Tiger Woods ‘Done’ With Sergio Garcia Feud
Tiger Woods seems to be over the Sergio Garcia drama.
The golfer spoke about quashing the growing feud between with his former playing partner at The Players Championship, who accused Tiger of unsportsmanlike behavior. Garcia said Tiger purposely took out a club during Garcia’s backswing, eliciting a cheer from the crowd that threw off his shot.
During a news conference at the Memorial Tournament, Woods said the drama with Garcia is over, whether the two golfers talk it out or not.
“That’s already done with,” said Woods, responding to a question of whether he would talk to Garcia about the spat.
Tournament host Jack Nicklaus agreed, saying the drama was being prolonged mostly be a willing press corps.
“The Sergio-Tiger thing, I mean it’s stupid,” Nicklaus said. “I mean … do guys have an issue with one another? They usually resolve it themselves. You guys want to resolve it in the newspapers today. Nobody needs that. And I think they both finally said it’s enough. Let’s move on.”
After the Players incident, the feud ramped up when Garcia made what appeared to be a racially insensitive comment. When asked if he and Tiger Woods had buried the hatchet, Garcia responded with what seemed a racial remark.
“We’ll have him ’round every night,” Garcia said. “We will serve fried chicken.”
The reference seemed to reference an African-American stereotype of eating fried chicken, one that Tiger’s heard before. After the 1997 Masters, golfer Fuzzy Zoeller joked that he hoped Tiger wouldn’t serve fried chicken at the next year’s champions dinner.
Garcia immediately apologized for his comment, saying his answer was “totally stupid” and “out of place.”
“I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during the European Tour Players’ Awards dinner,” Garcia said. “I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner.”
Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia will meet again in two weeks at the US Open, though it appears their feud is over.
