Tiger Woods appears to be on the verge of announcing a new apparel partnership with TaylorMade, one day after his 27-year, $500 million Nike partnership officially ended.
Woods will appear on Wednesday’s episode of the Fore Play podcast and after production shared a teaser clip on X, TaylorMade added an interesting clue ahead of the show.
The company retweeted Fore Play’s clip with the wide-eyed emoji and the caption: “Stay tuned.”
Woods already uses TaylorMade clubs when he competes, so expanding that apparel partnership would be a logical step.
Although TaylorMade has a clothing range, this is currently somewhat limited with only 33 items currently listed on the website, the majority of which are obviously casual wear.
The range has not yet been extensive enough to dress players on tour and the professionals who work at TaylorMade for equipment purposes have worn Nike or Adidas in recent years.
However, the company could be preparing to expand its clothing range after advertising vacancies for its ‘new clothing division’ last month.
With a revamped clothing line at its disposal, TaylorMade could make a move to poach the stars of Nike’s seemingly destructive golf division, including Woods.
Woods also uses shoes from FootJoy and has apparently found that the footwear helps him deal with plantar fasciitis that he has been dealing with since his horror car accident in 2021.
But it was a big moment on Monday when Woods and Nike confirmed their split, which had been discussed in recent months.
Woods is estimated to have earned around $500 million in the 27 years he was the face of the brand he joined when he turned professional in 1996 at the age of 20.
That first contract, for $40 million for five years, turned into one of the most successful commercial arrangements in the history of the sport.
During his 15 major victories and 82 PGA Tour titles, Woods’ Sunday red look became iconic, as did several of their advertisements. There has been no suggestion that the end of the deal was acrimonious and both sides announced the news with respectful statements.
Confirming the split, which has been rumored within the golf community since late last year, Woods posted on social media: “Over 27 years ago, I was fortunate to start a partnership with one of the most iconic brands in the world.
‘The days after are filled with so many amazing moments and memories, if I were to name them I could go on forever.
“Phil Knight’s passion and vision brought together this partnership between Nike and Nike Golf and I would like to personally thank him, along with the Nike employees and incredible athletes I have had the pleasure of working with along the way.
‘People will ask if there is another chapter. Yes, there will definitely be another chapter.’
Tiger ended his statement with “See you in LA,” suggesting he plans to play next at the upcoming Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in February.
Nike posted its own statement on Instagram, adding: “Tiger, you challenged your competition, stereotypes, conventions and the old-fashioned way of thinking.
‘You have challenged the entire golf institution. You challenged us. And especially yourself. And we are grateful for that challenge.”
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