Sergio Garcia has gone and stuck his foot in his mouth, and the extraction on this one won’t be easy.
Garcia has been having a well-publicized war of words with Tiger Woods in recent weeks, and the battle really heated up at The Player’s Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Amidst all the banter back and forth between the two golfers, we saw them go right down to the wire in battling for the title at the “unofficial 5th major.”
It was an exciting tournament, won when Sergio had a meltdown on Sawgrass’ famed 17th hole. Sergio shot a 7 on the par 3 with the island green, handing the tournament to Woods. The two were tied and seemed destined for a playoff when Sergio teed it up on 17. Instead Sergio attempted to go right after a difficult pin placement trying to win it all with a birdie and instead ended up putting it right in the water, costing him the tournament.
Earlier this week, Garcia was asked if his feud with Tiger Woods would come to an end, and if he would have Woods over to his house for dinner.
“We’ll have him ’round every night,” Garcia said, “We will serve fried chicken.”
The reference to fried chicken has long been seen as a racial stereotype attributed to African-Americans.
Garcia later released the following statement through the European Tour:
“I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during the European Tour Players’ Awards dinner. 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.”
This morning Tiger responded on his twitter account saying the following:
“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. The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.”
This isn’t the first time Tiger has had to deal with a “fried chicken” comment made by a fellow golfer. In 1997 after Tigers’ Masters win, a similar comment got Fuzzy Zoeller in trouble, when he quipped that someone should tell Tiger Woods not to serve fried chicken at the following year’s champions’ dinner, which Woods would host as defending champion.
After Tiger defeated Sergio at the 1999 PGA Championship, in a hotly contested final round, many thought the two were on the verge of a long-term rivalry. This never materialized, as Garcia, while a good golfer, has never lived up to the promise he showed at that age.
We understand that Garcia is frustrated, Tiger has made him a whipping boy for 14 years now, and is still the man who stopped him in his best chance at glory. We know that Garcia’s loss at TPC must have added to that frustration and rehashed old memories, and that the verbal jousting between the two escalated into something that may have been hurtful. All that said, THERE IS NO ROOM IN GOLF for racially motivated comments. NONE, ZERO, ZILCH.
Our message to Sergio today, GROW UP! Defeat Tiger like a man on the golf course, you’ll get your chance at the U.S. Open. Let the best golfer win, and race will have nothing to do with it. Our prediction…. Sergio won’t man up and will once again fail miserably on Golf’s grandest stage. He just doesn’t have the mental fortitude to do it.
Oh and Sergio, if you can’t beat Tiger out on the course like a man, and you still feel frustrated by the fact he owns you; you can at least make remarks about his well publicized sexual indiscretions. If you want to criticize Tiger the man, do it over something he can control, not over the color of his skin, with thinly veiled racist remarks.
.. and that’s the last word.
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