From his clubs to his new threads, check out Tiger’s gear ahead of the Genesis Invitational.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tiger Woods is returning to action for the first time in 2024 and acting as the tournament host for the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club this week.
On Monday, the 15-time major winner helped TaylorMade CEO David Abeles launch Woods’ new lifestyle brand, Sun Day Red. On Tuesday, Woods played a practice round, and on Wednesday, he competed in the tournament’s pro-am.
Sun Day Red is going to garner a lot of attention this week, but Tiger’s golf equipment is always a source of fascination, too. Golfweek’s David Dusek has been on-site at Riviera Country Club all week and had a chance to take a look over Tiger’s gear Wednesday morning. He paid especially close attention to Tiger’s putter and took several close-up images that you can see below.
Tiger Woods and TaylorMade launch Sun Day Red, a new golf and lifestyle brand.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tiger Woods was never going to be a free agent for long.
A few days after the confetti was swept from Times Square, an announcement was made that turned a rumor into reality: Tiger Woods and Nike were parting ways after 27 years. The 15-time major winner and the Swoosh were nearly synonymous, with Woods not only wearing the company’s footwear and apparel but also using Nike clubs and balls until the brand left the equipment world in 2016.
Monday evening, 35 days after parting ways with Nike and just a few miles from Riveria Country Club where he will be hosting the Genesis Invitational and making his 2024 PGA Tour debut this week, Tiger Woods, alongside TaylorMade CEO David Abeles, announced the creation of Sun Day Red, a new lifestyle and golf brand.
Sun Day Red will be under the umbrella of TaylorMade, but is going to operate as a completely separate, stand-alone business. It will have its own designers, staff and headquarters. Brad Blankenship, formerly of Quicksilver and RVCA, has been named the brand’s president.
“We organized a completely separate vertical that is not based in Carlsbad (California, where TaylorMade’s headquarters is located),” Abeles said. “This new brand is not based in Carlsbad. It’s in San Clemente.” Abeles went on to say that there is no influence from TaylorMade on Sun Day Red, and it will have its own identity.
Erin Andrews, Tiger Woods and David Abeles Monday at the Sun Day Red launch. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Asked by host Erin Andrews why he chose to take on this project, Woods said, “It’s the right time. It’s the right time in my life. I’m no longer a kid anymore. I have kids, and this is an important transitional part of my life. I can have something that I can be proud of, a brand that I can be proud of going forward.”
Woods’ fans and the golf industry had a strong hint this was coming when word got out on January 20 that three trademarks for a “Sunday Red” were registered through the United States Patent and Trademark Office by TaylorMade Lifestyle Ventures LLC. Woods has been using TaylorMade clubs and has been a partner of the brand since 2017.
Tiger himself teased the announcement and creation of the brand on Saturday, posting a photo on social media on Saturday that was captioned, “A new day rises. 2.12.24”
Throughout the hour-long presentation on Monday evening, Abeles and Woods repeated the idea that Sun Day Red plans to be more than a golf brand. Yes, the company is going to sell polo shirts, pants and hoodies that can be worn on the course. Many of those products were on display Monday night, as were prototype golf shoes, rain jackets, golf gloves and accessories, but Woods and Abeles said many products will be at home at the gym, like the tee shirts, shorts and other pieces of workout apparel shown Monday night. There will be cashmere pieces, shorts and other things that can be worn around town as well.
Asked what the Sun Day Red team has started to do that has Tiger excited, Woods replied, “The way it fits, the way it feels the way it moves. It’s uninhibited, that’s one of the things that I have conveyed to the entire staff. What’s the best garment to play in, well, that’s no garment at all. No seams, nothing restricting you. That’s the way our pieces should fit.”
Sun Day Red will start selling gear to consumers in the United States and Canada beginning May 1 at sundayred.com, with plans to expand to other markets later. Sun Day Red also plans to carry women’s apparel and footwear, followed by boys’ and girls’ products in the future.
Below are several items featured at Monday evening’s launch event.
Woods appears to be the only person who can meet the qualifications of the oddly specific job posting.
Tiger Woods announced his split with Nike on Monday after a 27-year partnership. This has the golf world speculating and asking who he will partner with next.
“Throughout the course of our partnership, we have witnessed along with the rest of the world, how Tiger not only redefined the sport of golf, but broke barriers for all of sport,” said Nike. “We watched him set records, challenge conventional thinking and inspire generations of people around the globe. We are grateful to have been a part of it. We wish him the best in the future.”
Many guessed this partnership was on its way out, but in the midst of the news, Topgolf added another layer, The golf entertainment brand recently posted a job role and description on LinkedIn that seems oddly specific to one person.
Topgolf job description. (LinkedIn)
Although it’s an official posting, the position may just be for fun seeing as Woods is the only person who can justify the qualifications. Not to mention Topgolf is in business with Callaway and Woods is in business with Popstroke and TaylorMade. That said, the popular entertainment venue doesn’t appear to be letting conflicting interests get in the way of a good time.
Tiger Woods’ new golf equipment at the 2023 Hero World Challenge.
Tiger Woods’ golf bag is monitored as closely as Ft. Knox. Golf lovers and equipment junkies have always wanted to know what driver he’s playing, if the Scotty Cameron putter that some people refer to as Excalibur or The Elder Wand is still in the bag and what shoes Tiger is wearing.
The 15-time major winner is preparing for his first event since the 2023 Masters and is scheduled to tee off with Justin Thomas on Thursday at the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Course in Nassau, Bahamas.
Leading up to the event, there was speculation on whether Tiger would show up with a new TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver, the prototype club Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood used two weeks ago on the DP World Tour. Now that Woods has played two practice rounds, we have a good idea about the equipment he plans to use.
