Woods Switched Back To His Scotty The Day Nike Quit The Equipment Business

We know players make club switches to appease sponsors and face bag requirements. But most club companies ultimately trust a player to do what is best for their game if they are struggling. Tiger Woods has never been woeful on the greens. But before his layoff, he wasn't as good as he once was.

Given that Tiger Woods won 13 of 14 majors with his trusty Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter, his response to a question about switching back to it today prompted an uncharacteristically blunt answer.

From Will Gray's full item on this fascinating insider issue.

“The day that we (Nike) were no longer a part of the hard goods side,” Woods said when asked when he put his old putter back into play.

Brandel Chamblee was asked about his expectations for the weekend but instead noted that Woods has moved into a unique place where he can pick whatever he wants in his bag. But the question may now linger: why didn't one of the greatest players of all time and richest golfers in history have the freedom to putt with his trusty flatstick?

Update on Saturday, December 3, 2016 at 11:58 AM by Geoff

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Comments

[Sari]

Because he needed the money and knuckles under to Nike?

[perma]

he did have the freedom but decided the cash offered was a fair tradeoff for putting a nike putter in the bag. sari, tiger was filthy rich before the first nike putter was ever made so "need" wasn't part of the equation.

[Tighthead]

Tiger switched after the scandal. Nike stood by him, but it always seemed clear that they leveraged the situation to make it a 14 club deal. I'm sure it always burned Nike that their prized show pony was draining all those putts with a Titleist.

I recall the story was that Nike also cut his compensation under the deal after the scandal.

There wasn't much Tiger could do. He may not have needed the money, but I think he and Steiny felt getting dumped by Nike would be an all around loss.

[Steiny's Muse]

I wonder how many phone calls he'll have to make to smooth this one over? Love the honesty from Tiger though.

[Daryl S.]

Pretty active imagination you have Tighthead. Tiger was still switching in the Cameron at times as late as 2011 so making a connection to the hydrant is a joke. Compensation definitively was not cut after the hydrant. Phil Knight knows a needle mover when he sees one, Nike wasn't ever going anywhere and Tiger and Steiney knew it. You should try your hand at authoring a fiction novel!

[ol Harv]

"But the question may now linger: why didn't one of the greatest players of all time and richest golfers in history have the freedom to putt with his trusty flatstick?"

Exactly.

[V.Lind]

He always had the freedom NOT TO TAKE THEIR MONEY. Never got out of bed in the morning without being paid for it, in the early years.

[Press Agent]

Sorry to be insulting, but I find it hard to believe some of you even think this is a question.
How on EARTH do you think it's possible for someone to be sponsored by a company, paid hundreds of millions of dollars over the years and NOT play that company's equipment? The idea is ludicrous. That is the whole idea behind being sponsored. By this strange way of thinking, the whole Rory club switch didn't have to be an issue at all - you guys would have had Rory signing with Nike for crazy stupid amounts of money, then just continuing to play his Titleist equipment. Or a formula one driver should sign with Ferrari but drive the McLaren.

[Tighthead]

PA - you do recall him carrying only 13 Nike clubs, and also propagating in an ad that His contract with Nike left him free to play whatever he wanted?

[Press Agent]

@ Tighthead, no i don't recall that. I recall language about transition time where he could continue to play equipment he was used to while he transitioned to playing his new equipment. Like any contract of this type, that time window would be defined and at the end of it the player must be using the equipment he's paid to play. If he had language that allowed him to use another putter, but he was using the NIKE, then we know there was financial benefit for doing so - like a bonus on top of his contract amount. Because like VLIND above said: "He always had the freedom NOT TO TAKE THEIR MONEY. Never got out of bed in the morning without being paid for it, in the early years."

[Daryl S.]

Pretty active imagination you have Tighthead.

Tiger was still switching between the Scotty Cameron and a Nike putter in the summer of 2011 so making a connection to the hydrant is a joke. Compensation definitively was not cut after the hydrant. Phil Knight knows a needle mover when he sees one, Nike wasn't ever going anywhere and Tiger and Steiney knew it.

I foresee a fiction novel in your future!!

[ol Harv]

"How on EARTH do you think it's possible for someone to be sponsored by a company, paid hundreds of millions of dollars over the years and NOT play that company's equipment? "

We're talking about 1 club PA, the putter. Many players have done it in the past.

[MattS]

Phil has clearly had a less than 14 club deal with callaway. There was the grand fathered wedges, grooves, and I think he's play competitor's hybrids occasionally in the past.

[Clacker]

Yeah Harv, don't know if you noticed but the camera focusses on the putting stroke / ball / club movement much more when putting. So the idea of a firm like Nike letting Tiger play with a club that has the Titlesit logo stamped all over the back of it, in red, on a Sunday?

[Tighthead]

Clacker - they let him do it for years.

Daryl - Tiger never used a Nike putter despite a generous sponsorship contract prior to the accident.

After the accident, he put one in play. The day Nike stopped making equipment he went back to his Cameron. Yes, I must be crazy.

As for getting his $ cut in half, I'll take Fortune and the Financial Post as a credible source over you.

Finally, of Phil Knight is so infallible and Tiger such a needle mover, why isn't Nike still making golf equipment?

[ol Harv]

Thanks Clacker, all these years watching golf and I never noticed that before. Are you the guy on the Captain Obvious commercials?

[Daryl S.]

@Tighthead,

Tiger had the wreck Thanksgiving on 2009, 18 months later he was still using the Cameron on and off, causation cannot be proven. Pay cut pure conjecture, cannot be proven. Golf hard goods are low margin and the industry is stalled at best, contracting more likely the reality. Even the great Tiger Woods cannot set aside the economics of an entire industry but he will continue to sport the swoosh because Phil knows it's the exposure it gets is well worth what Nike is paying Tiger.