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Monday Rap: Tiger Woods and Nike Are Done, A Tough Reality For Tour Coaches And Chris Kirk Gets The W In Maui

Kevin C. Cox. Getty Images.

Eight of the top 10 players in the world began their season at The Sentry, and it was a guy who didn't even qualify for the Tour Championship that left with the trophy. 

Chris Kirk's lowkey personality and expressionless face won't inspire a new generation of golfers, but it's an excellent comportment for a professional golfer. He never looks rushed nor panicked, his silky swing rhythm a natural extension of his unflappable demeanor. The guy doesn't get down, nor does he get up. Case in point: he hit a 5-iron, off a downhill lie, to tap-in range, on the 71st hole of the tournament, to all but secure the biggest victory of his career, and $3.6 million…and didn't even consider cracking a smile.

That birdie gave Kirk a one-shot lead and the ability to play the par-5 18th conservatively. He did, playing well right of the green and making a forgettable par for a one-shot victory over Sahith Theegala, who failed to birdie the 18th and had to "settle" for a 10-under 63 and a solo second place finish. It was one of those weeks; 20 under par was middle of the pack, and Kirk needed every one of his eight birdies to score just a one-shot victory. That's what happens when you get the world's best players on a resort golf course and the wind stays calm. Sungjae Im set a PGA Tour record with 34 birdies in 72 holes and finished in a tie for fifth, four shots back of Kirk's pace.

It's the second win in 11 months for Kirk, who got his first W since stepping away from the game to address issues with alcohol at last year's Honda Classic. 

"It was an unbelievable day," Kirk said after the $3.6 million victory. "I'm really thankful that I was able to play as well as I did and I was certainly nervous coming into today, and I was able to kind of stay calm and just played really, really solid golf all day."

Come together, right now

As the PGA Tour keeps negotiating with both the American consortium Strategic Sports Group and with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the general mood among player seems to be one of apathy. This existential battle has moved into its third year. Everyone's a bit tired of talking about it, of speculating. Because that's all it is, until a deal is announced: speculation. 

We thought we might get something at the end of the year. An ESPN report in December said the Tour was close to a deal with SSG, a group of American sports owners, and the Tour communicated the same to players earlier this week. As far as the Saudis, the two sides extended their self-imposed Dec. 31 deadline to turn their framework agreement into a concrete deal. Everyone seems to be on the same page now: Let's all come together, let's get a deal done, and let's focus on the golf. 

Rory McIlroy, perhaps the most vocal supporter for the PGA Tour and against LIV for the first 18 months of this ordeal, made an appearance on the Stick to Football podcast and sung a very different, much less fiery tune about LIV Golf. 

"Competition is good to help improve the sport of golf overall, but the PGA Tour competing with LIV and the Saudis' money is completely unsustainable,” he said. “You're never going to win a fight if you're going money for money, because we've seen that in other sports where no one is spending money like the Saudis….I've just accepted the fact that this is part of our sport now…I was maybe a little, I was probably judgmental of the guys at the start and I think that was a bit of a mistake on my part because I realize not everyone is in my position of Tiger's position."

Reading between the lines…he's resigned himself to the reality that the Saudis will be involved in the sport moving forward. He's ready for a deal. So is Phil Mickelson, of all people. If McIlroy was Mr. PGA Tour, Mickelson has been Mr. LIV. Hell, he helped launch the league. Mickelson has taken plenty of shots at guys on Twitter, but he too was in a conciliatory mood after hearing McIlroy's comments. 

"This quote and the many others made today by Rory probably weren’t easy to say," Lefty wrote on X. "Let’s not use this as an opportunity to pile on. Rather, It’s time for me and others to let go of our hostilities and work towards a positive future. Rahms’ signing is turning into a bridge to bring both sides together, as evidenced by the many comments today and a month ago about changing the rules for the Ryder Cup so Jon and others can play, so let’s use it as such. Until an agreement is reached it will be business as usual for both sides but hopefully without the needless disdain."

Rahm's move to LIV is looking increasingly similar to Joe Namath's decision to sign with the New York Jets of the AFL, which was the catalyst for the AFL-NFL merger. Rahm was a reminder that the PGA Tour, no matter how much money it can cobble together in the short-term, is never going to win an arms race with an essentially bottomless pit of money. They have to make a deal or they'll lose more guys like Rahm.

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"At this point, I think just deals need to be made and we all need to get back to playing golf," Collin Morikawa said Wednesday. "It is what it is."

He speaks for the majority of golfers. 

