Woodland Keeps A Crazy Equipment Winning Streak Alive

AP

Gary Woodland became the 11th player in the last 14 U.S. Opens to make the event his first major victory. He also accomplished a surprising feat for a relatively understated equipment company as Golf.com’s Jonathan Wall reports.

Did you know Wilson Golf has “more major wins than any other brand”? If the tagline sounds familiar that’s because Wilson has placed it in numerous advertisements over the years. When you can boast about major championship success, well, you scream it from the rooftops.

If the claim sounds a bit vague, it’s because Wilson isn’t boasting about equipment in general, but rather one specific piece of equipment: Irons. Before this week, Wilson was able to boast about an incredibly impressive streak that dated all the way back to the 1922 U.S. Open when Gene Sarazen joined the company’s advisory staff and immediately won the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

Sarazen remained connected to Wilson until his passing in 1999 and was instrumental in getting the streak started, winning seven of the club manufacturer’s first eight major titles.

Over the next 97 years, Wilson irons would win 61 majors, with the last coming at the 2008 PGA Championship by long-time staffer Padraig Harrington.

What made the 61 wins even more impressive was the fact that Wilson boasted at least one major victory in every decade since the 1920s. Streaks are meant to be broken, but for some reason, Wilson seemed to always find a way to get at least one win to keep the record intact.

But with just two major championships remaining in 2019, it felt like the run would expire in the next few months.

Then along came Gary Woodland to the rescue.

Woodland, if you’ll recall, became a Wilson Golf staffer back in January when he signed his first equipment deal since parting ways with Under Armour at the end of 2018. As part of the agreement, Woodland began using the company’s Staff Model Blades.

I for one, had no idea. Pre-tay cool for the iron maker.