NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Rory McIlroy had plenty to talk about before last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, from his visit to Wimbledon to his scouting of Royal Birkdale ahead of this week’s Open Championship. One of the more left-field topics he was asked about was the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Nike Golf exiting the equipment-manufacturing realm by discontinuing making golf clubs.
McIlroy won his first two majors – the 2011 U.S. Open and the 2012 PGA Championship – using a full bag of Titleist clubs and balls. In 2013, McIlroy signed a lucrative equipment and apparel deal with Nike and used Nike’s VR_S Covert 2.0 driver, VR Pro Blade irons, Method 006 putter and a Nike RZN Black ball to win both the Open and PGA Championships in 2014.
After Nike abruptly shut down its equipment manufacturing in 2016, McIlroy spent time experimenting with other brands – he reportedly was seen using Callaway Epic woods, Callaway Apex MB irons, Titleist Vokey wedges, an Odyssey putter and Titleist Pro V1x ball at the 2017 South African Open – before signing a major deal with TaylorMade in 2017.
It took a while, but McIlroy finally completed his career Grand Slam and won the last two Masters using his full TaylorMade setup.
Rory McIlroy won two majors each using Titleist (2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship), Nike (2014 Open and PGA Championships) and TaylorMade (2025-26 Masters) equipment.
PHOTOS BY DAVID CANNON, aNDY LYONS, JARED C. TILTON. GETTY IMAGES
“Yeah, it was definitely – as you said, it took all of us by surprise,” McIlroy said of Nike’s sudden decision to get out of making clubs and balls. “I remember getting the call, whenever that was, and I felt like it was very funny timing. Because I felt like the equipment was like getting really, really good. And I had even tested the equipment for 2017. I thought the golf ball was getting better. The equipment was getting better.
“But like with all these massive companies, when you have a change of leadership, it changes the direction of the company. You know, someone comes in, looks at how much R&D is costing Nike Golf in comparison to the revenue that they are making, and they are like, ‘Yeah, we probably need to cut that.’ …
“Yeah, it was a shame because as I said, they started making some really, really good stuff. But it gave me an opportunity to, I guess, go to market and try different stuff and sort of see where I came out. Landed with TaylorMade, and it’s been a pretty good run with them since.”
If you dig deep into some tour bags, you can still find a few Nike strays out there like Brooks Koepka’s and Tony Finau’s Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-irons and Justin Suh’s Nike Method Core putter.
Much has been made of the successes McIlroy, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and others have had with versions of the TaylorMade Spider putters, but the impact that putter has had on Chris Gotterup has flown under the radar.
Gotterup collected his fourth victory in a calendar year at the John Deere Classic ahead of his title defense last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. While his career ascent can’t be attributed strictly to a single part of his game, the timing of his changing into a TaylorMade Spider Tour X1 putter at the 2025 U.S. Open isn’t coincidental.
“Initially that week [at Oakmont] we tested some different alignment lines and lie angles,” James Holley, TaylorMade’s senior tour representative, told GolfWRX. “With his toe down setup, the long line always looked a bit off. When we bent it upright to get it to sole flat his wrist position felt off.
“With the short alignment line, he was able to line the putter up while being toe down. The ulnar deviation created by the putter being toe down reduced the face rotation and allowed him to match the path and face angle of the Spider X more naturally.”
Gotterup erased a five-shot deficit at the John Deere Classic with a Sunday 62 to win for the third time in 2026, gaining 5.406 strokes on the greens at TPC Deere Run to rank fifth. He led the field in strokes gained off the tee (+5.413) with his 7.5-degree Ping G440 LST driver, which makes for a handy combination. Viktor Hovland won the week before at the Travelers Championship using a Ping G440 LST driver as well.
Scott Michaux
