Famous person golfer Rory McIlroy and NBCUniversal-cast-offs firm Versant are forming a manufacturing firm. Sure, collectively.
Firethorn Productions will likely be collectively operated by Rory’s enterprise companions and Versant management, a Wednesday announcement reads. The mission? To “produce unique content material and experiences that remember Rory’s world and the fashionable golf way of life” via documentary and long-form storytelling, branded business campaigns, dwell fan experiences and occasions, and activations throughout Versant’s GolfPass and Golf Channel.
By means of McIlroy and GolfPass have lengthy been companions, immediately’s announcement makes Firethorn Versant’s first-ever three way partnership. After all, NBCUniversal has had loads of these. Versant, first introduced in 2024 and named this previous Could, will formally be a standalone firm on the primary enterprise day of 2026, Jan. 2.
McIlroy is the face of GolfPass, a deal now prolonged via 2038 — not 2028, 2038. GolfPass is a subscription educational video platform that was spun off to Versant, together with different digital properties like GolfNow (a tee-time reserving service) and Rotten Tomatoes. The entire NBCU cable channels, save Bravo, are additionally a part of Versant.
“Rory has been the best accomplice because the inception of GolfPass,” Will McIntosh, Versant’s president of digital platforms and ventures, stated in an announcement. “This extension not solely preserves the connection between our model and one of the revered athletes on the earth; it unlocks fully new paths for creativity, commerce and fan engagement.”
“Rory’s partnership with GolfPass has at all times been about elevating the sport and creating significant experiences for golfers in all places,” Sean O’Flaherty, the managing director of Rory McIlroy Inc. (sure, Rory’s an entire enterprise), added. “This subsequent chapter deepens that mission. The launch of our new manufacturing enterprise and the continued alignment with GolfPass opens the door for brand spanking new storytelling, new innovation, and new methods for followers to attach with Rory and the sport of golf.”
This previous April, McIlroy accomplished his profession Grand Slam, profitable The Masters (his fifth main championship). Not solely is McIlroy among the many PGA Tour’s biggest gamers, however he, together with Tiger Woods, has been amongst its most vocal opposers to upstart competitor LIV Golf, backed by PIF, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. And now he’s like a Hollywood producer.
“Firethorn” is the nickname for the par-5 fifteenth gap at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership, the place The Masters is performed. It’s statistically among the many simpler holes on the hallowed course, with severe potential for scoring and blowups. It’s also house to the well-known “Shot Heard Around the World” by Gene Sarazen in 1935. McIlroy hit a reasonably rattling wonderful shot there himself in 2025, saving the match (and basically profitable it) — watch that right here.
Extra actually, firethorn is a thorny, evergreen with clusters of pink, orange or yellow berries in fall and winter; the spring brings white flowers. The shrub is symbolically recognized with resilience.