Former world number one golfer Tiger Woods creates a positive visual effect and mood through his preference for wearing a red shirt during the final round of a major or the PGA Tour, according to Golfweek.
Red is a powerful color and, depending on the culture, will represent many different things, including love, the devil or luck. Over the past 25 years, it has also become the color that identifies Woods in the closing match of the pinnacle golf event, since he wore the red shirt to set a -18 winning mark at the 1997 major Masters.
Psychology has shown that red can affect states, emotions and actions. The University of Illinois team of experts also found that it relates to or evokes strength. Woods once revealed that his mother – Mrs. Kultida, who is of Thai descent – told him red was a powerful color for him. In my mother’s hometown, native people often wear red on Sunday.
Tiger Woods celebrates winning the Masters at Augusta, April 14, 2019. Photo: AP
The American golf superstar has been associated with the red shirt since his early days at Stanford University. “I often wear red on the last day of an event or an important tournament for my school. Coincidentally, the place where I studied had the same color scheme. That combination proved effective. Then when I turned professional, I won a few cups. with the red shirt, this tradition will never change,” Woods revealed before the 2013 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Meanwhile, many golf fans believe that Woods is superstitious and favors the color red for good luck. There are also groups that guess Woods chose this color to stand out on the field, increasing his appeal to both the audience and the media.
Considering visual effects, this speculation is correct because in the visible spectrum, red has the longest wavelength. With that characteristic, the human eye will perceive it first when looking at the rainbow or seven-color palette. In children, red is the first color they can distinguish. This is also the core point why red is often used to attract attention such as firefighting and danger warnings.
As for Woods, with this color, he reached at least two great milestones in his personal career and the PGA Tour in 2019. That was when he won the Masters for the fifth time, thereby owning 15 majors, and finished first at the Zozo Championship to win the same title. Sam Snead holds a record of 82 cups in the first-class American golf arena.
However, from now on, the public will have few opportunities to see Woods “red” in both color and achievements, because he only competes for four majors and two more PGA Tour tournaments. When Woods turned 48, his health weakened, especially his legs, after escaping death in a self-car crash near Los Angeles in February 2021.
Last week, Woods played in a regular tournament for the first time on the PGA Tour after 844 days of absence, still wearing the red shirt for the final round but finishing T45.
