Tiger Woods may no longer be wearing the Swoosh on the golf course, but he’ll still be in “Sun Day Red.”
At an event Monday evening near Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, where Woods will make his return to the PGA Tour later this week, the 15-time major winner unveiled his new clothing brand, Sun Day Red. With the new brand also comes a new logo that depicts a tiger jumping, replacing the “TW” logo Woods used most of his career.
The announcement comes less than a month after Woods and Nike announced an end to their 27-year partnership, leaving Woods searching for a clothing sponsorship for the first time in his career.
He didn’t venture far from home, as Sun Day Red was created in partnership with TaylorMade, which has been Woods’ golf club sponsor since 2017, shortly after Nike exited the hard goods market. Sun Day Red, however, will stand alone as a separate business unit from the larger company.
A press release called it “the start of a new chapter in the Tiger Woods saga.”
“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 the release. “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. Sun Day Red will embody a love of playing and competing, and we are for people that share those values, whether it’s on the course, or in life. We will be anchored to putting the athlete first in the product decisions we make.”
The brand’s name comes from Woods’ tradition of wearing a red polo on the final day of a tournament — his mother told him it was a power color — but the phrase “Sunday Red” was strategically broken up into three words. At the launch party on Monday, TaylorMade CEO David Abeles said Woods turned his attention to the “Rule of Threes” and how there is “power in threes” during the creation of the new company.
The logo is also a nod to Woods’ 15 major titles (the second-most all-time) as the tiger features 15 stripes. Although Woods and Abeles confirmed that if Woods wins another major, they will redesign the logo to add another stripe.
Sun Day Red markets itself as a “premium active lifestyle brand,” with full apparel and footwear lines as well as luxury logo tees, fleece and hats for everyday wear. According to the release, each piece incorporates specific requests from Woods, including enhanced shoulder seaming that promotes full motion and unrestricted swings, two-way zippers and pocket seaming that eliminates bulking, plus collars and cuffs precisely designed and measured for optimum performance.
While Woods will begin wearing Sun Day Red at this week’s Genesis Invitational, a tournament run by his foundation in which he doubles as tournament host, the brand will officially launch on May 1 and be available on sundayred.com.
Woods’ future after Nike was the subject of rumors since December, and while the partnership with Woods ended, many of Nike’s other stars — like World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Nelly Korda — continue to wear the brand in competition.
At the PNC Championship late last year, Woods deadpanned questions regarding his future with Nike, offering only that he was “still wearing their product.”
Rumblings of the collaboration with TaylorMade, which was spun off from sportswear giant Adidas in 2017, picked up steam last month when trademark filings by TaylorMade Lifestyle Ventures for the Sunday Red name and logo showed up on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.
Then came a series of cryptic tweets from Woods this past week, teasing Monday’s announcement. The second of which on Saturday showed Woods’ glove hand donning the new Sunday Red Logo on the velcro strap.
Woods is making his first PGA Tour start of 2024 this week as he hosts the Genesis Invitational. It’s also his first official PGA Tour event since he withdrew during the third round of last year’s Masters and subsequently underwent ankle surgery.
He played his first competitive events since the surgery in December at his own unofficial Hero World Challenge, where he finished 18th out of the 20-man field. Woods and Charlie then tied for 5th at the PNC Championship later in December.
