As the hat on his head at the Sentry Tournament of Champions indicated, Gary Woodland has signed with Wilson Golf. The multiyear-deal calls for Woodland to play 10 Wilson clubs (he’s already been using Wilson blade irons) and wear a hat with Wilson on the front.
Of course, while irons and wedges are likely to be the first additions to Woodland’s bag, the question most want to know the answer to is whether Woodland will use a Wilson driver, specifically the company’s movable-weight Cortex which won the Driver Vs. Driver 2 contest.
“There are some incentives for him to use the driver.,” said Wilson Golf president Tim Clarke. “He has been playing with Cortex quite a bit of late and one of the goals is to hopefully have him put that in play in competition. I know Ron Graham, our PGA Tour manager, was in Hawaii with him doing little tweaks on some things with it, making some weight adjustments.”
Clarke also said that at some point it was a possibility that Woodland—whom Clarke had targeted a few years ago for a deal—could be in a Wilson ball.
“We did test balls with him and it is something we are excited about,” said Clarke. “The initial tests that we did with him were strong, but the reality is no player wants to change everything at once. So there have been conversations about the ball, but we understand he needs to get settled in on the clubs first.”
Woodland, who currently sits third on the PGA Tour’s 2018-19 money list, has been one of the tour’s more consistent performers, having resided outside the top 40 on the earnings list just twice in his 10-plus full years on tour. He also has three PGA Tour titles to his credit. And now a nice, new contract as well.