Tiger Woods is one of the most successful sports figures of all time, but perhaps more than any other athlete, he’s also associated with a particular color.

Of course, we’re talking about the red golf shirts he’s worn through the years on Sunday, or for Monday playoffs like his epic victory at the 2008 U.S. Open.

There have been plenty of different shades of the color the past three decades, but the red—and the winning—have been a constant.

So why did this become a thing? Was it a nod to his alma mater, Stanford? Is it simply his favorite color? Is Mars his favorite planet? Actually, the answer is none of the above.

Tiger appeared on “The Tonight Show” on Tuesday and told Jimmy Fallon the origins of his Sunday red—while also promoting the launch of his new apparel line, Sun Day Red. Here’s the clip:

“It comes from my mom. My mom thought it was my being a Capricorn, whatever,” Woods says of his mom, Tida, in the clip.

“It was my power color or some B.S. thing like that. So I end up wearing red, winning some junior golf tournaments. And then, to spite her, I wore blue. And I did not win those tournaments. So mama’s always right.”

Woods has told variations of this story before, but we don’t remember the part about him trying to “spite” his mom. If Larry David changes his mind about being done with “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” maybe he can do an episode around a “spite color.”

Anyway, during an eight-minute segment in which Woods is wearing a blue hoodie (maybe his power color for TV is different than final rounds), Tiger also talked about playing with son Charlie (and having daughter Sam caddie) at the PNC Championship, going viral at this year’s Masters, and his first hole-in-one when he was 8. Check it out:

Good stuff from Tiger, and brilliant thinking by Tida. Let this serve as a reminder that you should always listen to your mom.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal