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.
