Getty ImagesAUGUSTA, GA - APRIL 12: Tiger Woods of the United States (L) and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland wait on the first tee during the final round of the 2015 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 12, 2015 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Bob Parsons, founder of hot golf equipment startup brand PXG, said the news that Nike Golf was transitioning out of the equipment business didn’t come to him in the form of a press release.
Instead, it came to him from his own tour rep, Matt Rollins, who called him Wednesday night to tell him his cell phone had died twice that day because “he was getting calls left and right from Nike players and their agents.”
The message from Parsons and a few others in the golf equipment business is that Nike’s departure from the club and ball categories is at the very least an opportunity. It’s a chance to assert yourself in the marketplace, and it may provide a chance to take advantage of some open tour-player contracts. And contrary to some business experts’ assertions, it may not even mean that much at all.
First, let’s remember that Nike’s presence on tour is overwhelmingly greater than its presence in the golf equipment marketplace. And it’s not exactly clear how its presence on tour might change, given that the company’s announcement yesterday included a clearly stated goal to be “the undisputed leader in golf footwear and apparel.” That would seem hard to achieve without a significant presence/investment on tour. Of course, the only three golfers cited in comments by Daric Ashford, president of Nike Golf, were Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Michelle Wie.
Parsons belief is that there will be opportunities.
“We’re just going to sit back and see how it shakes out,” Parsons told Golf Digest Thursday morning. “We’re not going to go knocking on doors. We’re going to see who knocks on our door.”
Parsons said he likely won’t be interested if Woods knocks on his door, but the other two names that Ashford mentioned and a couple he didn’t are a different story.
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“There’s no doubt that Tiger has been an icon in the game, that no one has done as much for golf as anyone in history and he’s highly respected for that,” Parsons said. “But I don’t know that his game is what it once was.
“Rory’s somebody to get excited about. And I think there are two other guys that have a lot of potential and that’s Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau. Both of those are guys we had conversations with before they signed with Nike when Nike wrote them a big check. We’d probably want to chat with Michelle Wie, too.”
What’s not clear is how Nike’s player contracts will work going forward. Traditionally, players with Nike deals have been head-to-toe deals with no other visible logos. That’s not how Parsons operates PXG. With the exception of current signee Zach Johnson, Parsons says his guiding principle is “No hat, no deal.” It seems unlikely that most other equipment companies would want to yield the front of the hat to the Nike Swoosh, either.
As for the golf equipment market, aside from the inconvenience of the current Nike clubs in stores and shops and dealing with returns and refunds, Nike’s overall market presence at 3 percent or less in woods and irons does not leave a gaping void in the landscape, especially with the company's continued commitment to footwear and apparel.
“This is not like a TaylorMade exiting the business,” Parsons said.
Rather, Nike’s departure opens a door for others, including as it turns out TaylorMade. “We’re excited by the golf equipment category and the future opportunities it presents for performance-driven brands like ours,” said TaylorMade CEO David Abeles. Abeles cited TaylorMade’s “24 percent increase in sales year-on-year” in the second quarter.
“We’re fully committed to continuing to create industry-leading innovations across all segments; from our tour professionals to competitive amateur golfers alike who want the best performance equipment. We've just signed five of the top amateur golfers in the world, alongside our 10-year support of the AJGA announced earlier this year. So, I’m feeling very excited about the future of the equipment category and TaylorMade leading that charge.”
Bob Philion, president and CEO of Cobra Puma Golf, was just as bullish on the opportunity. “While the news is surprising, we believe we have the right strategies to continue playing offense while others are clearly playing defense,” he said. “We strongly believe in having a 360 product portfolio—from innovative equipment, to game-changing footwear, apparel and accessories—which allows us to provide the best service to our retail partners and ultimately to our consumers around the world. We are poised to pounce on the many opportunities that exist in the golf category during this time of change.”
Callaway CEO Chip Brewer told CNN Money on Wednesday that he was aware of the Nike announcement, but said its decision doesn’t reflect his or his company’s attitude about the golf business. “You need to be a specialist,” Brewer said. “Golf equipment is hard, but we love it.”
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Dick Sullivan, president and CEO of PGA Tour Superstore, believes this move will be good for Nike Golf. “The golf equipment space continues to evolve, similar to what we have seen, and will continue to see, on the retail front,” he said. “Nike has a very strong brand, and we expect their renewed focus on apparel and footwear will only strengthen their market share in those key categories.”
