Tiger Woods was criticised after he handed a tampon to Justin Thomas on the ninth hole during the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles; The incident was described as "crass" and "disappointing" by Sarah Stirk.
Sunday 19 February 2023 17:00, UK
Tiger Woods has apologised after he drew criticism for handing a tampon to Justin Thomas during the first round of the Genesis Invitational on Thursday.
Woods was making his return to competitive golf for the first time in seven months alongside Thomas and Rory McIlroy at Riviera Country Club.
The 47-year-old was able to outdrive both of his younger opponents on occasions at the Los Angeles course, and on the ninth hole, Woods hit it further than Thomas and then handed him a tampon as the pair walked towards their second shots.
Thomas, the world No 7, took the tampon before quickly dropping it on the floor, after which the pair could be seen laughing and embracing.
Woods said after his second round on Friday: "Yeah, it was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn't turned out that way.
"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. 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's different."
During the live coverage of the Genesis Invitational on Sky Sports Golf, Henni Koyack said that Woods is "respectful of female athletes and women in sport".
"There are some incredible and much-needed conversations going on around women's sport and the culture. I consider myself a feminist and will do everything to fight for women's sports. Having said that, my personal opinion on this, when I watch that clip, I saw someone having fun and enjoying a connecting moment with his friend," she said.
"I know from Tiger it is something he misses the most is the locker room environment. I am probably biased because he is a good friend of mine. I think it's one of those things, if it's not for you, it's fine.
"That's his humour and him having fun on the golf course. We can only judge someone on what they do. I believe he is respectful of female athletes and women in sport. I view it as a silly joke."
Woods' actions had drawn criticism from others, including from Sky Sports' Sarah Stirk who described the incident as "crass" and "disappointing".
"I think that's not what we want to be showcasing in the world of sport. It was crass, it was disappointing and I think surprise from my side because he's playing in the Genesis on the PGA Tour. It's a tournament that he hosts," she told Sky Sports News.
Former golfer Sophie Walker said it was "really poor" by Woods, adding: "What disappoints me more so is that it wasn't just an off-the-cuff thing, it was pre-meditated because I'm pretty sure he doesn't carry tampons on him normally.
"He's the leader of our game, whatever happens all eyes are on Tiger Woods. He should know better, and he's made a mistake, and he needs to say sorry."
But Dame Laura Davies played it down, describing it as "banter" and a misplaced joke.
During round two, Woods carded a three-over-par round of 74, leaving him one-over par overall.
Asked about his round, Woods said: "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. Probably should have shot probably five or six better than this easily.
"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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