Tiger Woods on Tuesday announced that he would not be playing in The Masters next week due to back surgery, but Nike "will still be selling" what he would have worn in the tournament, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. 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 ... came too late in the process." DiscountGolfWorld.com Owner Dennis Boudreau said, "Tiger being out will have a major impact for us. 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." Boudreau said that the Woods shirts "won't be discounted, and the time it takes to sell all his Masters inventory will depend on how long it takes for the world's No. 1 player to be back." Meanwhile, Nike does "not take back inventory it has already sold to retailers" (ESPN.com, 4/2).
SUPPORT GROUP: Nike Golf President Cindy Davis on Tuesday appeared on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report" and said, "It's disappointing not to have the No. 1 player in the world tee it up next week at The Masters, but we support him and certainly are going to cheer for him to return back to the golf course as quickly as possible." CNBC's Scott Wapner asked Davis, "I would assume that that's going to take, at least (the apparel) part of the business, could be more impacted than most others?" Davis replied, "We script our athletes and it's exciting for golf fans to see what they're wearing and you'll see us start announcing some of the athletes and what they're wearing as the week progresses and certainly, we're going to miss seeing what Tiger's wearing" ("Fast Money Halftime Report," CNBC, 4/1).
