Witness: Bob Wood Nike Golf president

EVENT: Nike Golf sales meeting
DATE: June 1

"Tiger had won the Memorial using the new Nike ball, but he
still hadn't announced whether he'd switch to it full time. It's
a big move, to go from a wound ball to a nonwound ball. We were
having a meeting at Sunriver, a resort in central Oregon. Every
employee of Nike Golf is there, 150 people. The lights go down;
they have no idea what's going on. The lights come up, and
there's Tiger, center stage. He gets a standing ovation. It's
loud. People are psyched. I'm about to start a little Q and A
with him. I want to ask him about how the new ball is performing
for him. He's looking very relaxed, very happy.

"As I'm about to begin, Tiger says, 'Before we get started, I
just want to tell you and everyone here that I've decided to
switch permanently to the Nike Tour Accuracy ball.' Nobody was
prepared for this. He's looking right at the audience, and
they're cheering, going nuts. He was really connecting with these
people. I had no idea he was going to do that. He has a terrific
sense of drama and emotion, and that's what these kinds of
meetings are all about. With that one sentence, everybody at that
meeting knew Tiger Woods was on the team. He was throwing his lot
in with ours."

B/W PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN LANKER

25
The number of Tour events won by Woods since he turned pro late
in the '96 season. (At 24 years, nine months and 11 days, he was
the youngest player ever to reach 25 victories. Also, of the 19
players ahead of him on the alltime wins list, only six--Billy
Casper, Gene Littler, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino
and Tom Watson--have won a Tour event in the last 30 years.)

104
The number of starts it took Tiger to reach 25 wins. The next
fastest was Sam Snead, who needed 114 starts.