Chapter 87

Jupiter Island, Florida

January 8, 2024

It’s time for a change of uniform, Tiger’s decided.

After the PNC Championship, he’d been asked about his FootJoy golf shoes, the brand he wore for the first time at the 2022 Masters. What about Nike? “I’m still wearing their product,” he told inquiring reporters.

The partnership with Nike—worth an estimated $660 million to Tiger—has lasted twenty-seven years.

“I’m confident he will be with Nike for the rest of his career” was Mark Steinberg’s declaration in 2013, when Tiger’s original 1996 contract, extended in 2001 and 2006, was reportedly lengthened ten more years.

“Dr. No” has long been Steinberg’s alias, coined for his protective stance toward his top client. But it was Tiger who decided to split with Nike.

Nike answers with a national advertising campaign that rolls out on March 9. “It was a hell of a round, Tiger,” runs the caption over a photo of Tiger celebrating his 1997 Masters win, dressed in his iconic Nike red and black.

That historic day at Augusta National, Tiger wore Nike Air Zoom Litany Wingtips. When he returned to the Masters in 2022, following his year-plus recovery from his Los Angeles County car crash, he wore FootJoys. And continued to wear them.

“I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nike made a thousand pairs of shoes for that guy,” says a former Nike brand marketing director. “They cut that FootJoy apart, they used the same leather. I’ve seen the Innovation Kitchen and they can do miracles. I know Nike bent over backwards to try to make this work.”

Tiger announces his Nike breakup with his own bold sign-off: “See you in LA!”

That’s where the player-host of the 2024 Genesis Invitational will launch his next, as yet unspecified, venture.

On Monday, February 12—two days after the celebration of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the year of the dragon, and one day after Super Bowl LVIII—forty-eight-year-old Tiger unveils his new apparel line. Its name is Sun Day Red.

The CEO of TaylorMade Golf Company, David Abeles, is one of Tiger’s event cohosts. The other is full-time sportscaster and part-time matchmaker Erin Andrews. (On her popular podcast, Calm Down with Erin and Charissa, Andrews suggested to billionaire singer-songwriter Taylor Swift that she date Kansas City Chiefs tight end and now three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce. “Go on a date with this guy,” Andrews told Swift. “Do it for America.”)

Tiger and TaylorMade are hoping for another love match… for their international business goals. Sun Day Red is an independent brand within TaylorMade, which also manufactures Tiger’s golf clubs. Each of the fifteen points in the logo—a tiger-shaped design at once new and familiar—represents one of Tiger’s major championships. The line includes golf wear (shoes and shirts, hats and gloves) as well as lifestyle items such as cashmere hoodies with luxury finishes. The inaugural collection is on display to guests mingling in the elegant, second-floor outdoor party space at the Coach House in prestigious Palisades Village, two miles from the Riviera Country Club, where the Genesis Invitational will be played this week.

Tiger explains the inspiration behind Sun Day Red. “It started with Mom. Mom thought—being a Capricorn—that my power color was red, so I wore red as a junior golfer and I won some tournaments. Lo and behold, I go to a university that is red; Stanford is red. We wore red on the final day of every single tournament, and then every single tournament I’ve played as a professional I’ve worn red. It’s just become synonymous with me.”

“It’s been full circle for me,” Tiger says, offering a nostalgic valentine to Riviera Country Club on Wednesday, February 14. “This is where I played my first tour event and now having my foundation and being in control of that event I hope I figure something out and get in contention.”

In the pro-am competition at the Genesis Invitational, Tiger—dressed in a navy-blue sweater, pants, and cap bearing the Sun Day Red logo—teams with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Aaron Hicks. After a sixth-place finish, Tiger says, “I had an absolute blast today. A lot of talking trash, telling stories… enjoying one another’s company.”

Reporters amp up the intensity, asking after the fate of the TW logo Nike had created for Tiger’s former clothing line. “I don’t want it back,” he says emphatically. “I’ve moved on. This is a transition in my life. I moved on to Sun Day Red, and we’re looking forward to building a brand that elicits excitement and is transformative.”

