Tiger Finds His Ball, Other Nike Guys In Hoarding Mode

In reading Doug Ferguson's story reporting Tiger's golf ball endorsement deal with Bridgestone, it's fun to read just how neurotic players remain about the ball they put into play.

I'm enjoying the thought of Brooks Koepka parking his cars outside the garage because of his Nike golf ball hoarding now that they are out of the business...

By choosing a new golf ball, Woods went a different direction from two of Nike's highest-ranked players. Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka said they have asked Nike to set aside as many golf balls as possible.

"I have about two to three years' worth," Koepka said in the Bahamas.

David Dusek's Golfweek.com story on the signing of Woods says Bridgestone ran the numbers, Japanese-style.

Corey Consuegra, Bridgestone’s senior director of marketing, said Monday evening that his company has an internal philosophy based on a Japanese phrase, Genbutsu-Genba.

“What that means is that we make fact-based decisions, decisions that are based on data,” he said. “So when we looked into the opportunity to be a partner with Tiger Woods, we studied closely and learned (in focus groups) that our brand perception increases by 50 percent when he is connected to our brand, and the purchase intent of our consumers goes up based on the nature of his credibility.”