Jason Day has a new apparel sponsorship and has left Nike, moving the needle even further on rumors that the Checkmark is potentially on its way out of the golf business.
Day, who has worn Nike since 2016 and joined the company after leaving Adidas, has signed with Malbon Golf, a premium lifestyle brand that offers some of the cleanest and most modern styles in the game.
Day and Malbon made it official with a promotional spot that was released last weekend. He is just the latest golfer to surge rumors that Nike is on its way out of golf.
As Tiger Woods cryptically answered questions regarding his future with Nike during the PNC Championship in December, there are plenty of indications that the company could be sunsetting its golf division. Although Nike has been one of the biggest brands in golf since signing Woods in 1996, a number of smaller companies have burst onto the scene and have landed major partnerships with the world’s best players.
Greyson landed Justin Thomas a few years back after he parted ways with Ralph Lauren, which was the start of smaller brands landing huge names. Travis Mathew has some major names wearing its products, including Jon Rahm, who recently left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf.
As Nike and Adidas both decided to end the production of golf equipment eight years ago, nobody could have guessed that they would be potentially on their way out of the massive golf market, especially considering the sport has done nothing but grow since the 2020 pandemic. An influx of smaller brands that offer fresh, hip, and modern styles has overtaken the market, and individualism has perhaps overtaken the focus on affordability.
These smaller brands have seen major increases in profitability and revenue thanks to the growth of golf over the past four years, and now we are beginning to see these brands get huge names to sign with them.
As golf’s landscape continues to change, it will be interesting to see where the biggest names land moving forward, especially Woods, who has been the main driver of Nike’s status in golf.
[golfcity.com]
When the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced a framework agreement to merge their commercial operations, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan appeared the future leader and golf and LIV Golf’s Greg Norman a casualty of the deal.
Monahan lauded the “historic day,” and was hailed as the man who would oversee both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, which is bankrolled by the PIF. And it was reported he even had the power to make LIV Golf go away.
As for Norman, LIV’s CEO and commissioner, we were told during a Senate subcommittee hearing one month after the announcement the Palm Beach Gardens resident is “out of a job” if a deal is reached.
Seven months later, Monahan’s star has crashed and burned and Norman, well, he’s as defiant and confident as ever.
Whether or not the sides reach a deal by Sunday’s deadline — Tiger Woods believes it’s possible — the biggest surprise in 2024 could be Monahan, a man who not long ago was a rising star in his field, cleaning out his desk in Ponte Vedra Beach and Norman surviving the chaos.
A scenario that suddenly is a real possibility.
While some PGA Tour members are calling for new leadership, Norman expressed his confidence that he and LIV are here for the long run during a meeting with select members of the media at Doral two months ago.
Norman was asked what he thought when he heard the PGA Tour’s chief operating officer, Ron Price, declare Norman would be squeezed out.
“I knew it wasn’t true,” he said. “There’s so much white noise floating around out there that I actually paid zero attention to. … I was never in any fear of anybody saying anything or any animus against me or anything like that.”
And Norman insists LIV Golf would continue as a “standalone entity” even if a deal is reached with the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, Jupiter’s Xander Schauffele has been one of the most outspoken about Monahan’s future, telling Today’s Golfer he “wouldn’t mind” seeing new leadership.
“I would be lying if I said that I have a whole lot of trust after what happened,” Schauffele said. “That’s definitely the consensus that I get when I talk to a lot of guys. It’s a bit contradictory when they call it ‘our Tour’ and things can happen without us even knowing.
“It’s hard. I’m sure there are reasons for what happened, but at the same time, it puts us in a really hard spot to trust the leadership that did some stuff in the dark and is supposed to have our best interests at heart. I am a bit in the dark still. I hate to sit here and hope for the best.”
Monahan’s mistake was holding about two months of negotiations with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who heads the PIF, in secrecy. This angered the players and led to Woods being added to the Player Advisory Board to give the players a stronger voice.
Hearing the outrage, Monahan later regretted not looping in the players.
But Monahan clearly has lost the trust of the players, and watching Jon Rahm, who voiced his mistrust in Monahan at the U.S. Open, join LIV in November continued Monahan’s downward spiral.
“Management has not done a good job,” Viktor Hovland said in a recent podcast. “You see what happens behind closed doors, how management actually makes decisions that are not in the players’ best interest but best for themselves and what they think is best.”
As much as Monahan dismissed LIV Golf publicly — he once said LIV was an “irrational threat” — the league that has poached stars like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and now Rahm — from the PGA Tour, also has gotten its attention.
The Tour’s infusion of money into prize purses and the Player Impact Program, and begging sponsors to increase financial commitments is a direct result of LIV’s threat.
LIV gained leverage in these negotiations after signing Rahm and the PGA Tour knows it cannot compete with the PIF’s war chest of more than $700 billion.
That puts Norman in a position of strength. And Monahan desperately trying to hold on.
[source: Golfweek.usatoday.com]
It pays to play well, even in golf’s silly season events. Just ask this weekend’s winners, Bernhard and Jason Langer.
The father-son duo won the 2023 PNC Championship on Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando by two shots over David Duval and his son, Brady. The win is the fifth for Langer at the annual family event, tying Raymond Floyd with the most wins.
For their efforts, Team Langer will take home the top prize of $200,000, while the Duvals earned $80,000. Check out how much money each team earned this weekend at the 2023 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando.
Visit the article below to see payouts for every team!
[Source:Golfweek.com]
Jon Rahm could be headed to LIV Golf.
The two-time major champion has reportedly held talks with LIV Golf executives in recent weeks. Still, no formal agreement has come to fruition, according to a report from the UK website Bunkered and the Argentinian outlet Handicap 54.
Speculation of Rahm’s departure arose when he decided to leave TGL, the new golf league founded in part by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. TGL has since been postponed to 2025.
But Rahm will only join LIV Golf—and likely his compatriot and good friend Sergio Garcia on his Fireballs GC team—if the Saudi-backed circuit changes its structure.
Fireballs GC could become an all-Spanish team, with Rahm and Garcia as co-captains. Youngsters Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig would round out the foursome.
Yet, this will not happen unless Rahm sees a change in the format of the league, perhaps so that it could receive Official World Golf Ranking Points (OWGR) in the future.
Earlier this Fall, the OWGR denied LIV Golf points because of its current structure. The league has prided itself on 54-hole events and shotgun starts, two elements on which the OWGR board did not look too keenly.
Nevertheless, Rahm would have no worries about the OWGR, one of the criteria major championships use to determine its fields. Thanks to his win last year at Augusta National, Rahm has an exemption into the major championships over the next five years. All major winners receive this exemption.
Whether or not Rahm makes the jump remains to be seen, but the rumors of his PGA Tour departure have never been more valid. If he does leave, it would surely hurt the PGA Tour more than anything else.
[Source: sbnation.com]
