I can’t recall the precise moment when I heard from Earl or Tiger that the decision had been made (to turn professional), but it was well before US Amateur No 3 because that week at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club I had with me a couple of very big contracts for Tiger to sign, the fruit of several weeks of “what-if” negotiations with Nike and Titleist. By the time Tiger raised the trophy that Sunday evening in Portland, Oregon, his Nike logo apparel had been sized and tailored, his Nike shoes had been tested for comfort, and a Titleist staff bag emblazoned with his name and filled with a set of custom-fitted clubs was as ready to hit the PGA Tour as he was. The process had begun two years earlier, just after Tiger won his first Amateur. (I was not officially his agent – I couldn’t be until the day he publicly renounced his amateur status – but we had a tacit understanding.) My strategy was a bit unorthodox – instead of stirring interest among several apparel and equipment companies in the hope of creating a bidding war, I decided to put all my eggs in two baskets – Nike and Titleist. It was a gamble, to be sure, but one I thought could pay off. Nike, I suspected, would require more spadework than Titleist, so it was there that I commenced. Thanks once again to the unique resources of IMG, I had a couple of things going for me. A few years earlier our tennis division had established a strong relationship with Nike, bringing them the flamboyant Andre Agassi, who had been the perfect fit for Nike’s studiedly edgy image. Nike’s director of sports marketing, Steve Miller, would be my interlocutor in negotiating the Tiger deal. After three or four visits with Miller, I felt my homework was completed, and I was ready to talk Tiger. Here was my thinking: (1) The explosive growth of golf had not gone unnoticed by Nike. The company had made a tentative first move into the game with shoes and apparel and was
on the cusp of a bigger commitment into clubs and balls. (2) Nike prided itself on identifying with only the very best players in their respective sports – Andre Agassi, Michael
CALL MY AGENT From left: IMG executive Clarke Jones, Woods and Norton in 1996.
Jordan, Jerry Rice. Stars drove the Nike brand. (3) Those guys now were past their primes, aging out of the picture. Nike had not signed a megastar in years. They needed a win. (4) Tiger would give it to them. The timing was perfect. (5) Phil Knight was a jock sniffer who simply had to sign the best athletes. If he was already paying Agassi and Jim Courier big bucks, I reasoned, imagine what he might pay the best young golfer to come along since Jack Nicklaus. With that in mind, I put my cards on the table: “Here’s a generational talent with charisma and global appeal who will instantly rocket Nike Golf into the big leagues. Not only are we coming to you first and exclusively, but we will give you the opportunity to own Tiger’s identity.
46 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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