Leigh Bader, golf retail visionary and co-founder of Joe & Leigh’s Discount Golf Shop in South Easton, Mass., believes the news is disappointing because of those who’ve lost their jobs, but given that Nike is committed to its strong suits of golf footwear and apparel, “how is this a black eye for golf?”
Again, the bigger impact most likely will be on tour. Nike currently lists more than 40 players across all global tours on its staff. As Parsons says, “It will be interesting to see who’s wearing what hats next season.”
Sportdaddy:Snedeker leads after third round in Ontario
Canadian Open third-round leaderboard
-9 B Snedeker (US); -8 D Johnson (US), J du Roit (am) (Can); -7 S Wheatcroft (US), A Cejka (Ger)
Selected others: -6 M Laird (Sco); -3 V Singh (Fij); -2 J Day (Aus)
American Brandt Snedeker will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Canadian Open after carding a six-under-par 66 at Glen Abbey in Ontario.
The world number 23 eagled the par-five 18th to lead on nine under from US Open champion Dustin Johnson (70) and Canadian amateur Jared du Toit (71).
World number 309 Luke List, joint leader for the first two days, slipped seven shots adrift after a 77.
Scotland's Martin Laird compiled five birdies in a 68 and is six under.
World number one and defending champion Jason Day returned a round of 69 and is tied for 28th with 31-year-old List, who began with a bogey and had two double bogeys and a triple bogey seven on the back nine.
Snedeker overpowered the 18th, hitting a 378-yard drive and a 121-yard approach to set up the six-foot eagle putt.
Du Toit, 21, bidding to become first Canadian to win the event for 62 years - and the first amateur to triumph on the PGA Tour in 25 seasons - also eagled the final hole, holing a 40-footer for a 70.
Asked to evaluate his prospects for the final round, Snedeker said: "I think I'm going to be the most hated man in Canada, but it's going to be a lot of fun trying to figure it out."
Royal Troon, the host of the 2016 Open Championship, will vote on allowing women members on Friday.
Troon is the only club on the Open rota to have a male-only membership policy.
A majority is needed to remove the ban, with the club reporting in June that "over three quarters of the members" supported admitting female members.
Muirfield still has a ban on female members and has been told by the governing body they cannot stage another Open until it is removed.
That left Troon as the only club on the Open that has men-only membership after Royal St George's, which hosted the Open in 2011, voted last year to end its 128-year ban on female members.
The clubconsulted members in Mayover the its men-only policy but brought forward a vote on the issue following Muirfield's ban.
Muirfield said in June it wanted tohold a fresh balloton admitting female members before the end of the year.
The 145th Open Championship will begin on 14 July.
The Quicken Loans National didn't have the best field and didn't have the most exciting finish in golf this year, but it produced the best story in golf in 2016 that will not be topped.
1. Billy Hurley III's win at Congressional is the best story of the year. Dustin Johnson's U.S. Open win was fantastic, but one week later, Hurley became the best story in golf with his victory. Hurley III -- from Leesburg, Virginia, not far from Congressional -- was 607th in the world before the Quicken Loans National and had never won on the PGA Tour or the Web.com Tour prior to Sunday. He served five years in the Navy out of college, delaying the start of his professional golf career, and a year ago at this very tournament he announced that his father was missing -- his father later killed himself. The win was incredibly emotional, and he was as popular a tournament champion both with fans at the event and fellow players, as anyone you'll ever see.
2. Vijay Singh is going to the British Open. The ageless wonder finished solo-second at the Quicken Loans National and punched his ticket to Royal Troon in a few weeks. Singh, along with Hurley III, Harold Varner III and Jon Rahm, were the top four finishers in the top 12 that did not already have exemption to Royal Troon. For the 53-year-old Singh, it's an impressive accomplishment to qualify for a major on merit and not just off past champion status.
3. Jon Rahm is the real deal. Rahm was the top-rated amateur in the world for good reason and has shown off his skills the last two weeks, finishing in the top 25 at the U.S. Open and then posting a T3 finish at Congressional. He gained some important experience as a 36-hole leader that he can take going forward, earning a fat paycheck and a spot at Royal Troon. That's not bad for the first week on the job. We'll see if he hits a rough patch similar to Bryson DeChambeau, but even if so, both of them are going to be factors for a long time.
4. Bryson DeChambeau's issues in regular tournaments continue. Speaking of DeChambeau, he finished T15 at the U.S. Open last week and looked like he was about to turn around his season after a run of four straight missed cuts had dampened the start to his pro career. DeChambeau fell back into his regular PGA Tour doldrums at Congressional with a T64 finish. It was a made cut and a paycheck, but he's running out of sponsor exemptions to get the points needed (361) to obtain temporary status for the season and then make a push for a Tour card for 2016-17.