It’s been nearly three decades since Tiger competed wearing clothing not bearing the Nike swoosh. Ten months have passed since Tiger withdrew with injuries from the 2023 Masters, but his determination never wavers. “I still love competing, playing, being part of the game of golf,” he says. “It’s a game of a lifetime and I don’t ever want to stop playing.”

From the PGA Tour Champions event in Florida, where Notah Begay III offers commentary for the Golf Channel broadcast team, Tiger’s old friend assesses his readiness for tomorrow’s challenge. “Ten years ago, 15 years ago, there were no limitations on Tiger Woods. Now he understands, and that’s fine. He’s not the longest… but he’s way above average. So it’s just kind of like, can he piece it together at the right time? We’ll see.”

Tiger walks to the first tee box at Riviera Country Club wearing more clothing from his new Sun Day Red line: a blue cap, white sweater, and white shoes. He drives the ball nearly three hundred yards and birdies the hole. As the round progresses, his play holds steady, ranging between 1 over and 1 under.

Tiger’s playing partners in the first two rounds are Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland, who underwent surgery for a brain tumor in September of 2023. Tiger granted Woodland a sponsor’s exemption. The fathers share a philosophy of leading by example. “I want to prove to my kids nobody is going to tell you you can’t do anything,” Woodland told the Associated Press in January. “You can overcome tough, scary decisions in your life. Not everything is easy.”

Around the 16th, the now familiar back spasms return—then set in. On the 18th, Tiger drives the ball straight down the fairway 295 yards. Then he hits his second shot into some deep rough to the right of the clubhouse. He recovers from the shank—unusual on the PGA Tour and even rarer for Tiger—sailing the ball between eucalyptus trees, over bunkers, and onto the green. He finishes 1 over par and ties for forty-ninth place.

Still, the crowd rewards their hometown champion with a rousing ovation.

“Oh, definitely I shanked it,” Tiger says after the round. “My back was spasming the last couple holes and it was locking up. I came down and it didn’t move and I presented hosel [clubhead socket] first and shanked it.”

Thirty-one-year-old Patrick Cantlay has a lot in common with Tiger, including hailing from Southern California and serving on the PGA policy board alongside his sporting idol. Today, Cantlay takes an early tournament lead, finishing the first round eight strokes ahead of him.

“You see all the kids emulating Tiger, the game’s growing and more rounds are being played than ever before in this country,” Cantlay says. “The 10th hole here is the best case study. In the past it was 50-50 whether to lay up. Now, stats show going for the green is worth it. Players are more aggressive today and you almost have to be.”

Tiger holds himself to the same standards he set back when Earl was coaching him in the ways of mental toughness. Thursday night, he begins to experience flulike symptoms. But despite having a fever, he’s on the range Friday morning, warming up for the second round.

Tiger is uncharacteristically quiet. Gary Woodland notices that he “wasn’t himself, just didn’t look right.”

As in the opening round, Tiger birdies the 1st. Then he bogeys 4 and 5. He’s in danger of missing the cut.

But after teeing off on the 7th, Tiger is no longer fit to play. He signals for assistance, and a rules official drives him off the course in a cart. After twenty-four holes, his tournament has ended.

Riviera’s Spanish revival–style clubhouse dates to 1928. Fans watch with concern as two vehicles from the Los Angeles Fire Department pull up—an ambulance and a ladder truck. The paramedics deliver the medical supplies urgently needed to treat Tiger.

“The doctors are saying he’s got potentially some type of flu and that he was dehydrated,” Rob McNamara, VP of TGR Ventures, says. “He’s been treated with an IV bag and he’s doing much, much better, and he’ll be released on his own here soon.”

Two hours later, Tiger departs Riviera, a passenger in a red SUV.

Fans stream off the course. Now that they can’t watch Tiger play, there’s no reason to linger.

The Tiger Effect remains in full force.