Dear Gossips,   

Tiger Woods confirmed in early January that he was ending his nearly three-decade partnership with Nike. For people who play golf or who pay attention to golf, I’m not sure it was all that surprising considering Nike stopped making hardware a few years ago and even before that, their golf equipment wasn’t really hitting, no pun intended. 

 

So it’s been just over a month and now, just ahead of the Genesis Invitation this coming weekend, where he is the tournament host and is expected to play for the first time this year, Tiger has announced the launch of his new premium lifestyle brand: Sun Day Red. It’s a partnership with Taylor Made Golf, one of the sport’s leading brands. I use a Taylor Made driver and a fairway wood and yes, I am shamelessly sticking my hand up in the air hoping that they notice me because I’ve been wondering whether or not I need an upgrade. 

 

Back to Tiger, the most famous golfer in history. And while he’s older now and has gone through so many injuries and surgeries, and will probably never play to that unprecedented level again, he is still, for many, golf’s biggest draw. The sport simply hasn’t been the same as it was at the height of his performance. Putting his name on footwear and apparel, then, is a no-brainer. 

Only it’s not his name. The name of the brand is Sun Day Red which… we all get it, on Sunday’s Tiger wears red. It’s a familiar sight, even for those who don’t f-ck with golf. Tiger Woods, in red, pumping his fist on the green – a visual we’ve seen over and over again in pop culture. You could silhouette it and people would recognise who that is. 

I guess I just don’t understand splitting up the word to make it two instead of one: Sun Day and not Sunday. Sure, I would imagine they focus grouped the sh-t out of this and there are professionals out there who’ve been working on the viability of the name so, maybe, what do I know but, sorry, I get fixated on this sh-t and it makes no sense to me! Why can’t it just be Sunday Red?! 

 

A quick google search tells me that there’s actually a golf podcast called Sunday Red with almost 100 episodes but no new episode since the Masters in 2023 which is weird because there was so much drama the rest of the season in golf last year with the whole LIV mess and Nick Taylor, a Canadian, winning the Canadian Open and I’m singling this out because the three hosts of the Sunday Red podcast are Canadian. Maybe they just got too busy and couldn’t do the pod anymore? 

At the launch event yesterday it was apparently explained that the three word split is due to Tiger focusing on the “power of threes”. I mean, there’s nothing that makes a golfer crazier than a three-put, but sure. 

So that’s the brand name. But then there’s the logo – a tiger with 15 stripes, a nod to his major championships. Do you see a tiger? Because I see the skeleton of a dinosaur, like in a museum. 

 

I can’t be the only one, I am not an outlier, so I really don’t know about an athlete attaching himself to a symbol of a DINOSAUR, an extinct animal colloquially used to refer to someone who is over. 

As for product line, the first drop is coming in May and it’s menswear. Women and kids will follow at a later date. Sun Day Red is classified as luxury so I’m curious to see how premium these styles will be. Because, um, Tiger is a lot of things but he’s never been known for his drip. In fact, over the last decade I’ve always groaned whenever I see his pants. Now you’re about to tell me that golf isn’t stylish anyway and yes, that is the pervasive assumption about golf, and that’s also the f-cking problem. There are actually stylish golfers, golfers who care about their fits but not enough brands that are making cool golf clothes. Hilariously, though, you know who does? 

Macklemore! 

IKR? Macklemore has a golf clothing line called Bogey Boys and they did a collab with Adidas that was actually really cute. 

 

Will Tiger’s Sun Day Red be more of the same same golf styles as it’s always boringly been? Or will the best golfer of all time actually give us some good sh-t now that he’s getting into the clothing business? He said during the press conference that he wants to make it so that people can go straight from the course to dinner but, like, I’m looking at some of the product that was on display yesterday and, well, it seems like dinner will be at the restaurant that dad picked – same old same old. 

Sorry, it’s not like I want to be dumping on Tiger Woods because he’s my favourite golfer, flaws and all. I loved it when Tiger was in his prime, I loved it when Tiger was in contention on Sundays. No one else can bring it the way Tiger brings it. Which is why the kickoff to Sun Day Red is so confusing to me – because the work here isn’t quite at the level I would have hoped to see. Between the three words in the brand name and that wonky logo and these dull ass designs, nothing about Sun Day Red sets itself apart from the marketplace. 

 

And we haven’t even talked about the women’s line yet. Women’s golf clothing is one of my rages because it’s so terrible. What’s it going to be like when the Sun Day Red women’s line finally comes? Are they hiring? CAN THEY PLEASE HIRE ME?!?!?!

 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey