Rory McIlroy was the last Nike-sponsored golfer to win one of golf's majors, taking the '14 PGA Championship, and the lack of a major marks the "longest drought" for the Nike Golf's roster since '04, according to Kate Taylor of BUSINESS INSIDER. Nike "built its modern golf business" on Tiger Woods' success, but now, the brand is "struggling to find a new savior." McIlroy "seemed like" that person, as he was "one of three golfers to win three majors by age 25." But the fourth-ranked McIlroy is "struggling" now. Nike has "attempted to build out its golfer roster, announcing that 14 new golfers signed to the brand in January, including Brooks Koepka who tied for 4th in the PGA Championship." However, in July, Charl Schwartzel -- who had been with Nike since '08 -- "made the switch to PXG" (BUSINESSINSIDER.com, 8/1).
GAME OF THRONES: Men's golf has seen five straight first-time major winners, and in N.Y., Bill Pennington notes that means that the sport "has not yet shifted from its post-Tiger era and moved into a new one." When he won the final two majors of '14, McIlroy was "supposed to have grabbed the torch from Woods." But McIlroy "has not won a major since and missed the cut" at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open this year. Dustin Johnson’s win at the U.S. Open was "expected to unleash a freakish mega-talent on the game." But he "was 18 strokes off the lead at last month’s British Open" and missed the cut at Baltusrol. PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker on Sunday said that there are "a lot of quality, skilled players, and any one of them can win." But Pennington notes a "dominant player or troika of dominant players ... has yet to emerge" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/2).
