'Return' Woods Starts Anew Wearing New Shoes

Genesis Invitational Practice Round Completed
New Brand 'Sun Day Red' Hats, Clothes, Shoes
Equipped with New Weapons Including TaylorMade Woods and Wedges

The "Golf Emperor" Tiger Woods (USA) played a practice round wearing new shoes.

Tiger Woods is playing in the Genesis Invitational practice round wearing a new hat, clothes, and shoes. [Pacific Palisades, USA = AFP·Yonhap News]

On the 13th (local time), he played 9 holes at the Riviera Country Club (par 71, 7,322 yards) in Pacific Palisades, California, USA, during the PGA Tour Genesis Invitational (total prize money $20 million). He warmed up ahead of his first regular tournament appearance in 10 months since withdrawing from the Masters last April.

Woods wore a new golf wear brand "Sunday Red" hat and clothes, unveiled the day before, instead of Nike, which he had worn for 27 years. He wore a black shirt, white pants, and a black hat. The "Sunday logo," shaped like a tiger, was clearly visible on his chest and the front of the hat. What stood out were his golf shoes. Woods' black golf shoes also bore the "Sunday Red" logo.

Since suffering severe leg injuries in a 2021 car accident, Woods still finds walking difficult. Every time he enters a tournament, he says, "The shots are not a big problem, but walking all four rounds is the biggest challenge." The seed of his split from Nike also sprouted from golf shoes. When Nike failed to produce the comfortable golf shoes Woods wanted on time, he started wearing FootJoy golf shoes in tournaments from the 2022 Masters onward.

There was more that Woods debuted in the practice round. Lance Bennett took over as caddie instead of Joe LaCava, who had carried Woods' bag for a long time. LaCava, Woods' dedicated caddie, now works with Patrick Cantlay (USA). Woods also put the new TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood and two TaylorMade MG4 wedges, released this year, in his bag. He used the newly released Bridgestone Tour B X balls.

Woods will make his comeback at the Genesis Invitational, where he is the host. He has never won this tournament. His best results were runner-up finishes in 1998 and 1999, before the Woods Foundation started hosting the event. The field is impressive. Nine of the top 10 world-ranked players are participating. Jon Rahm (Spain), last year's champion and world No. 3, transferred to LIV Golf earlier this year and cannot participate in PGA Tour events. Korea is represented by Kim Joo-hyung, Im Sung-jae, An Byeong-hun, and Kim Si-woo.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.