Larry Brown Sports

Sergio Garcia is clearly not yet ready to let his spat with Tiger Woods fizzle out, and he may have taken things too far with a comment on Tuesday night. While speaking with the media at a dinner for the European Tour, a reporter tried to bait Garcia by asking him if he was planning to have Woods over for dinner during the US Open. His response was regrettable.

“We will have him around every night,” Garcia said, via Devil Ball Golf. “We will serve fried chicken.”

Uh oh. Prior to that comment, the feud between Sergio and Tiger was entertaining and everything the two golfers had said about calling each other or not answering the phone was simply fueling their rivalry. Introducing racist comments into the war of words is unacceptable, and Garcia apparently realized that and apologized almost immediately.

“I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during The European Tour Players’ Awards dinner,” Garcia  reportedly told The Guardian. “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.”

Woods responded to the comment on his Twitter account Wednesday morning. As expected, he did not seem happy.

The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate…

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 22, 2013

I’m confident that there is real regret that the remark was made.

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 22, 2013

Garcia may have been joking when he made the comment, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t racist. Back in 1997 after Tiger won the Masters, Fuzzy  Zoeller made a similar comment that is still talked about today. The same will probably be true of Garcia’s remark, and I’m sure he will regret it more and more with each passing day.

Tiger Woods made it quite clear earlier this week that he has no interest in squashing any ongoing feud that he may have with Sergio Garcia. The feeling is mutual.

On Tuesday, Garcia addressed the media for the first time since his epic meltdown at the Players Championship two weeks ago. Naturally, a reporter asked him the same question Tiger was asked about whether or not he has thought about calling Garcia to smooth things over. Garcia’s answer was similar, albeit far more long-winded than Tiger’s.

“First of all, I don’t have his number,” Garcia said, via Eye on Golf. “And secondly, I did nothing wrong and don’t have anything to say to him. And he wouldn’t pick up the phone anyway. But that’s OK; I don’t need him as a friend. I don’t need him in my life to be happy and that’s fine. It’s as simple as that. Like I have always said, I try to be as truthful as possible. Tiger doesn’t make a difference to my life. And I know that I don’t make a difference to his life.”

Garcia also basically called Woods a liar.

“He called me a whiner,” he said. “He’s probably right. But that’s also probably the first thing he’s told you guys that’s true in 15 years. I know what he’s like. You guys are finding out.”

These two clearly don’t like one another, but between the complaining about Tiger distracting him and the answer he gave on Tuesday it’s obvious Woods bothers Garcia more than Garcia bothers Woods. Considering Tiger has owned him in the past, that’s hardly a surprise. Tiger doesn’t have to say much at this point to get into Sergio’s head, and I’m sure that’s exactly the way he wants it to be.

Tiger Woods is in no hurry to squash his beef with Sergio Garcia.

Speaking to the media at a press conference to promote next month’s AT&T National that he’s hosting, Woods was asked whether he planned to speak with Garcia to end their trivial exchanges.

“Has there ever been any thought of contacting him and saying, ‘Hey, let’s chill. We don’t need to be going back and forth like this anymore,’” a reporter asked Woods.

Tiger, who specializes in brief responses, offered a one-word answer.

“No.”

Tiger and Sergio got into it during the third round of The Players two weeks ago. Garcia accused Tiger of causing a distraction during one of his shots during the third round. Neither player backed down, but Woods won the tournament while Garcia choked on the last two holes. Tiger owns Sergio, so why would he want to end things?

Video of his answer is below:

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Rocco Mediate recently shared a story about Tiger Woods that gives us an interesting glimpse at the golf legend’s personality.

Mediate sat down with Golf Channel’s David Feherty for an interview on “Feherty” (Mondays 10:00 p.m. ET on Golf Channel) last week and said he still hasn’t had a chance to chat with Tiger about their dramatic playoff at the 2008 US Open. Woods, playing on a bad knee that would require season-ending surgery, sunk a birdie putt on the 72nd hole to tie him with Mediate, who was in the clubhouse at -1. The two played an 18-hole playoff on Monday to determine the winner. Tiger again made birdie on the last hole of the playoff round to tie Mediate. Woods then beat Mediate in a sudden-death playoff hole to win the tournament.

Battling Woods head-to-head for the entire day is Mediate’s biggest claim to fame. So when he saw Tiger the next year at the 2009 Players Championship, he was hoping his competitor could give him a nice personalized autograph.

