On Sunday (February 28), golfers donned red shirts during the final round of the WGC-Workday Championship to honor Tiger Woods, who was seriously injured in a car accident last week. Woods always wears a red shirt on the final day of tournaments after a suggestion from his mother early on in his prolific career.
Woods was watching the match as he recovered from surgery to repair his broken leg and ankle and said he was touched when he saw other golfers wearing red shirts.
"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," Woods wrote on Twitter in his first public comments since the crash.
After the match ended, many golfers spoke about their decision to honor Woods by wearing red shirts and black pants.
"Obviously, there's nothing we can do to help him, but I think just it's important for him to feel some kind of support,'' said Justin Thomas. "I think this shows support to him. It's not something that's going to happen every week; it's not something that people are doing every day. But obviously, Sunday's a pretty special day for him and what he's wearing and just seemed like a great chance that people had the opportunity to do it.''
Rory McIlroy said that Woods has meant a lot to the sport of golf, and it wouldn't be the same without him.
"I guess for us, it's just a gesture to let him know that we're thinking about him and we're rooting for him. Obviously, things are looking a little better today than they were on Tuesday, but he's still got a ways to go," he said. "He's got a huge recovery ahead of him. But I think 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, in general, 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."
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