5. Rickie Fowler still has some issues to figure out. Fowler finished T44 this week despite a strong 68-68 start. His weekend disappointed as he went 73-74 on Saturday and Sunday, never factoring into the discussion for winning after starting the week as the tournament favorite. Since his T4 at the Wells Fargo in Charlotte, Fowler has missed three cuts and posted this T44 finish and has seen him drop to seventh in the world rankings. He needs to turn things around soon as he's also slid down to eighth on the U.S. Ryder Cup points list.
Let's go Inside the Numbers that defined this weekend.
10.23 -- Hurley III's strokes gained on approaches to the green which led the field.
438 -- The number of spots Hurley III jumped in the world rankings from 607 to 169 with his win.
99 -- The combined age of Els and Singh, who both finished in the top 7. 21-year-old Rahm made his pro debut and finished T3.
$400,200 -- The amount of money made by Rahm in his first week as a professional golfer. Not a bad start to a career.
BETHESDA, Md. — Vijay Singh still pounds golf balls on the range as much as anyone on the planet, his love for the game and his search for more hardware measured in each shot he takes.
Despite celebrating his 50th birthday three years ago and being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame 10 years ago, and despite his 34 PGA Tour titles, all the aches and pains associated with the unrelenting march of time and his relentless attack on buckets of balls, he knows he can hang with the younger set on the PGA Tour.
So there Singh was on the driving range Friday on a stifling day north of the nation’s capital, sending one ball after another toward the horizon shortly after taking up residence on the first page of the leaderboard through two rounds of the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club. At 53, the Big Fijian can become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour – Sam Snead was 52, 10 months, 8 days when he won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open.
But he isn’t focused on setting a record. He’s fixated on his swing and the demanding Blue Course at Congressional.
“It would be a good thing to win. I haven't won in, gosh, eight years, nine years,” Singh said after his sparkling 5-under-par 66, a round that included eight birdies to offset two early bogeys and another on his last hole when he got shin-high in a water trap by the 18th green to hit a shot. He’s at 8 under 134 and trails Jon Rahm and Billy Hurley III by three shots.
“But I'm not thinking about that right now,” Singh added. “It would be good to win (any tournament) but it’s only halfway, so I have to focus on my game tomorrow and see what happens.”
The three-time major winner hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship, some 181 starts ago. His best finish in 15 starts this season is a tie for sixth in the Honda Classic. He’s also made two starts on the Champions Tour, a tie for eighth his best showing.
Yet he still comes out to play the toughest tour in the world. He could have gone fulltime on the Champions Tour when he turned 50, but the lure of beating the flat bellies on the PGA Tour has limited him to eight starts on the Champions Tour. The winless streak and the page turns on the calendar are mounting, but Singh moves on without a hint of exasperation.
And while he hasn’t spoken publicly about his lawsuit against the PGA Tour, there’s no suggestion that the dispute is taking a toll on his game. In 2013, Singh charged the Tour violated its duty of care and good faith.
According to the lawsuit, the Tour exposed Singh “to public humiliation and ridicule for months” during a 12-month investigation and he’s seeking damages. The lawsuit alleges the Tour “failed competently and responsibly to administer its own Anti-Doping Program.” The Tour suspended Singh for 90 days after he admitted to Sports Illustrated to using deer-antler spray without knowing it contained traces of a banned growth hormone.
The Tour dropped the suspension after learning the World Anti-Doping Agency did not consider the spray “prohibited, per se,” but Singh contends the investigation should never have become public.
The case is still ongoing. And Singh is still going and going and going.
“I'm driving the ball well. You know, and putting well,” Singh said after his second round. “My iron shots have been good all week as well. … I have to drive the ball and I think I'm going to focus on the driving. And putting well, which is good to do around here. Anytime you putt well, that's key for me. ...
“So the whole game is together, I just have to keep it going and focus on what I'm doing and I think I'll be OK.”
Five of the world's top 11 didn't make it through to the weekend, which in a US Open is almost the norm. This place is unpredictable, but you have to hang in there.
So much can happen over the last couple of rounds in this tournament and so much will do. You saw Jason Day and Jordan Spieth going out in their third rounds aggressively and taking on the flags, showing why they're world No 1 and world No 2.
