Rory McIlroy is reported to have his hand poised over a $250 million (€193 million) deal with Nike to switch to use of their golfing equipment.
The way was paved earlier this week when the parent company of Titleist said it would not be renewing its five year deal with the world number one from Hollywood in County Down.
This week McIlroy and Woods have been playing in the ‘Duel at Jinsha Lake’, a match against each other in China where each was paid close to €1 million.  McIlroy was pictured taking practise swings with Woods’ Nike clubs in a ‘natural moment’ doubtless constructed deep in the labyrinth of NikeTown.
Commentators, including Nick Faldo have questioned the wisdom of dropping the equipment that brought him so far but Tiger Woods made the same journey over ten years before and won eight of his fourteen major titles playing with the swoosh clubs.
With the two biggest draws in the game in the same equipment ‘house’ there will doubtless be more matches like this week, so long that is as Tiger clings on to his form and Rory maintains his.
Away from the personal endorsements though such moves could threaten the ecosystem of a multiple partner sponsorship programme that Golf has successfully implemented over the past decade.
Both players have chosen not to turn up to this week’s HSBC Champions’ tournament, also in China, leaving a big hole which the banking sponsors have not been slow to express disappointment over.
“On one hand we are delighted to have 13 of the world’s top 20 here, but of course we’re disappointed not to have the two top players in the world,” Giles Morgan, group head of sponsorship for HSBC admitted in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
“Both have sent apologies, but this is an event which should be regarded by all players — as it is by the tours and the media — as one of the top events in the world. Therefore I feel strongly that the top players should be here. I believe that golfers have a responsibility to their sponsors.”
“Without the sponsors there isn’t professional golf. I speak on behalf of the industry. I feel very strongly, as I know a number of sponsors do; particularly in a downturn, particularly when there are financial difficulties around the world — that golf cannot be immune either.”
Remember the draw of McIlroy, Clarke, McDowell and Harrington for this year’s Irish Open.  Players are vital and it is to be hoped those words of Morgan are not repeated here and elsewhere over the coming years.
Title sponsorship of an event is a prime way of avoiding the idea of picking sides or being prey to the personal lifestyle choices of individuals.  It only works though when the players or the teams turn up.  That the top two players in the world should choose to drop one of the top ten tournaments in the world is clearly of major concern.
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