It's Officially #TigerWeek: Here Are All Your Tiger-Related Headlines As We Head Towards His Return
It’s finally here! Tiger Week! The week The Man The Myth The Legend (hopefully) returns to competitive golf after a 16-month hiatus. I say hopefully because we all know what happened the last time he said he was making his return. The Monday of the week of the Safeway Open, he pulled out and crushed everyone’s (mostly mine) dreams in the process. But let’s put all that behind us and just assume he’ll make his return at the Hero World Challenge this week. A few things about the tournament since it’s not your average tourney
– The event is hosted by Tiger and is a benefit for his Tiger Woods Foundation
– It’s in the Bahamas
– The field only consists of 18 players
– There is no cut
So as you can see, it’s not your average PGA Tour event. Which is fine. I don’t hate Tiger just dipping his toes in the water at his own event. I’m okay with him taking this whole return thing slow. If slow means it’ll actually last then I’m all for it. Not to mention we’ll get four rounds of Tiger regardless of what happens which is cool. And what if he wins? God I hope he wins.
Here are the main Tiger storylines heading into his return this week
New Golf Ball
If Tiger is comfortable using a Bridgestone ball, then I’m comfortable with him using a Bridgestone ball. That’s all that matters. I will admit, it’ll be pretty weird seeing him not using a Nike ball after all we’ve been through with him and The Swoosh. Feels like the end of an era because it is.
#NeverForget
New Equipment
This is the biggest change from when Tiger last played to now. Nike golf equipment has officially bowed out and guys like Tiger and Rory are scrambling to figure out what the future holds for their equipment. As that Harig tweet says, Tiger hasn’t made any public commitments one way or the other in terms of what he’ll use going forward. All we know is that for the Hero World Challenge it’ll be TaylorMade woods, Nike irons, Bridgestone ball and a Scotty Cameron putter. This equipment storyline will continue until Nike-sponsored players ultimately make their decisions. Tiger being the biggest of them all, of course.
New Sponsor
ESPN- Sources told ESPN that Woods will debut a Monster Energy logo on his bag at the Hero World Challenge, his foundation’s 18-player tournament in the Bahamas this week. His agent, Mark Steinberg, confirmed a new sponsor would debut, but did not confirm that it would be Monster. Monster officials did not immediately return requests for comment.
Cool? Cool. I was hoping it was going to be Surge or Oakheart but Monster Energy is fine I guess.
Everybody get pumped. The return of the greatest golfer who ever lived is upon us.
#TigerWeek