Tiger Woods now has some company with Sun Day Red.
PGA Tour rookie becomes first player to sign endorsement deal with Tiger Woods’ Sun Day Red
Tiger Woods’ Sun Day Red line now has another player ambassador other than himself.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
On Tuesday, PGA Tour rookie Karl Vilips became the first player ambassador other than Woods to join the Sun Day Red team. Vilips, a fellow Stanford alum, will make his PGA Tour season debut this week at the Mexico Open at Vidanta World.
Over the weekend, Sun Day Red’s social accounts teased an announcement for Feb. 18, 2025. Their post was a simple silhouette of a player’s follow-through, referencing someone new joining the team. Many golf fans then speculated on who it could be, with some guessing Ludvig Åberg, who won Woods’ Genesis Invitational on Sunday.
But Woods signed a fellow Stanford Cardinal, giving a young player with great potential an endorsement deal with his brand.
After finishing his senior season ranked among the top 10 in the PGA Tour University Rankings, Vilips earned conditional membership on the Korn Ferry Tour starting in July 2024. The Perth, Australia native then began his pro career on a tear, finishing T-13, T-15, and solo second before winning the Utah Championship in early August. That win helped him finish among the top 30 in the final Korn Ferry Tour standings, which earned him PGA Tour membership for the 2025 season.
An injury has sidelined him for the first six weeks of 2025, which explains why he has not yet played. But when he makes his first PGA Tour start as a professional this week, he will be donning Sun Day Red.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
