The one thing Tiger Woods' most ardent fans really won't tolerate? Losing, writes Alex Sherman. Woods hasn't won a tournament this year and is 83rd on the PGA Tour's money list. Sales of his apparel line through Nike are also slumping, according to retailers Golfsmith International Holdings, Roger Dunn Golf Shops and Golf Discount Superstore. Nike won't release figures. "Apparel is hot right now," Laura Dowdy, the clothing buyer for Roger Dunn, tells Sherman. "Everything -- Adidas, Puma, Nike, except the Tiger brand." For its part, Nike spokeswoman Beth Gast says the company supports Tiger and …

As part of the sponsorship deal American Express has forged with the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament this year, its NextContenders.com site allows fans to get a behind-the-scenes look at four young players -- John Isner, Sam Querrey, Caroline Wozniacki and Melanie Oudin, Elaine Wong reports. Viewers can watch a video about what it takes to become a rising tennis star, as well as follow tweets and posts about the players. The site will be updated during the tournament, which runs Aug. 30 - Sept. 12, with interviews from the players, their coaches and family members.

General Motors is considering expanding its performance line to its small cars -- such as the four-cylinder Chevrolet Cruze and the next-generation Chevrolet Aveo -- according to Jim Campbell, the marketing veteran who became vp of GM's performance vehicles and motorsports last week when Joel Ewanick hired Hyundai's Chris Perry to run Chevrolet marketing. "Small cars and compact cars are going to be more and more important going forward, and we're looking at efficient performance," Campbell tells Jason Stein. The performance division will "cross all brands," he says, but the emphasis will be on Chevrolet and Cadillac. …

Chrysler and partner/parent Fiat hope the subcompact Fiat 500 becomes a sales and pop-culture hit along the lines of the Mini Cooper, Jeff Bennett reports, but they are certainly driving against the traffic in thinking about establishing a new brand in the U.S. Its chief rivals, General Motors and Ford, are axing brands. But Sergio Marchionne, CEO of both Chrysler and Fiat, says that Chrysler's brands do not overlap the way that Ford and GM's did. "Jeep is unique, Dodge is a widely popular brand and Ram is about trucks," he says. In addition, dealers are …

You would think that department stores routinely link the inventory in their retail outlets with what they have in their online warehouses, but they don't. Nordstrom does, Stephanie Clifford reports, and that's a major reason it's having more success that its competitors. In the 11 months since Nordstrom instituted the change, its same-store sales increased by an average of 8%, though other factors have had some impact, too. In the 11 months before the shift, they decreased an average of 11.9%. Nordstrom added an option to shop and buy online and pick up the item in a …

PR lessons learned from the Toyota, BP and Goldman Sachs imbroglios.

Zack O'Malley Greenburg reports that Branson Belchie -- the man who introduced Cristal, Dom Perignon and a number of other pricey brands to his friends Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and Sean "Diddy" Combs in the late 1980s -- is "just trying to solidify a market share" for his five-year old Guy Charlemagne Selected By Branson B. line. (What a glorious collection of names, eh?)