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Tiger Woods has been linked with Nike throughout his legendary career, but there’s been growing speculation he and his longtime sponsor could be heading toward a divorce. Now, we have some more evidence that points to that being the case courtesy of his son Charlie.
In 1996, the folks at Nike decided an up-and-coming golfer named Tiger Woods had shown enough promise to earn the five-year, $40 million contract he signed after leaving Stanford to join the PGA Tour, and both of those parties have benefitted from a relationship spanning more than 25 years.
The swoosh has been front and center in plenty of the many iconic moments Tiger has treated us to over the course of his legendary career, and Nike has undoubtedly done very well for itself thanks to people who’ve been more than happy to spend their hard-earned cash on apparel that allows them to imitate the face of the company’s golf brand.
However, simply being associated with one of the most dominant golfers in history isn’t enough to guarantee success, and Nike has struggled to go toe-to-toe with its competitors over the past decade or so. The company stopped producing clubs in 2016, and when Tiger rolled up to The Masters in 2023 rocking FootJoys, it was hard to ignore the writing on the wall.
Only time will tell what the future will hold for Charlie Woods, but based on how much attention the 14-year-old has been able to generate over the past couple of years, it’s not a huge stretch to suggest Tiger could’ve used his preexisting relationship with Nike to get his son a nice little endorsement deal.
However, Charlie was recently spotted sporting some pieces produced by Greyson Clothiers (who sponsor Justin Thomas) at the PNC Championship, and on Sunday evening, the company seemingly confirmed it had signed him as an ambassador when it reposted a congratulatory message from Larry Fitzgerald (who also reps the brand) on Instagram.
There’s no way to know the specifics of the deal, and while there’s a chance Greyson was simply able to outfox Nike, it feels safe to assume the latter would’ve done everything in its power to pursue Charlie if it was attempting to firm up its status with Tiger (it’s worth noting there are rumors that suggest Nike is looking to exit the golf game entirely, which means it wouldn’t have any reason to sign him in the first place).
We’ll just have to wait and see how this all pans out, but it sure seems like someone else will be supplying Tiger with his signature Sunday reds in the near future.