Tiger Woods touched by players showing their support by wearing red

BRADENTON, Fla. – More than a dozen PGA Tour players showed their support for Tiger Woods on Sunday by wearing his traditional final-round outfit – red shirt, black slacks – scribbling “TW” on the side of their hats or using a ball stamped with “TIGER.”

They were small gestures meant to lift the spirits of Woods, who is recovering in a Los Angeles-area hospital after suffering serious injuries from a car accident earlier this week.

“Obviously things are looking a little better today than they were on Tuesday, but he’s still got a ways to go. He’s got a huge recovery ahead of him,” Rory McIlroy said. “I think it was just for everyone to show their appreciation for what he means to us out here. If there was no Tiger Woods, I just think the Tour and the game of golf would be in a worse place. He’s meant a lot to us, he still does mean a lot to us, and I think that was just a little way to show that.”

Woods was clearly moved by the gesture, tweeting this on Sunday night, after the completion of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship:

“It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts. To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time.”

Tournament winner Collin Morikawa said that he had planned to wear a red shirt on Sunday, but that the shipment from Adidas got stuck in Memphis because of weather issues. His caddie even went to the distribution center to check if it had arrived. When it became clear that the shirts wouldn’t get here before his tee time, Morikawa instead settled for black pants.

“My agent said that even though the shirt wasn’t there, go out and play like Tiger would with the lead,” Morikawa said. “I think I did.”