Hot Off The press - Or Is It??

I spent almost 3-hours with a club builder/fitter on Saturday afternoon and had a great time. He has just started his own business after spending the last few years on the tour vans and the last 2-years have been with Adams, building Tom Watson's, John Daley's, and Langer's clubs as well as plenty more. He gets first stab in the UK of trying trick shafts and new head designs, before release to Joe Public. Anyway I digress, he told me that it would be announced December 31st that Tiger will leave Nike and Join Bridgestone, Rory moves to Nike and Ricky Fowler moves as well but cannot remember where .... But I saw the Bridgestone forgings that Tiger will be using and they're nice, forged by Endo ..

So if this is true, Tiger will have changed management, caddie, ball and clubs this last few months

Tiger leave Nike?

Pah! Nonsense!

Next you'll be telling me he's been unfaithful to his wife with 124 different women.

125 Merc
Doris who lives down my street came out this morning

I guessed at the Rory to Nike thing when Direct Golf tweeted that Nike were going to announce a new, exciting player. Surprised at Fowler going from Titleist too, I suppose that's to Cobra though, to tie in with Puma. Titleist never have been very good at holding on to their star players, nothing seems to have changed with the new ownership!

Really cannot see it happening, Nike were the only big sponsor to stand by him during the past couple of troubled years.

Would be very, very surprised with the Rory deal considering his relatively new clothing deal with Oakley. Would doubt very much that Nike would sign him solely for clubs? Added to the fact when I think titleist he would be one of the first Pro's I would think of.

I'm pretty sure I read that Fowler is moving to Cobra, whom are now owned by Puma (his clothing sponsors) after they were sold off by Acushnet Company (Titleist owners).

If that's true, you'd say its an interesting development.

Big loss for titleist if Mcilroy goes, though have long thought titleist an overrated brand.

Isn't Fowler currently titleist too.... So they lose both young guns shows they are not moving with the times.

I actually think the best move is Tiger to bridgestone if true, they make some fantastic looking clubs and no doubt are of better quality than the nike offerings

Maverick wrote:If that's true, you'd say its an interesting development.

Big loss for titleist if Mcilroy goes, though have long thought titleist an overrated brand.

Isn't Fowler currently titleist too.... So they lose both young guns shows they are not moving with the times.

I actually think the best move is Tiger to bridgestone if true, they make some fantastic looking clubs and no doubt are of better quality than the nike offerings

Mav I tried out loads of Brisgestone irons Saturday afternoon and the J33 blades were great looking, but not good enough for blades yet. But the guy is still connected to the main tours via OEM club builders/fitters, so gets the low down on all things 'clubs'. he was convinced Tiger was a Bridgestone player at the end of the month.

Rory to Nike?
That would be like Terje Haakonsen signing to Marks and Spencer snowboards.

These seem like no more than rumours and Tiger to bridgestone would seem somewhat unlikely.

No point discussing if Rory will go to nike based on gossip from the range but we can speculate how it might effect both parties. Other than Tiger nike do not currently have a flagship endorsement of a player other than tiger. By that I mean someone who is incorporated into the Nike brand as opposed to just wearing nike clothing to contribute to nikes image. Rory is young and becoming very big in the states and seems to live a lifestyle that is clean enough to keep lurid kiss and tells out of the press. Nike golf only exists because of Tiger and now that his worth as a branding/advertising tool is fading they need to replace him and the only option within the world of golf right now is mcilroy.

For Rory the benefits are also quite obvious in terms of increased revenue. He does however have a little more to loose from such a deal because of the increased demands a bumper nike deal would entail. As a follower of f1 I have seen many a driver grow weary of the increased sponsor demands placed on them when moving to a bigger and higher funded team. Although rory does seem very comfortable in the spotlight.

I would imagine any deal with nike would almost seal his place as a predominantly pga tour player. All talk these days is about expanding in asia but I am sure nike would use rory to maintain or expand its market share in the US golf scene. He may not be able to flit between tour memberships like he can now.

You may think it is unrealistic to think an endorsement deal could impact on where a player plays but I would think any really big deal will involve some commitments form the payer like where the brand(player) is seen.

Rory is clearly being pimped to the hilt by Horizon, what with the Santander deal and so on. Nike may have got fed up of Tiger, or vice versa, or may simply have got wind of his jumping ship to Bridgestone. Either way, you've got a large amount of sponsorship cash about to be available on the one hand and a frenetic management company looking to cash in on a new asset on the other. The quality of clubs (not that I really believe they're any worse than any others, owning a set of their irons as I do despite having had nothing but Titleist before) won't have been a consideration.

Mac the Nike/Tiger clothing deal is also Tiger's design, so he own the brand TW and when he goes he takes it with him. He'll still be endorsing his own brand, but not sure who'll make it and have their logo on as well as he's.

This is not just rumour from the range, as you say. This is from a guy who has just started his own business after being on the tours for the last few years

Rory has gotten away with not wearing Oakely subglasses. I hope he realises he has to use Nike clubs.

