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Tiger Woodshas issued an apology after he received backlash online for handing friend and fellow competitor Justin Thomas a tampon during the first round at the Genesis Open this week.
The 15-time major champion addressed the incident — which some critics online described as “sexist” — in a press conference after the second round of the Open on Friday, stating that what happened was nothing more than a “prank” between friends.
“Yeah, it was supposed to be all fun and games, andobviously it hasn’t turned out that way,” Woods said, per ESPN. “If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun.”
“As I said, if I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I’m sorry,” Woods continued. “It was not intended to be that way. It was just — we play pranks on one another all the time and virally, I think, this did not come across that way, but between us it was — it’s different.”
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Some criticized the incident on Twitter after it was broadcasted on Thursday, including Alex McDaniel, managing editor of USA Today’s For The Win.
“If tiger spent three months a year bleeding and coping with period pain, they’d make a whole-ass documentary about howchampions overcome insurmountable obstacles,” she tweeted.
When asked about the incident at a press conference,Sarina Wiegman, manager of the England women’s national soccer team, said, “I think it’s very inappropriate what he did.”
“I think he realized that too,” she continued, per Sky News. “… You’re such a big role model and you can have a positive impact on society and I think you should be conscious of that.”
Woods started out strong on the first round of the Open, ending the first round tied for 27th place with two-under-par 69.
However, the second round did not go as smoothly for the golf champion, as he just made the cut into the third round with one-over-par 143.
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“I did not putt well today, I blocked a lot of putts early and this is probably the highest score I could have shot today,'' Woods told reporters Friday, perSports Illustrated.
“Probably should have shot five or six better than this easily,” he added. “Just didn’t make the putts early and the middle part of the round when I had those opportunities. And they weren’t very hard putts, I just hit bad putts and obviously had a very bad finish, too.”
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The event marks Woods' first tournament since The British Open Championship in July, where hemissed the cut in the second roundfinishing just eight spots from the bottom of the leaderboard.
Woods has been recovering from serious leg injuries he sustained from aFebruary 2021 car accidentthat left his pro golf career in doubt, and also had to withdraw from the Hero World Challenge on Nov. 28 due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot which he said was “making it difficult to walk.”
source: people.com