Cold world for PGA Tour coaches

Viktor Hovland became perhaps the best golfer on the planet toward the back half of 2023. So much of that success was due to his overhauling of his short-game. Gone are the days where, in his own words, "I suck at chipping." Hovland turned a glaring weakness into a bona fide strength. Nowhere was that clearer than at the Ryder Cup. One shot doesn't prove much, but this one felt mighty symbolic: on his very first hole of the week at Marco Simone, Hovland's approach shot finished about six inches long-right of the green. The pin was back-left, and there was a bit of a slope in between him and the hole. The best chance to get it close was to pull a wedge, but it was the first hole of the Ryder Cup, a tight lie, cold, an absolute cauldron of emotion. He so easily could've pulled the putter, accepted a six-footer for par and avoided any sort of disaster. 

Instead, he pulled the wedge without hesitation. And buried it. 

A man overflowing with confidence. Hovland was aided in his transformation by instructor Joe Mayo, who preaches the gospel of a very steep attack angle in the short-game. He wants his players to have an angle of attack of -10 degrees or more while chipping, which is steeper than many other short-game gurus on the PGA Tour. Mayo's motion allows players to hit chips with extraordinary amounts of spin, and I saw multiple teammates of his that week pick his brain about his new chipping motion. That's the ultimate sign of respect on the PGA Tour: when your players want to know how you're pulling off a certain shot. Hovland's improved short game, combined with his always-elite ball striking, allowed him to win the FedEx Cup and take home $38 million in on-course earnings last year. 

Somewhat stunning, then, to read Todd Lewis' report that Hovland and Mayo were no longer working together. Even more eye-raising: neither party wants to talk about it. At all. Hovland declined to comment to Lewis, and Mayo stayed mum when reached by Sports Illustrated's Gabrielle Herzig. 

I don't pretend to know what happened between those two, but it presents an interesting dilemma for tour coaches. Hovland went to Mayo for information. Mayo hooked him up to different machines and helped him learn what mathematical equation produces the desired ball flight. But what happens when the guy finally gets it? When he knows what the feels are, what the launch-monitor numbers need to be? When he knows how to do it all by himself? 

Hovland's not changing his chipping motion now that he's no longer working with Mayo. That would be silly after the best chipping season of his career. So he sort of gets the best of both worlds: he gets to keep using Mayo's information and guidance without having to pay. It makes sense on the player's side. On the coach's side, it's a shitty reality: you can overhaul a world-class player's short game, he has the best season of his career, and you get the boot. 

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New Year, New Gear

Pretty inside-golf here, but you're reading a golf column so I refuse to apologize. Kapalua week always brings with it new logos. It's the first event of the calendar year—and now the first week of the PGA Tour season, too—which means the first week of new equipment and apparel deals. 

Tiger Woods wasn't on Maui this week, but his rumored apparel free-agency has been the biggest equipment story in golf over the past few months. There's been speculation about Woods' future with Nike ever since he returned to competition after his car accident wearing FootJoy shoes, but it's ramped up in recent weeks as there have been reports that his contract with Nike ended at the end of 2023 and he wasn't a shoe-in (pun intended) to renew. Still, it was hard to believe: could Nike really let Tiger Woods go?

The answer is yes. Woods announced on social media Monday morning that his relationship with the swoosh is over after 27 years. (Well, his statement didn't explicitly say the relationship was over, but context clues and a subsequent post from Nike Golf confirmed it). It's the second time in a few years that Nike has let a "GOAT" walk away after Roger Federer departed for Uniqlo. It's not yet clear what Tiger's next move will be apparel-wise, but he'll almost certainly make his first start in new threads at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera next month. You have to think he'll launch a Tiger brand in partnership with an already established apparel company that has its production and distribution logistics already in-place. Woods owns the TW logo that he's worn for the last decade-plus, so expect that to come with him to his new destination. 

Most of the talk on-site at the Sentry centered around Jason Day's move from Nike to Malbon Golf. It's hard to think of two more polar opposite brands. Nike is synonymous with the techy, tight-fitting fabrics that have become commonplace on tour over the last decade or so. Malbon Golf, which is hugely popular with the younger crowd, goes the other way. It's almost throwback golf attire. Loose-fitting pants, pleated pants, printed pants, sweater-vests, turtlenecks. That stark difference is one of the reasons Day made the move. 

"There have been times that I'd be standing on the first tee and look over to see another golfer in essentially the same outfit as me," he said. "I'm excited to be able to go outside of the box and wear something that's dramatically different than what everyone is used to seeing in golf today."

He certainly went outside the box. 

The pants on Sunday looked like they'd been rolled up in the suitcase all week.

He's done with tight pants. That much is clear. The consensus on Twitter wasn't a positive one. But again, Day's not doing this to impress people who spend time on Golf Twitter. He's going outside the box. 

Another high profile clothing switch involves Xander Schauffele, who had been with adidas since he turned professional. The seven-time PGA Tour winner turned up to Kapalua wearing Descente, a Japanese sporting goods company that also sponsors Hideki Matsuyama. A few more changes: 

Michael Reaves. Getty Images.

