Unstoppable in the red

When Tiger Woods entered the final day of the Masters in 2019, it felt like the sports world had stepped into a time machine. The 43-year-old golfer – 11 years removed from winning his last major tournament – ​​battled a series of devastating injuries and a whole new generation of competition, but with every precision shot he reminded the world what he once was.

What drove home the point, perhaps more than any aspect of his playing, was the fact that Mr. Woods looked almost exactly as he did in his other four wins at Augusta, the last of which came in 2005.

As he walked the tree-lined course, his arms and chest were more muscular than they were in his twenties, with pants made slightly more form-fitting, but the uniform remained his uniform. On top of his head he wore a black hat with a white Nike swoosh. His pants, belt and shoes were all black. And of course his shirt was red.

“It goes back to my mother,” Mr. Woods says in “Never Settle,” a book by ESPN reporter Marty Smith. “My mother says my power color is red.”

When Mr. Woods’ insistence on winning what would be his last Masters title, at least to date, raised hopes that his days as a dominant golfer were not over. But a car accident in 2021 ended that comeback, leaving him three major titles short of tying Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.

The reality that he has now entered a decidedly different phase of his life and career – one in which he is more of a golf mentor to his son Charlie than an active golfer – was driven home this week when Mr. Woods ended his 27-year relationship with Nike. That relationship, which dated back to 1997, months before his first Masters victory, had begun with a $40 million bet by Nike on a prodigy that many predicted, quite rightly, would be the person to revolutionize would bring to golf.

During his years at Nike, Mr. Woods does too experiment with different looks – on and off the court – and often sported its own TW logo, instead of the company’s signature swoosh. But on Sundays, especially at the Masters, the uniform was the uniform.

1997

During his first professional appearance at Augusta – he had played the Masters twice as an amateur – Mr. Woods the youngest champion in the tournament’s history. In his Sports column from The Times, Dave Anderson asked a series of questions about the young golfer’s future. Amongst them:

“Will his income, especially his $40 million Nike contract, dampen the flame of his competitive desire?”

(That didn’t happen.)

2001

Unlike 1997, when he walked away with the Masters title, Mr. Woods faced some competition on the last day of the 2001 tournament, where David Duval and Phil Mickelson had to be stopped to win. And in a slightly darker shade of red, he did just that, capturing his fourth consecutive major title.

2002

With his third Masters victory in a six-year period, Mr. Woods became so dominant that writers and opponents struggled to make sense of the moment because they were so focused on what his performance was. could mean about his future. The victory came so soon after his 2001 win that photos of him from the two tournaments are almost indistinguishable.

2005

Mr Woods had struggled somewhat in the run-up to 2005, at least by his own high standards, and his fourth Masters victory almost eluded him on the final day. His eventual victory proved to be satisfying in a whole new way. When he returned to a brighter shade of red and swapped a polo for a collarless Dri-Fit shirt, he looked refreshed.

2019

In what was immediately considered one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, Mr. Woods at the 2019 Masters set off a series of events on the 12th hole of the final day, including a devastating look from Mr. Woods, who was dressed like it was 2005 and played like it was 1997.

“It was much more than a golf hole,” wrote Bill Pennington of Mr. Woods on the 12th hole. “It was a psychological drama, the moment a former champion reclaimed his domain, and the kind of seminal moment that helps rewrite the history of a sport.”

Tiger was, at least briefly, Tiger again. And his Nike uniform, as it had on so many other great days of his career, brought that point home to perfection.