Rory McIlroy’s big-money switch of sponsors to Nike is set to be announced in Abu Dhabi on Monday, reports have said.
The deal is believed to be worth a massive $250 million over 10 yearshas been in the making for the last few months at a time when the 23-year-old Ulsterman has cemented his position as the top golfer in the world.
During that time McIlroy has been shedding the corporate ties he has had since he exploded onto the international stage in 2007, notably with golf equipment giants Titleist and sunglasses company Oakley.
The latest in this line was the Dubai hotel group Jumeirah, who announced on Tuesday they had severed their ties with the player after having been his first corporate sponsor in 2007.
Nike — which insists its star clients, among them Tiger Woods, are dressed from head to toe in its signature “swoosh” logo — have confirmed there will be a “major announcement” at Abu Dhabi’s Fairmont Hotel on Monday featuring an unspecified “special guest.”
McIlroy was in Dubai at the start of the week after flying in from Australia where he was with girlfriend, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, ahead of the Australian Openwhich starts in Melbourne next week, which starts next week in Melbourne.
He is due to open his 2013 campaign in nearby Abu Dhabi next Thursday, where Woods will also be in competition for the first time this year.
If the deal with Nike is confirmed at $250 million, it would be the most lucrative endorsement ever negotiated in golf, confirming McIlroy as golf’s shining light in place of Woods, who has seen his image tainted by a 2009 sex scandal and subsequent loss of form.