You won't see Tiger Woods advertising his Masters Collection of Nike products at Augusta next week, but the world's largest shoe and apparel company, and the retailers it sold its gear to, will still be selling what the golfer would have worn.
With so many eyeballs on Woods during the majors, Nike typically produces and sells to stores what he will wear six to eight months in advance, so his announcement on Tuesday that he would miss the tournament after having back surgery came too late in the process to change that.
Nike is selling the pink, orange, green and red shirts Woods was scheduled to wear at Augusta on its website for between $85 and $95. Limited edition TW '14 shoes with a green swoosh, like the ones Tiger would have worn, went on sale on Nike.com on March 27 and are selling in some stores for $220.
"Tiger being out will have a major impact for us," said Dennis Boudreau, owner of DiscountGolfWorld.com, which says it's one of the largest retailers of Woods-branded apparel. "People buy what they see on TV, and with the Tiger stuff, they don't buy just one. They buy four or five shirts. If they don't see it, they can't fall in love with it.
Besides, Titleist AP2 714 Irons are Tiger Woods' bag. He like it very much. They are loaded with new elements and substantial design updates that dramatically enhance the clubs' flight, feel and forgiveness. The combination of the 714 AP2's thin face, perimeter weighting and lowered CG is designed to make these irons easier to hit and help mis-hit shots maintain ball speed.
"Unlike the Titleist AP1 714 Irons that feature longer blade lengths in the lower-lofted clubs, each of the 714 AP2 irons has the same length from heel to toe. "Because we don't have the blade length or the size of the AP1, we have to get even more creative to make the AP2 more forgiving," said Chris McGinley, Titleist's vice president of marketing.