If true I just hope that in 12 months time Rory is not having to admit his poor reason was down to changing golf clubs.

Here is a guy who is going to make a fortune over his career whichever clubs he endorses. I guess the sponsors money must be very attractive but surely the most important factor for Rory is using the clubs he is most comfortable with.

It all sounds a bit like the transfer window.

"I just saw Lionel Messi at the Scunthorpe training ground"

This sounds a bit like football gossip. Fair play to Doc for giving us his source. I was expecting a few more replies with dodgy sauces.

Ricky Fowler spotted house hunting close to Nike's HQ, Tiger Woods spotted slipping in the back door of Bridgestone (bet he's done that a few times)

If you Google 'McIlroy to Nike' quite a bit of stuff comes up, so I wouldn't be surprised at that one.

If you google US Government blows up Twin Towers you find a lot too, doesn't mean it's true, (unless you wear a tin foil hat)

super_realist wrote:If you google US Government blows up Twin Towers you find a lot too, doesn't mean it's true, (unless you wear a tin foil hat)

Like comparing apples and eggs.

could bridgestone afford TW's endorsement fee!!??

jeffkenna wrote:could bridgestone afford TW's endorsement fee!!??

Of course they could. Bridgestone are an enormous company.

Personally I think he should be sponsored by Regain Hair Growth products or some sort of chewing tobacco spitoon firm.

super_realist wrote:

jeffkenna wrote:could bridgestone afford TW's endorsement fee!!??

Of course they could. Bridgestone are an enormous company.

Personally I think he should be sponsored by Regain Hair Growth products or some sort of chewing tobacco spitoon firm.

if it's true there will be a lot of unhappy club golfers who bought themselves a shiny new set of nike vr pro combos this year!!

have you seen the new Taylor made rocketballz drivers/irons?
Google that

This morning's GolfWorld pretty much confirms Rickie Fowler to Cobra.

jeffkenna wrote:could bridgestone afford TW's endorsement fee!!??

Not sure, I've heard he's got a massive endorsement!

Interesting....if true. Knew Fowler was moving somewhere. Actually think it's good for TW to make a break with his past and that definitely includes Nike. If the McIlroy move to Nike is real, that'll just cement him as someone not to support for me but I guess they'll be offering him absurd money so it's difficult to turn down. I suppose a contract may not include his clubs but I can't see that. Just goes to show how much of a career is now about endorsements rather than actually winning tournaments.

Fowler is being sponsored by Justin Bieber and Dennis Healy's eyebrows

Did anyone else notice Tiger's putter last night. The grip was 'PING', but supposed to be a Nike 'METHOD'. Now I know a lot of pro's with club endoresents have clubs forged elsewhere as an example Tiger is reputed to have his clubs made by Miura, but Nike badged. Could he have been using a Ping Anser or was it just a Ping grip that he felt better with?

Doc wrote:Did anyone else notice Tiger's putter last night. The grip was 'PING', but supposed to be a Nike 'METHOD'. Now I know a lot of pro's with club endoresents have clubs forged elsewhere as an example Tiger is reputed to have his clubs made by Miura, but Nike badged. Could he have been using a Ping Anser or was it just a Ping grip that he felt better with?

He's always used a Ping grip on his Scotty putters, which is why you see a lot of sad people doing the same.

A lot of pro's reputedly have Japanese clubs with OEM logo's on them too.

Or is it just that ping make the best putter grip?

I think a Ping Anser was the first putter he used/was given as a boy, perhaps the Ping grip has stemmed from there?

Doubt it, Ping don't make them in the first place.

Just what suits him I imagine.

Something about the way it sits in his hands. He's always used the Pingman grips on his putters.

McIlroy's switch to Nike would confirm that his priority is in filling his wheelbarrow with cash rather than concentrating on what is best for his game and winning major championships. But I suppose they're pretty much all the same.

Tiger has much dinero from his relationship with Nike, and he'll be a bit jarred about his relationship with them since his fall from grace. he will still have made a shed load of cash this last 12/18 months, but not as much as he did before his troubles, as Nike will not have asked for the same number of apearances at endorsement/marketing gigs. he's changed everything and severed all ties with everything else, so I can see this being on the cards.

As for Rory stepping into Tiger's shoes, lets hope it goes well, because his mates change from Calloway to Srixon backfired this season, and its the same management company that got GMac the gig (Horizon)

Does it really make that much difference who the top guys' club deals are with?

I thought that the top manufacturers could pretty much clone any club they wanted and that if a big name signed for them, they could craft the clubs to the players' needs.

If Rory went to Nike (or Tiger to Bridgestone) would it really affect them that much? The clubs will be tailor-made to their specs anyway.

I'm prepared for those in the know to correct me but I thought that was how the big sponsors worked these days

I reckon rory could play with donnay clubs and pinnacle balls, and it probably wouldn't make a difference to the results.

The average tour players benefit enormously from advances in technology, but I think the best ball strikers like rory, tiger and sergio could play with anything