Tiger Woods Receives Moving Tribute From Rory McIlroy and Other Top PGA Tour Players in Final Round of WGC-Workday Championship
Tiger Woods has easily had the most influence on the game of golf in the last 30 years with 82 wins on the PGA Tour and 15 major championships, including five wins at the Masters. Just how influential Woods has been became even more evident on Sunday during the final round of the WGC-Workday Championship when many of the top golfers in the world paid tribute to Woods following his serious car accident earlier in the week by wearing his traditional Sunday red shirt.
Tiger Woods in serious car accident
Last Sunday, Tiger Woods visited with Jim Nantz during the broadcast of the Genesis Invitational, talking about his recovery from back surgery and his plans for returning to the game. Two days later, Woods wasn’t only the talk of the golf world, but he was the top news story of the day after he was involved in a serious single-car accident.
Woods was en route to meet NFL quarterbacks Drew Brees and Justin Herbert for a video shoot when he lost control of his vehicle in California. Woods’ SUV crossed the center median and the opposing lane of traffic before rolling multiple times and coming to a stop.
Tiger Woods suffered serious injuries, including a comminuted open fracture to his right leg, which required emergency orthopedic surgery. He was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center later in the week where he underwent additional follow-up procedures for his injuries, according to his team.
Tiger Woods has been dominant at WGC events in his career
After undergoing his fifth back surgery in January, Tiger Woods never intended on playing the WGC-Workday Championship at the Concession in Florida. If his past results at WGC events are any indication, he likely would have fared pretty well.
Since turning pro in 1996, Woods has won 82 times on the PGA Tour, including an incredible 18 titles at WGC events. He won his first in 1999 at the WGC-NEC Invitational, where he defeated Phil Mickelson by a single stroke. He added a second that same year at the WGC-American Express Championship, where he won in a playoff over Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Tiger Woods has added 16 more WGC trophies to his collection, the last in 2013 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he won by an impressive seven shots over Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson. While Woods hasn’t won any recent WGC events, he came close in 2019 when he defeated Rory McIlroy at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas to advance to the quarterfinals. He was upset in the quarters by Lucas Bjerregaard.
Players wear Sunday red in honor of the seriously injured golfer
Before the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession in Florida this weekend, there was considerable speculation on social media whether or not players would do something in honor of Tiger Woods following his serious car accident this week in California.
On Sunday, the players delivered with a moving tribute to the greatest golfer of their generation and the one many idolized growing up and who inspired them to play the game. Numerous players wore the traditional red shirt Woods has worn for years on Sundays. Among them, Rory McIlroy, who wore the colors for the first time in his career.
Numerous others played balls with “TIGER” stamped across them, some even adding a custom red line.
It was a nice gesture by the players and one that Tiger Woods likely watched from his hospital bed in California with the hopes that one day he can join them again on the course.
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