Tiger Woods had a fantastic day at the Players Championship despite play being cut short and suspended after a weather delay for rain, heading into the clubhouse tied for second on the leaderboard, but for the second straight tournament the number one golfer couldn't avoid controversy, as Sergio Garcia said he felt he was distracted by Woods.
On Saturday during play at the Players Championship, as ESPN reported, Garcia said to NBC during the weather delay that he felt Woods distracted him on one of the holes during his shot, saying that he pulled out a club too early from his bag. The mishap occurred on the second hole when both players were on their second shot, with Woods playing his tee shot from the trees and Garcia playing his from the fairway and after Garcia hit it wide right, he glared at Woods, as there was a commotion near him.
Garcia later said to reporters that he thought Woods pulled a club during his backswing that made them have a commotion and that he pulled it early, but video later showed that the noise didn't come in his backswing, but while he stood over the ball. Eventually Garcia finished with a bogey while Woods hit a birdie and insisted later that Garcia was wrong about the assessment of what happened. He explained that the Marshals said he hit and that he pulled the club and played his shot and had no idea about it until after the round. Woods later said that it wasn't a surprise that Garcia was complaining on the course.
The two have a frosty history that dates back to 2000 when Garcia defeated Woods at a tourneamnet and went crazy celebrating, acting as if it was a major. The two have played toegther 19 times on the PGA Tour and Woods mostly dominated, shooting lower 12 times while they tied four times. Garcia explained that Woods should be more aware when he is in crowds, and that he goes through the same things during tournaments in Spain.
Garcia has never quite lived up to the talent he has and Woods and Garcia are tied for second place in the tournament, two strokes behind leader David Lingmerth at 10 under par. The Swedish rookie Lingmerth is a surprise name atop the leaderboard and after the third round was suspended for rain and he is 12 under par heading into Sunday action.
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"Obviously, he doesn't know all the facts," Woods told reporters. "The marshals told me he had already hit. I pulled the club and played my shot. Then I hear his comments afterward. Not really surprising that he's complaining about something."
