Tiger Woods returns to the golf course this week when he plays in the Genesis Invitational. He’s spent the week preparing for his first competitive round of golf in seven months, which takes place on Thursday.
While Woods‘ preparations and practice swings have been under a microscope all week as he continues to work through an ankle and leg injury suffered in a car crash two years ago, eagle-eyed folks have noticed that he’s wearing a very specific type of footwear and not the one you would expect.
“It’s downright astonishing that, nearly a full year after his return, Tiger Woods still plays golf in FootJoys,” golf analyst Dan Rapaport said.
It’s downright astonishing that, nearly a full year after his return, Tiger Woods still plays golf in FootJoys.
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) February 16, 2023
The reason that’s so astonishing is that Woods is a prominent Nike athlete and they’re not exactly known for letting their high-profile people wear attire from another company.
In fact, Woods and Nike announced last April that they were working on a new shoe for him. Still, he’s been playing on FootJoy shoes ever since and it doesn’t appear that he’ll be swapping anytime soon.
Presumably, Woods is putting his health ahead of any need to make Nike happy, and they’re probably okay to let him since he’s arguably one of their biggest athletes. But we’d have to imagine they’ll want to get him back in Nike head-to-toe as soon as possible.
