WASHINGTON - The philandering of billionaire golf star Tiger Woods is only the latest in a long series of scandals and downfalls of US celebrities and politicians that keep Americans watching with dread and delight.

Ever since that fateful late November weekend when the 33-year-old golfing legend crashed his Cadillac Escalade SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home, his wife reportedly chasing him with a golf club, each day has brought new scandalous revelations about his alleged extramarital affairs.

So far, a dozen women - ranging from a porn star, to a cocktail waitress, to a Las Vegas club manager with names like Jaimee, Rachel and Loredana - have filled the tabloids with details of Woods' "harem."

The story so far

The 14-time major tournament winner, a highly private married father of two and the first billionaire athlete, on Friday announced he was taking an "indefinite" break from the sport that propelled him to fame to "focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person."

He also admitted for the first time that he had been unfaithful to his wife.

In the wake of the watershed announcement, some of the star's major sponsors took a step back from the man whose fortune they helped to build.

Razor maker Gillette said Saturday it would be "limiting his role in our marketing programs," while AT&T said it was "evaluating our ongoing relationship" with Woods. But Nike said it would stand by the golfer, one of its major marketing powers.

"Tiger's shameful acts should be punished," said New York's Daily News tabloid.

CBS sport columnist Gregg Doyel, meanwhile, took an ironic look at Americans' obsession with the downfall of a legend.

"This is Tiger Woods, people. Probably the most famous athlete in the world," he wrote in his column.

"I'm supposed to be interested in his club selection from 176 yards (161 metres) out... but not in his voracious sexual appetite? Please."

Scandalous America

Americans have been peppered with sex scandals involving conservative and liberal politicians alike, including blue-eyed 2004/2008 Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards, who admitted having an affair while his wife was fighting cancer.

South Carolina's conservative Governor Mark Sanford, once a potential Republican contender for the 2012 presidential race, was caught cheating on his wife in Argentina, after he told his staff he was hiking in the United States on the Appalachian Trail. His wife has since filed for divorce.

Last year, then New York governor Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, lost his job after revelations he had been a client of a prostitution ring unleashed a wave of public outrage.

A year earlier, Republican senator Larry Craig rocked his party when he pleaded guilty after a police sex sting operation caught him inviting a homosexual encounter in an airport bathroom.

And then there is the infamous Monica Lewinsky affair: the young White House intern who almost cost president Bill Clinton his job in 1998 and tainted his legacy.

If Americans' sensibilities, imbued with puritanical values, demand that politicians act beyond reproach in both private and public life, they are not shocked by the extracurricular activities of Hollywood stars and starlets.

But they had largely closed their eyes to the excesses of athletes.

Prone to forget

Until now. The growing clout of sponsors and the rapid spread of rumors and information on the Internet has raised the expectation that athletes behave as role models.

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps got a taste of this new age grilling when a photograph showing him pressing his lips to a marijuana pipe surfaced in the British tabloid News of the World.

Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to take his career total of Olympic titles to 14, has apologised for using "bad judgment" and letting down his legion of fans, but USA Swimming rapped his knuckles with a three-month ban from competition.

"You'll see. Americans forget," said marketing executive Karla Graham, while admitting that she too cannot stop following the riveting Tiger Woods scandal. - AFP