Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson! Any incident involving them both has always been an interesting one! The two have shared a long rivalry in the golf world that began in the early stages of Woods’s career. Particularly in 2003, when Woods had won eight majors and Mickelson had zero. While the vendetta started growing to a certain level, Lefty added fuel to it by taking a notorious jab at Woods and Nike.

Interestingly, Woods’s golf equipment was the center of Lefty’s comment. The 27-year-long deal between Nike and Woods has reached its end, but while it lasted, it was the best one out there. But not as per Mickelson! He once called out the then-new club manufacturer company for subpar clubs and endured the wrath of the Nike Golf president, Bob Woods.

Was Nike incapable of producing good golf equipment? Mickelson thought so

In 2002, Tiger Woods signed an equipment deal with Nike, moving from Titleist. Woods was using Nike clubs until 2016 when the company pulled out of the golf equipment industry and the 15-time major champ switched to TaylorMade and Bridgestone. A year later, after the signing of the deal, Mickelson sort of predicted the 2016 fallout from his remarks on Nike’s equipment.

In 2003, Mickelson gave an interview to Golf Magazine and described how the Woods-Mickelson rivalry sometimes gets taken out of proportion. And although they don’t have any issues, there is one thing Woods hates about him. The 45-time PGA Tour winner said, “He hates that I can fly it past him now. He has a faster swing speed than I do.”

According to Mickelson, Woods’ slow speed was because he had inefficient equipment; as he said, “he has inferior equipment. Tiger is the only player who is good enough to overcome the equipment he’s stuck with.”

The 2021 PGA Championship winner in a way disregarded Nike as incapable of making golf clubs, maybe because, at the time, Nike was the newest in the equipment industry or Lefty could predict the future. There is a possibility that, as a newbie in the market, Mickelson took them lightly and took the jibe at Nike.

However, the comments were not taken lightly by Nike. The former golf president of Nike gave a stern and harsh reply to Mickelson. What was Nike’s explicit response that Mickelson had to come out explaining his intent?

Nike appropriates Phil Mickelson showing the harsh reality

After Phil Mickelson took a subtle dig at Nike, its then President of Nike Golf, Bob Woods, came out to protect their image. As the Orlando Sentinals reported, Bob Woods said, “I question his motives for saying what he did; I really question the wisdom of Phil Mickelson calling Tiger Woods out.” The former president of Nike Golf belittled Mickelson in return and compared the two golfers in head-to-head matches. He said that Lefty has never won against Woods (not until 2003), and he still believes that his clubs are better. Bob Woods found it “a laughable assertion.”

Read More: Nike Responds to Tiger Woods Split With an Emotional 7-Word Statement

After the response from the president, Mickelson showed his respect for Woods and believed that his comments were taken out of context. Furthermore, the 53-year-old had to explain that he was in turn complimenting Woods by saying that even after inferior clubs, he has “incredible talent” to use it for his own good. Which again can be taken as Mickelson faulting the clubs Woods used.

Nonetheless, Lefty’s comments have always had him in hot water. Whether it was two decades ago or now, Phil Mickelson always manages to be the talk of the town.

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