In the past couple of weeks, Nike Golf has added 4 great additions to their touring staff. Kyle Stanley, Nick Watney, Seung Yul Noh and Thorbjorn Olesen are the new additions to Team Nike in 2013, with one more player addition on the way. Nike is expected to make a new player announcement at this year’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship from January 17 – 20, 2013, which also happens to be Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ first event of the season. It’s been rumored that Rory McIlroy will be joining Nike Golf in the 2013 season for some time now. He’s recently decided not to renew his five-year contract with Jumeirah Group, the luxury hotel company that has sponsored McIlroy since he was 18. Oakley has also been rumored to sue Mcilroy for a breach of contract. This all adds to the speculation that Rory will officially be part of Team Nike by the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
Rory McIlroy may be the biggest addition to Team Nike, but the other recently announced players are all great golfers as well. Kyle Stanley was a first time winner last year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, coming from 8-strokes down through 54 holes. This was a week after he blew a three shot lead with a triple-bogey on the 72nd hole at Torrey Pines – he ended up losing in a playoff to Brandt Snedeker. Nick Watney is also a great young addition to Team Nike, with his most recent wins at The Barclay’s in August 2012 and at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia in October 2012. Danish born Thorbjorn Olesen, who turned professional in 2008, also joined Team Nike. He made his breakthrough on the PGA Europen Tour last year with a win at the 2012 Sicilian Open as well as six top-10 finishes to finish 15th in the 2012 Race to Dubai.
Like McIlroy, Seung Yul (S.Y.) Noh was also part of the Titleist staff last year. He is a 21 year old golf professional from South Korea and finished T3 at the PGA Tour Q-School in December 2011 to earn his tour card for the 2012 season. This is the first time Noh had earned a full membership on the PGA Tour and he took full advantage of his opportunity. He ended up with three top-10 finishes and 10 top-25 finishes in 28 events and made 24 consecutive cuts. A highlight here would be his bogey-free 9-under 62 at the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second event of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the Fedex Cup. He ended up T13 for the tournament.
Before his full time status on the PGA Tour, Noh cemented his place in Asian golf history by becoming the youngest winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit at the age of 19 in 2010. He is also the winner of two tournaments on the Asian Tour, the 2008 Midea China Classic and the 2010 Maybank Malaysian Open. He’s got a great swing and is really long off the tee (averaging over 300 yards off the tee and weighing ~165 pounds!) – we can’t wait to see more of him this coming season!
Source: Nike Inc.