Mediate told Feherty that he placed a manila envelope containing a pin sheet and great photo of the two of them on the course together that day. He said he included a note asking Tiger to sign the pin sheet and write a personalized message on the photo.

Mediate returned from his round at TPC and saw the envelope sitting in his locker. He was eager to read what it said. When he opened it up, he saw there was nothing written on the pin sheet, and that Tiger only signed his name on the photo without leaving a message. He was disappointed to learn that Woods ignored his request.

“Why wouldn’t he just go, ‘Roc, you suck, you got lucky for six days. I had a broken leg’ … just mess with me, and then sign my pin sheet so I could put the damn thing on the wall and say, ‘Almost got the guy that day,’” Mediate said to Feherty.

Mediate says he threw the picture away.

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A golfer was disqualified from US Open sectional qualifying after a competitor called in to report him for signing an incorrect scorecard, which was the result of the golfer having to recall his scores from memory because his scorecard was ruined in the rain.

Andrew Jensen, who is a PGA Tour Canada member, was one of 49 golfers to tee it up at a US Open local qualifying event at Bellevue Country Club in Syracuse, NY, on Wednesday. Jensen signed for a 76, which was the second-best score. The 76 would have given him one of three spots in sectional qualifying, which takes place on June 3. But Jensen inadvertently signed an incorrect scorecard, leading to his disqualification.

Unfortunate news everybody. I signed an incorrect scorecard today and never realized until after all the excitement subsided. The result, DQ

— Andrew Jensen (@andrewjensen) May 15, 2013

It turns out that Jensen shot a 77, not a 76. Jensen apparently three-putted on the par-5 5th hole and earned a seven, but he mistakenly marked himself down for a six.

“The mistake happened because my own personal scorecard was ruined from the rain so I had to briefly go on memory,” Jensen told Larry Brown Sports in a Twitter message.

“A six-hour time in that weather had me fried and being that many over had me sign it quickly. Then as the day went on the score was holding up and I was just in shock that scores were so high.

“It’s really a bummer because the 77 I actually shot was still enough to qualify,” Jensen told LBS.

Had Jensen signed for a 77 — which was his actual score — he would have been part of a four-way tie. The four golfers would have had a playoff to determine who earned the spots in the sectional qualifying.

Canadian pro Brian McCann earned one of the three qualifying spots by shooting a 75. Canadians Chris Hemmerich and Greg Cuthill earned the other two spots by shooting 77s. Amateur Patrick Milkovich of New York lost the playoff and is an alternate.

Jensen told LBS he liked his chances in a playoff because he won a playoff there two years ago.

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Sergio Garcia refuses to let go of the Saturday incident between him and Tiger Woods.

Garcia blamed Woods for causing a distraction among fans while he was attempting to hit a shot on the second hole at The Players Championship on Saturday. Garcia said that Woods brought out his 5-wood while Garcia was getting ready to hit, leading to cheers from the fans. Tiger defended himself by saying after the round that he had been cleared to hit and that he wasn’t surprised Sergio was complaining.

Garcia choked at the end of the tournament by hitting three balls into the water over the final two holes. He finishing tied for eighth while Tiger won the tournament, even though the two were tied entering the 17th hole on Sunday.

After the tournament ended, Garcia was asked again about the incident.

“It sounds like I was the bad guy here. I was the victim,” Garcia insisted. “I don’t have any regrets of anything.”

Yes, Garcia insisted he was a “victim” for what happened on Saturday. Is there any surprise that people dislike him?

Here is a video recapping what each golfer said on Saturday about the incident:

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Sergio Garcia may have been served an unfortunate dose of karma on Sunday at The Players.

Garcia was competing with Tiger Woods for the lead at TPC Sawgrass all weekend, and the two were tied for the tournament lead entering the 71st hole. And that’s when things got out of hand for the Spaniard.

Garcia went into the water twice on the par-3 17th and quadruple-bogeyed the hole. Then on the par-4 18th, Garcia went into the water again. He double-bogeyed the hole and finished the tournament tied for eighth, six shots back of Woods who won the tournament by shooting 13 under.

Garcia has struggled when going head-to-head with Woods throughout his career, and the trend continued on Sunday. In fact, Garcia blamed Woods for causing a distraction during one of his shots on the second hole on Saturday. Maybe this was karma for his complaints, though Garcia’s not about to apologize.

“It sounds like I was the bad guy here. I was the victim. I don’t have any regrets of anything,” Garcia said about the incident after the tournament.

Video via the fine work of World of Isaac