World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is now just two days away from confirmation he will be wearing the Nike swoosh in 2013.
It what has been one of golf’s worst kept secrets, Nike is expected to annouce on the first day of January the official signing of the double Major winning McIlroy.
It is a deal expected to be worth $200m to McIlroy and that’s a far cry from the $46m sign off fee to secure Tiger Woods’ signature when he turned pro in September, 1996.
And McIlroy will be among a number of leading PGA Tour stars targeted to join the Nike stable of stars.
Rory McIlroy just two days shy of joining Tiger Woods as an official Nike staff player. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
Others who have already signed with Nike include Waste Management Phoenix Open champion, Kyle Stanley, exciting Korean star Neung-yul Nol and two players in the same management stable as Woods and they are big-hitting Gary Woodland and Ryder Cup star, Matt Kuchar.
McIlroy is currently in Brisbane, Australia where he is supporting girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki contesting the Brisbane International in the lead-up to next months Australian Open title in Melbourne.
Whether or not Wozinacki wins through to the final the event concludes on Sunday January 6th and with McIlroy then to start practicing a day later at the Els Club in Dubai under the watchful eye of long-time coach, Michael Bannon.
It will be on the practice range of the Ernie Els designed Els Club where McIlroy will officially begin testing his new Nike clubs ahead of the January 17th commencing Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship where he comes face-to-face for a second year running with Woods.
And with McIlroy and Woods expected to dominate proceedings in 2013, the 14-time Major winning American penned the following comments on his website about his rivalry with the 23-year old Northern Irishman:-
“Rory McIlroy had a wonderful year, and my hat is off to him. He deserved Player of the Year.
“Whether we develop a rivalry remains to be seen. Let’s just let it play out and see where it takes us. We’ll look at the results the next five or 10 years and see if it becomes a rivalry or not. We’ll have to win big events and play each other down the stretch.
“That hasn’t happened yet. We’ve only played each other at Honda down the stretch. We need a lot more of those type of battles, but in bigger events.”
