Tour News

TaylorMade adds six players to its Tour Staff

Published

9 years ago

Jan 12, 2017

TaylorMade has added six new players to its Tour Staff: Smylie Kaufman, Paul Casey, Seung-Yul Noh, Nick Watney, Kyle Stanley and Jon Curran. Each of the players is specifically signed to use TaylorMade metal woods.

“We’re thrilled to welcome these six men into the TaylorMade family as our newest Tour staff ambassadors,” said Chuck Presto, TaylorMade’s Senior Vice President of Global Sports Marketing. “It goes without saying each of their accomplishments speak for themselves and we look forward to watching them succeed while playing the highest performing products in the world out on Tour.”

The six signings join a TaylorMade Staff that includes four of the top-16 players in the Official World Golf Rankings who use the company’s metal woods, irons, wedges and golf ball: Jason Day (No. 1), Dustin Johnson (No. 3), Sergio Garcia (No. 13) and Justin Rose (No. 16)

Note: Kaufman and Curren are still signed to Cleveland/Srixon Golf, and will continue to play the company’s irons, wedges and golf ball. They will both carry a Cleveland/Srixon bag, and wear the company’s hat and glove.

Learn more about each of the new signings below.

Paul Casey

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Paul Casey is a three-time European Ryder Cup team member. The 39-year-old has won 14 times internationally and once on the PGA Tour (2009 Shell Houston Open).

He previously used Nike Golf equipment and began playing TaylorMade’s M2 driver at the Safeway Open in October. He is currently 15th in the OWGR.

WITB: See what clubs Casey used in 2016.

Smylie Kaufman

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Smylie Kaufman had an impressive rookie campaign on the PGA Tour, earning his first victory at the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October. He also earned a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, finishing 43rd, and recorded a top-30 finish at The Masters in 2016.

Kaufman started using a TaylorMade M2 driver in August, and is currently 103rd in the OWGR.

WITB: See what clubs Kaufman used in 2016

Seung-Yul Noh

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Seung-Yul Noh made his debut on the PGA Tour in 2010 at the age of 19. He earned his first PGA Tour win at the 2014 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Noh previously used Nike Golf equipment, and began playing a TaylorMade M1 430 driver and the company’s 2016 M1 fairway wood this fall. He is currently 360th in the OWGR.

WITB: See what clubs Noh we last spotted Noh using on Tour.

Nick Watney

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Nick Watney is a five-time PGA Tour winner, and has earned more than $24 million in on-course earnings since turning pro in 2003. His last victory came in 2012 at The Barclays.

The 35-year-old previously used Nike Golf equipment, and switched to TaylorMade’s M2 driver, 3 wood and an M1 5 wood at the Safeway Open. He is currently 478th in the OWGR.

WITB: See what clubs we last spotted Watney using on Tour.

Kyle Stanley

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Kyle Stanley, 29, turned pro in 2009 and won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2012. The Clemson University graduate has accumulated more than $7 million in career earnings.

Stanley previously used Nike Golf equipment, and is currently 258th in the OWGR.

Jon Curran

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Jon Curran, 29, has finished 113th and 66th the last two season in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup point list, and has two runner-up finishes on Tour. He is 124th in the OWGR.

WITB: See what clubs Curran we last spotted Curran using on Tour.

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10 Comments

Pingback: TaylorMade signs 6 new players to Tour Staff for 2017 season | #1 News Source For Teens
xjohnx

Jan 13, 2017 at 10:35 am

to clarify: are you pointing out that metal woods were a point in each contract or that each player’s contract was specifically only to play the woods?

Reply Report comment
- Zak Kozuchowski
  
  Jan 13, 2017 at 10:46 am
  
  He’s signed to play TaylorMade metals, Cleveland/Srixon everything else.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - xjohnx
    
    Jan 13, 2017 at 11:01 am
    
    Who is the “he” you are referring to? I was asking about all 6.
    
    Reply Report comment
    - Zak Kozuchowski
      
      Jan 13, 2017 at 11:47 am
      
      Sorry, Kaufman and Curran. We’re not aware of separate clubs deals for the other four golfers.
      
      Reply Report comment
Mark

Jan 13, 2017 at 10:18 am

“We’re thrilled to welcome these six men into the TaylorMade family as our newest Tour staff ambassadors,” said Chuck Presto…”. What utter, utter bollocks. For these players, three out of 14 clubs will be from TaylorMade. Three clubs now makes one a staff ambassador? This goes beyond hype – it is bottom of the barrel scraping.

Reply Report comment
- booya cornflakes
  
  Jan 13, 2017 at 12:35 pm
  
  Exactly! It’s the same as all of these NBA players! Oh, you’re a Nike brand ambassador, huh? Did Nike make those Jeans? Or that car you drive? NO.
  
  That’s what you sound like. It’s silly to think that a player needs to bag all the clubs from one brand to be a spokesperson for a given brand. If the top 10 players in the world all decided to use TM woods, everyone here would be buying them like hotcakes, regardless of which irons they play.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - LD
    
    Jan 14, 2017 at 2:56 pm
    
    Everyone? Speak for yourself, lemming.
    
    Reply Report comment
Simon

Jan 12, 2017 at 7:28 pm

Oh no smylie, why’d you take that Classic driver out?!

Reply Report comment
Sam

Jan 12, 2017 at 1:33 pm

Wow I’m surprised by Seung-Yul Noh, as he had almost a full bag of Titleist clubs towards the end of last year after Nike made their announcement.

Lots of Nike guys playing TM clubs now. Maybe this will be how most of their staff players will look in a few years.

Reply Report comment

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.