The biggest unkept secret in golf is no longer a secret. Rory McIlory is now officially a Nike player.
NIKE’S PRESS RELEASE BELOW
It’s Official: Rory McIlroy Signs with Nike Golf
-McIlroy, the world’s number one, will make his debut as a Nike Athlete at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship-
BEAVERTON, Ore. (January 14, 2013) – Nike Golf today announced at a press conference in Abu Dhabi that Rory McIlroy has signed a multi-year agreement with the company. McIlroy now represents the Swoosh in clubs, ball, footwear, glove, apparel, headwear and accessories. He is making his debut as a Nike athlete this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
A self professed sports nut, McIlroy has been a fan of the Nike brand since he was a child and is excited to continue his career with the number one sports brand in the world. “I chose Nike for a number of reasons,” said McIlroy. “It’s a company and a brand that really resonates with me. It’s young. It’s athletic. It’s innovative. They are committed to being the best, as am I. Signing with Nike is another step towards living out my dream.”
“Rory is an extraordinary athlete who creates enormous excitement with his on-course performance while, at the same time, connecting with fans everywhere,” said Cindy Davis, President of Nike Golf. “He is the epitome of a Nike Athlete, and he is joining our team during the most exciting time in Nike Golf’s history. We are looking forward to partnering with him to take his remarkable career to the next level.”
The 23-year-old Northern Irishman, who is known for his length off the tee, will be playing with the world’s first high speed cavity back driver that conforms to USGA and R&A Rules, the Nike VR_S Covert. “The new VR_S Covert driver, is completely different,” said McIlroy. “It’s the first cavity back driver. It’s striking, it looks cool and it performs unbelievably well.”
Rounding out McIlroy’s Nike Golf arsenal are the Nike VR Pro Limited Edition fairway woods, Nike VR Pro Blade irons, Nike VR Pro wedges and a Nike Method prototype putter. McIlroy will play Nike’s new 20XI golf ball featuring more RZN technology. He will wear apparel from the Nike Golf Tour Performance Collection and the new Nike Lunar Control footwear.
In switching to exclusively play and wear Nike Golf products, McIlroy is making his first manufacturer change during his six-year career as a tour professional. “I visited The Oven and I was seriously impressed with both the craftsmanship of the Nike club engineers and also how much R&D and product innovation goes on there,” said McIlroy. “To be honest, I’ve been blown away by the attention to detail when it comes to product. Nike Golf is clearly committed to being the best and that gives me a lot of confidence in what we can achieve together on the golf course.”
McIlroy had a standout year in 2012 with a dominating season filled with becoming the world’s number one, securing five global wins, a Ryder Cup victory for Team Europe and taking countless season titles across the PGA and European PGA Tours. His five global wins in 2012 include his second Major Championship victory (PGA Championship) and two PGA Tour playoff events (Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship). He won the 2012 PGA Championship with the largest margin of victory in the PGA Championship history. McIlroy joins Tiger Woods as the only two active players under the age of 40 with multiple Major wins.
McIlroy also earned the 2012 US PGA Tour Player of the Year award and lead both the PGA Tour and PGA European Tour money lists for 2012. To cap off a sensational season that saw McIlroy post career-highs in earnings and wins, he closed his year with a victory at the DP World Tour Championship and becoming the second youngest athlete to achieve the world’s top spot as number one in the world golf rankings. McIlroy has 10 global career wins on his resume including two Major Championships.
________________________________________________________________________
McIlroy’s Nike Golf Arsenal
Driver: Nike VR_S Covert Tour 9.5-degree, neutral position
Fairway Wood: Nike VR Pro Limited Edition 3-wood/15-degree and 5-wood/19-degree
Irons: Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW)
Wedges: Nike VR Pro 54-degree and 60-degree
Putter: Nike Method 006 Prototype
Ball: Nike 20XI X
Apparel: Nike Golf Tour Performance Collection
Footwear: Nike Lunar Control
Rory McIlory - photo by Tony Korologos - © 2012
Luke Donald played in the RBC Heritage this past weekend and recorded a T37 finish. Rory McIlory did not play on any tours during that time, yet has puzzlingly overtaken Luke Donald for the #1 spot in the world golf rankings once again.
