Tiger Woods and Nike confirmed Monday that they’re ending their partnership after 27 years, bringing to a close one of the most significant endorsement deals in the history of sports while supporting reports that the Swoosh is set to abandon golf all together.
Even for the loosest of golf followers, it’s hard to imagine Woods without his Sunday red Nike polo. Much like Nike was still a much smaller company before Michael Jordan, the Swoosh had a modest presence in golf before Woods. Entrepreneur Joe Pompliano said this month on his “Joe Pomp Show” podcast that Nike Golf jumped from just $30 million in annual revenue to $300 million two years later.
In wake of Woods and Nike splitting ways, Footwear News is taking a look at the history of Tiger Woods‘ Nike contracts.
Woods inked his first contract with Nike following three consecutive U.S. Amateur Golf Championships. The deal was worth a reported $40 million over 5 years, which certainly seems a bargain now but was unprecedented for a golfer that had yet to even become a professional.
Nike was banking on the 20-year-old Woods becoming a star, and what the company ended up getting was one of the most dominant athletes in the world in the 2000s. Woods would win his fist Major at the 1997 Masters, in which he finished 18 strokes under par and won by 12 strokes, and his second at the 1999 PGA Championship.
Once the new millennium began, so two did Woods’ reign over the PGA. He’d win 12 of his 15 Majors throughout the decade and spent a record 281 consecutive weeks as the world’s number one golfer from June 12 2005 to Oct. 30 2010. In total, Woods was the world’s top golfer for 683 weeks, also a record. During his reign, the consensus was that Woods would break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 Majors.
In the same year of inking the deal, Nike released Woods’ first golf shoes, the Air Zoom TW and Air Zoom Sport TW. A year later, it would debut Wood’s first logo, which has been dubbed the “yin-yang.”
In 1999, Nike aired one of the most iconic commercials of all-time, as Woods juggled a golf ball for 28 seconds, including between his legs and behind his back, before striking the ball cleanly in midair. Woods famously only required four takes to complete the trick shot.
2006 saw Woods and Nike take pen to paper for a third time, with the deal reportedly worth $20 to $40 million annually. Nike was one of the few companies that would stick with Woods after his extra-marital affair scandal in 2009 saw Gatorade, AT&T, General Motors, and more all cancel their contracts.
Woods would win four more Majors over this time period: the 2006 Open Championship, 2006 and 2007 PGA Championship, and 2008 U.S. Open. The latter win is the most impressive of his career, as Woods played with two stress fractures and a torn ACL in his left knee. The next wouldn’t come until the 2019 Masters, however, as Woods was hampered by injuries and the fallout from the scandal.
Woods re-upped with Nike once again in 2013, with reports indicating the deal was worth as much as $200 million.
Upon signing the deal, Nike Golf president Cindy Davis said in a statement: “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Tiger. He is one of Nike’s most iconic athletes and has played an integral part in Nike Golf’s growth since the very beginning. We look forward to sharing many more of the exciting awe-inspiring sport moments that Tiger is known to create in golf. At the same time, we will continue to utilize his insights to develop the most innovative products that support golfers reaching their full potential.”
When Woods was arrested for driving under the influence in 2017, Nike once again stuck by him. For his win at the 2019 Masters, his first major in 11 years, Nike released another commercial with footage dating back to when he was just 3 years old with a putter in hand.
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