Hellmuth. The event, along with other events held throughout the weekend, helps the Tiger Jam earn over $1 million for his Foundation with the poker event contributing a large proportion of that amount.

Attending the poker event, were celebrities such as the host of the Bachelor’s, Chris Harrison and Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban. Poker professional and leading commentator Mike Sexton attended the event along with Doyle Brunson and the highest earner of all time Antonio Esfandiari. Kinesh Pather a South African amateur won the poker event amid a stellar cast of pros and celebs.

The ingenious idea to tap into the appeal of poker is being used by many athletes now to help raise money for worthy causes. Since online casino gaming became so popular when the first casino website was launched in 1996 through InterCasino many athletes and foundations have used casino games as the ideal catalyst to help raise the profile of charities. Now it helps raise millions for charities worldwide.

And as Tiger Woods looks set to try and keep his name in the papers for all the right reasons, we’re pretty sure the Foundation will help Woods keep on the right track. We can only hope that he returns to form when he returns to competitive golf this weekend in the Hero World Challenge.