McIlroy will be pretty fed up looking at that, as he's in that category too but hasn't been able to join them. I don't know what happened to him on the third as he had a great break off the tee by not finding the sand, then sent his approach to 12 feet, but five minutes later was walking off with a double bogey.
It's not the first time that has happened to Rory and I'm not sure why it does, whether it's a lapse in concentration or a weakness in his putting. He's too good a player to let something like that carry on and miss the cut.
In the end, he missed it fairly comfortably with the problems he had at 18. It's tremendously disappointing and if he's watching, he'll be looking at Spieth and Day and realising how costly these holes have been.
If he'd have just hung on and got to 36 holes three or four over, he wouldn't have been where he was hoping but still within striking distance. He would've been able to push on like Spieth and Day did on Saturday.
It was a very good and important back nine early on Saturday for Andrew Landry, because things were starting to unravel and beginning to slip away. It looked like the occasion may get too much for him, but the way he bounced back to finish that second round was impressive.
He needs to keep doing that for the rest of the week, and it'll depend with how he copes with the experience. He has won on the Web.com Tour so knows what it's like to win, which will serve him in good stead.
A lot will also depend on his belief, as he's playing with Dustin Johnson who sends the ball a long way past him off the tee, but if he can hang around and post a 72 or 73, it'll give him a chance of finishing the week strongly.
Johnson's been so impressive in leading at the halfway stage and starting the third round like he did over the first couple of holes sent a message out to the rest of the field.
There may be six or seven who head in to the final round under par and depending how they set up the course for Sunday, there may be a couple who finish the tournament that way, but the USGA won't want it to be many!
The Northern Irishman is no stranger to the US Open, having announced himself to world golf with his maiden major win at Congressional in 2011.
McIlroy almost made a mockery of the course during his eight-stroke win that week, setting several US Open records, including lowest total under par at 16-under.
With so much talk about the difficult Oakmont setup, it is safe to say that his record is safe this year. The level of difficulty the players face this week in Pennsylvania is not lost on McIlroy.
"The majors that I have won have been soft and under par scores and they suit my style of game," the world number three toldGolf Channel.
"To win on a course like Oakmont with the conditions the way they are, it would maybe be my biggest accomplishment in the game. It would make me feel like a more complete player, I guess. I'd be very proud if I won on a course like this."
McIlroy added that he has managed four rounds on the course so far and gathered some important information. He alluded to negotiating the lightning fast greens, indicating that you really, really want to avoid those tricky downhill putts.
"I got a good look here at Oakmont last Monday and Tuesday and then played another couple of rounds yesterday and today…so I've had four really good looks at the place," said the 27-year-old.
"You could go a whole round here without hitting it at any pin. And just trust that where you're hitting it into the spots is the best leave…I'd much rather have a 30-foot putt up the hill on these greens than even an eight-footer down the hill.
"You just have to be so disciplined and know that. I'm an aggressive player, as well. So there's just going to be times where I’m going to have to rein it back a little bit."
McIlroy ended the interview session with a the perfect summation of his US Open experience so far. When asked what emotion he feels coming to this year's event, he had a short reply.
When the list is made of most riveting finishes in a major championship, the 2016
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is going to be right up there near the top.
And I mean ALL tournaments – men’s and women’s.
Holy Pine Trees, Bat Man, a spectacular Sahalee CC threw everything it had at the best gals in golf and they handled it with grace and grit. And no one was more brilliant than Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko and Ariya Jutanugarn, who engaged in a game of “can you top this” in Sunday’s final round.
Henderson, 18, and Ko, 19, finished in a tie at six-under-par 278 with Jutanugarn, 20, in third place, just one stroke back. Henderson closed with a 65, the low round of the week on an extremely difficult course on which only seven players broke par over 72 holes. Ariya had a 67 and Lydia a 68.
That trio combined to make a grand total of ZERO bogeys under the stress and strain of final-round play in a major.
That Henderson ended things with a brilliant 7-iron from 155 yards to three feet on the first extra hole – No. 18 – was in keeping with the drama of the day. It was only the sixth birdie on that hole all day.
“It was an amazing day, for sure,” Henderson said after she reached out and slightly polished the massive silver trophy sitting next to her.
“We all push each other,” Ko said about the ton of young talent on the LPGA. “I think this is a great thing. It’s a fun challenge. I think this is great for golf and for the LPGA.”
Henderson is now the second-youngest to win an LPGA major – behind Ko – and the youngest ever to win this tournament, which dates back to 1955. And in Brooke and Lydia, the LPGA has a couple of personalities on which to hang it’s marketing hat.