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—Patrick Cantlay wore a Goldman Sachs hat for the last few years. It was super villainy. His new hat logo is for the First Responders Children's Foundation. Much less super villainy. 

—Sepp Straka's no longer wearing the SQAIRZ golf shoes that are on every other commercial on Golf Channel. He's wearing adidas shoes now. 

—Eric Cole developed a reputation as a joggers guy, but it was more due to necessity than preference. His previous sponsor, Primo, only makes joggers. Now he's with TASC and wearing normal pants. 

Maui is open for business

I got a last-minute opportunity to play in the Wednesday pro-am for The Sentry. I couldn't turn it down. Living on the West Coast, a trip to Hawaii isn't nearly as daunting, and the chance to play Kapalua's Plantation Course in tournament conditions is pretty much a no-brainer for a golf nerd like myself. Especially in the throes of winter. 

Maui's a really special place for me—I've been going since I was a kid—but this was my first visit since the catastrophic Lahaina fire last August. It's a huge island, and the vast majority of it was spared from the flames. The area around Kapalua, for example, did not sustain damage. Nor did the southern tourist enclaves of Wailea or Makena, where some of the wealthier golfers like to spend the New Year before shifting over to the Kapalua-Kaanapali side for tournament week. But the devastation from Lahaina still weighs heavy over the entirety of Maui. Most resorts were untouched, but the people who work in those resorts live off-site, many in and around Lahaina. A full 1/3 of employees at the Kapalua resort lost or had their homes severely damaged and the Lahina area remains a harrowing pile of ash. The recovery will take years, and the old Lahaina—with its old buildings, countless beachside bars and local feel—may never truly return. You're reminded of this as soon as you land at Kahului airport. There are sobering signs telling tourists not to drive past Lahaina. Don't stop and take pictures of it. The PGA Tour made sure to tell players not to ask locals about their experience with the fires unless they bring it up first. It's as sensitive as subjects get. No one wants to relive an atrocity. 

What they want, desperately, is to keep things moving. It's why the PGA Tour returned to Maui just four months later. The Sentry is essentially a week-long infomercial for traveling to Maui, and the tournament itself brings business to the Kapalua area and those surrounding them. A bunch of locals said the initial coverage of the fires—Maui is on fire—made it sound like the entire island had been destroyed. In turn, people stayed away. The holiday season, always the busiest time of the year, didn't quite have the same bustle this time around. For an island that depends so heavily on tourism to fuel its economy, that's a disaster. Many, many people lost their jobs. 

The message this week: Maui is open for business. That's what they want you to know. The best gift you can give, the most impact you can have to aid the recovery, is to visit Maui. That's why the tour came here. The players were all on-board. Collin Morikawa donated $2,000 for every birdie and $4,000 for every eagle he made during the week. Tony Finau and family held an Instagram Live event to raise money for the victims. Patrick Cantlay's now rocking a First Responders Children's Foundation logo on his hat. Xander Schauffele held a clinic for kids whose families were impacted by the fires and will donate money to the Help Maui Rise foundation. Rickie Fowler rocked a hat with a red "L" on it for Lahaina, and Puma put the hats online with all proceeds going to the Maui United Way. Everyone was on board. 

"This week obviously means a lot more to me than just playing golf and trying to win,” said Morikawa, whose family once owned a restaurant in Lahaina. “Look, that is the ultimate goal, and if I do that, we're going to succeed in every way. But it's about raising awareness, obviously, still about the fires that had happened. … I think we all saw it firsthand, all the players driving in this week.”

As for my experience on Wednesday, it couldn't have gone much better. A 78-degree day in January. The wind, which can be an absolute force at Kapalua, played nice. Sepp Straka put on a stripe show for our first 9 holes, and the newly minted Rookie of the Year Eric Cole couldn't have been nicer on the back. Here's a little video recap:

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 I had an incredible few days on Maui. You can, too. 

More…

—We've got our first full-field event of the PGA Tour season this week at the Sony Open at historic Wailae Golf Club. As Monday Q Info reported, the PGA Tour apparently told all Korn Ferry Tour graduates that they'd get into the Sony, and many flew out for a mandatory rookie orientation, but only 16 of the 30 KFT guys got into the field. The reason: more guys are playing "regular" events since they can't get into signature events, and guys who got their cards through the DP World Tour have a higher priority ranking than the KFT guys. 

—Gary Woodland makes his return to competition this week in what will be his first start since undergoing surgery to remove a brain lesion. Awesome to see him back. 

—Kevin Kisner filled in the analyst chair on NBC for the first time this week and didn't get thrown out. Which, per his own standards, is a success. Here's my favorite clip from his debut, which shows his deadpan and just-get-on-with-it style. It's nice having a guy who's contemporaries with the pros in the booth—he's not afraid to call them out because he's friends with them. 

Until next week,

Dan

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