Tiger Woods, TaylorMade unveil new ‘Sun Day Red’ apparel brand
After parting ways with Nike, Tiger Woods has a new apparel line, but golf fans can rest assured he won’t be straying from his iconic look for the final rounds of tournaments. In fact, the name of Woods’s venture with partner TaylorMade pays homage to his signature ensemble: “Sun Day Red.”
Woods and TaylorMade executives revealed the new line of apparel and footwear Monday, several days before the 15-time major champion is set to make a return to the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational.
“It’s the right time in my life,” Woods, 48, said of launching the line. “It’s transitional. I’m no longer a kid anymore. Life changes, I have kids, and this is an important transition in my life. I want to have something that I am proud of, a brand that I’m proud of, going forward.”
Speaking at the presentation in Los Angeles near Riviera Country Club, where the Genesis is staged, TaylorMade chief executive David Abeles noted that the plan calls for Sun Day Red merchandise to be widely available in North America on May 1 before making its way into foreign markets.
While some of the product line’s offerings were displayed Monday, its most immediately striking aspect was a new logo. In place of the interlocked “TW” that marked Woods’s Nike line, Sun Day Red is represented by a stylized image of a tiger.
Among the “Easter eggs” embedded in the logo, according to a news release from Sun Day Red, are 15 stripes, one for each of Woods’s major titles. Woods said Monday (via the Associated Press) that should he win another major, he would update the logo.
Last month, Woods and Nike ended a 27-year partnership that dated back to the very beginning of his meteoric rise in professional golf. The “TW” logo emerged in 2001, around the same time Nike began producing its own line of clubs. When the sports apparel giant stopped manufacturing clubs and golf balls in 2016, Woods moved to TaylorMade for his equipment.
Now Woods and TaylorMade have a much deeper relationship, one that Abeles described Monday as “a full-blown, unequivocal, committed partnership.” The CEO clarified, however, that Sun Day Red would be a “separate vertical” under the TaylorMade umbrella, saying, “This brand stands alone. It’s independent from TaylorMade.”
As for debuting his new brand while the tour sets up camp at Riviera, Woods said Monday it “all made sense” to do so in part because he goes so far back with the tournament, the first PGA event he attended in person while growing up in the area.
Woods has long been the host of the Genesis. In 2021, shortly after hosting the tournament while out of action following back surgery, he was involved in a car crash south of Los Angeles. The single-car crash inflicted extensive damage to Woods’s lower body, and he did not return to competition until the 2022 Masters.
Since then, Woods has played sparingly. His only tour appearances last year came at the Genesis, the Masters and the Hero World Challenge. He played in Nike gear for the final time at the PNC Championship, a non-PGA Tour event, in December.
“I have learned so much over the years and have a lifetime of experience adjusting my apparel and footwear to help me play better based on the way it was constructed,” Woods said in a statement shared by Sun Day Red. “There are things that I could tell you that no one knew I was doing over the years. I’m ready to share those secrets with the world.”
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