“I wouldn’t be pretty if I was crying,” Ko repied when asked how she handled the heartbreak of being denied her third consecutive major championship so well.
“If I was crying,” she said with a huge smile, “I'd have eye-liner going everywhere. I always worry about my makeup.”
Then, in a semi-serious note she added: “To be even close to winning three majors in a row is special.”
Henderson has as much spunk as she does talent. When the LPGA denied her an exception to the minimum age rule of 18 last year, she was not shy about her displeasure. So she went out and Monday qualified for a tournament in Portland, Ore., won it by eight strokes and was granted tour membership.
“There are three majors left [this year] and I’d like to get my name on all three,” she said. “But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”
That’s about as retrained as Henderson gets.
When the tour changed the name of this event from the LPGA Chamionship to the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship there were a lot of traditionalists who were angry. But in two short years the alliance of KPMG, the PGA of America and the LPGA has been a smash hit.
This tournament felt like a major in every way possible, not the least of which was the quality of play. It’s clear, in Henderson, Ko and Jutanugarn, the LPGA is three-deep in major champions.
Former Corona Santiago golfer Aaron Wise’s recent run of success continued this week when he qualified for the U.S. Open.
Wise won the 36-hole sectional qualifier in Vancouver, Wash., with a 9-under-par 135 at Royal Oaks Country Club. That performance advanced him to the 116th U.S. Open on June 16-19 at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
Wise won the section by two strokes in what served as his professional debut.
Last week, Wise became the first University of Oregon player to win an NCAA individual title as the Ducks won the Division 1 national championship on their home course of Eugene Country Club.
Wise shot 30 on the back nine of the first round at Royal Oaks to put himself in contention. Between the two rounds, he totaled 14 birdies, including a 50-foot putt on the 13th.
He would further explain on his website that, “I am not physically ready to play.”
As is the norm when it comes to Woods, there were no further details, no timelines, no insight into when he could make his return to competitive golf.
In fact, only two things can be gleaned from Tuesday’s announcement. First, he’s listening to his body, as he continues to recover from multiple back procedures last year; and second, his 2016 season is quickly and quietly becoming an exercise in diminishing returns.
At this rate, there are only two more major dates to look at for a potential Woods return this season. Next month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon and the PGA Championship at Baltusrol would be the only spots on the calendar he would definitely play if he were healthy.
He could add starts at the Wyndham Championship - where he tied for 10th in his best finish last season - in an 11th-hour attempt to make the FedEx Cup playoffs, or the Greenbrier Classic, which he played in 2012 and ’15, but both seem unlikely.
And if he can’t swing his competitive fortunes dramatically in limited starts, he wouldn’t qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the playoffs or the Olympics.
It’s becoming increasingly clear Woods’ back will dictate when he can return to center stage, an encouraging sign for a patient that hasn’t always heeded his doctor’s advice. A turning point will arrive without fanfare as he endures what has become, by all accounts, a languid recovery process.
This setback, more than any of his other assorted injuries, has tested Woods’ patience, as well as his physical resolve.
This time the call to competition has been muted by the realities of an injury that can’t be expedited through force of will. The path has been clear: submit to the realities of an injury that defies timelines or risk further injury and untold consequences.
As much as he’s driven to get back to work, there has been a reluctant acknowledgement that this time he’s not calling the shots.
“I haven't set any date for when I'm playing again, which is frustrating to say,” Woods said in April at an appearance near Houston. “But to be honest with you, that's what I've had to do. I've had to go with that mindset.”
That Woods would make such a sweeping announcement well before the deadlines for either the U.S. Open or Quicken Loans National is a sign he’s not as close to a comeback as some have speculated.
He could have waited until next week to bow out of both events (the deadline for entry into the Quicken Loans National is next Friday and he’d already registered to play the U.S. Open). But it’s clear his body is not ready for the rigors of PGA Tour play.
It’s encouraging that Woods has taken the slow and steady approach, that he didn’t succumb to the urge to not miss another major championship or the need to placate a sponsor at his own event.
Tuesday’s announcement answered few, if any, questions. The only absolutes are that he’s once and truly letting the recovery dictate the return and not the other way around. He’s also reaching an increasingly clear demarcation line in 2016.
Unless things change quickly and conveniently, the next time we see Woods on a golf course in a competitive capacity he will be driving a golf cart at the Ryder Cup – as one of U.S. captain Davis Love III’s vice captains.
