Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia have never been the best of friends during the course of their careers and following a dispute they had at the Players Championship, things have continued to be tense between the two, as Garcia made a remark at the European Tour awards that could be considered racist.
According to ESPN.com, Garcia was at the awards dinner for the European Tour on Tuesday and was in a joking mood for most of the night, but a comment he made later about Woods was perceived by many as racist, as he referred to "fried chicken", which is considered a reference to an African American stereotype. The comment only added to the tension between the two and forced Garcia to apologize later, saying that he meant it in no type of racist way and that he was answering a question that was a joke, so he responded in kind.
Garcia and Woods first got into it at the Players Championship when Garcia felt that Woods distracted him by pulling a club too early, forcing him to shank his shot. Tiger said that he thought he had hit already and the two went back and forth and the incident added some drama to the final day as Woods was in the lead and Garcia was playing behind him. After the tournament, which Woods won and Garcia bombed at the end, a set of marshals accused Woods of lying about what he said about Garcia hitting his shot, but another marshal came to his defense and mentioned that he in fact said that Garcia had hit, but he was mistaken.
The original joke from Garcia was in response to the two playing at the U.S. Open in June and mentioned that he would have Woods over for dinner every night and "We will serve fried chicken." While Garcia likely didn't mean it in a derogatory way, that is how it will come across to most in the United States. He apologized later on and said that he did not mean it in any racist way.
Woods has been excellent on tour this season, winning four times after taking the Players Championship. He also won the Farmers Insurance Open, WGC Cadillac Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, winning the most times in his career before June since the early 2000's. Woods has been putting very well and his tee shots have been accurate all season and he is back at number one in the world after chasing down Rory McIlroy. Woods now has his sights on breaking his major drought at the US Open, which would be his 15th career major.
Woods responded: "The comment that was made wasn't silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate...I'm confident that there is real regret that the remark was made."