It seems odd that a player can ascend, especially to the #1 ranking, when the player didn’t even play. That is how the odd math in the world golf ranking system works.
Current Top 10 Golfers In The Word As Of April 16, 2012
| 1. |
McIlroy |
9.59 |
| 2. |
Donald |
9.48 |
| 3. |
Westwood |
8.27 |
| 4. |
Watson |
6.47 |
| 5. |
Mahan |
5.82 |
| 6. |
Kaymer |
5.58 |
| 7. |
Stricker |
5.53 |
| 8. |
Woods |
5.48 |
| 9. |
Mickelson |
5.32 |
| 10. |
Rose |
5.20 |
DVR Alert
There is going to be some fantastic golf to watch this week at the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship. The venue is the famous TPC Blue Monster at Doral. The greens have just been resurfaced, so we will see how confused the players are, especially Tiger Woods with his putting situation.
WGC Cadillac TV Schedule
THU: 1-6PM ET – Golf Channel
FRI: 1-6PM ET – Golf Channel
SAT: 12-2PM ET – Golf Channel
SAT: 2-6PM ET – NBC
SUN: 1-3PM ET – Golf Channel
SUN: 3-7PM ET – NBC
Set your DVR. The PGA Tour’s Honda Classic TV schedule is below. Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlory, Graeme McDowell, Charl Schwartzel, Ernie Els and many other big Tour players are in action.
Think Tiger has his blocked putting figured out? He said it would take one day…
| Honda Classic |
| Day |
Date |
Network |
Time |
| THU |
3/1 |
GOLF |
3 PM – 6 PM ET |
| FRI |
3/2 |
GOLF |
3 PM – 6 PM ET |
| SAT |
3/3 |
GOLF |
1 PM – 3 PM ET |
| SAT |
3/3 |
NBC |
3 PM – 6 PM ET |
| SUN |
3/4 |
GOLF |
1 PM – 3 PM ET |
| SUN |
3/4 |
NBC |
3 PM – 6 PM ET |
During this week of the PGA Tour season I get a little bummed out. Glory’s Last Shot means the season is winding down. Before I know it there will be snow on the ground here in Salt Lake and every other blog post will be me whining about it. There’s still some good golf to be be played though, both by the tours and locally.
Aussies?
Jason Day is my PGA Champ pick
My PGA Championship Pick: Jason Day
I think Jason Day‘s “day” will come, this week. Day has been playing some spectacular golf and knocking on the door of major championships for a year now. He seems to be close to winning every major these days, 2nd place finishes in this year’s Masters and U.S. Open. Just looked at Day’s money list stats for the last 4 years a minute ago and it shows a total rising star. Back in 2008 he made $700K, 2009 $1.2M, 2010 $2.9M and this year already at $3.1M and counting.
The one thing which could derail Day would be his confidence level. He seems to be a bit fragile and hard on himself. Perhaps a little too emotional sometimes on the course. Can he keep it in check?
After watching Adam Scott‘s big win last week, there doesn’t seem to be a better ball striker playing right now. Name me one? Another Aussie with a good chance of winning.
Irishmen?
Seems like Ireland owns major championships lately between Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlory. I’d mention Padraig Harrington too, but his game seems to be a jigsaw puzzle right now, for him. Which Irishman has the best chance this week? To me that is obviously the future PGA Tour member Rory McIlory.
American Players?
Tiger Woods
As I’ve been saying for a week or two now, Tiger Woods‘s comeback will be a work in progress and cannot be judged by a few rounds, or a tournament or two. How well will Tiger fare this week? I don’t think Tiger will win, and I doubt he’ll be a huge factor. But by saying that, I wonder if I’m putting part of my foot in my mouth already. I just haven’t seen anything yet to lead me to believe he will perform really well.
(more…)
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