Tiger Woods has won 82 times in his professional career, including twice at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, which this week hosts the 150th Open Championship. Should he overcome injuries once more and earn victory No. 83, he would pass Sam Snead for the most in the history of men’s professional golf. The common thread in most of the first 82 has been Woods wearing a red shirt on Sunday when holding up a trophy. (There were three times he didn’t wear red, but we’ll get to that later.)
The tradition of red began with his mother, Kultida, who believes this is “his power color.” What follows is a study of primary shirt colors in all those wins — in PGA Tour events and major championships. Shirt colors were compiled from photos of each Woods victory, and sorted by hex color into categories: dark red, light red, burgundy and non-red. Only final-round shirts were used, excluding any sweaters, vests or jackets. The most prominent color visible was used when shirts had multiple colors.
