Sergio Garcia is golf's most prolific head case. He is still as supremely touted as he was over a decade ago, when he emerged on the tour as a young challenger to Tiger Woods' throne. However, between the ears, Garcia has more sand than an Augusta National bunker. He's never had Woods' fortitude. After their dustup during the third round of the PGA Championship, Garcia crumbled beneath the pressure of going mano y mano with Woods.
On Tuesday, Garcia took another swing with his tongue, but his brain chose the wrong club to bash Woods with, he forgot to shout "Fore!," and took a quadruple bogey. After being asked whether Garcia would be inviting Woods over to dinner anytime soon, Garcia fell into the sand trap with his response.
"We'll have him 'round every night,'' Garcia said, according to multiple media reports. "We will serve fried chicken.''
Woods is familiar with that corny quip. Fuzzy Zoeller made a similar joke in 1997, about The Masters' champions dinner the year after Woods won the tournament. I can't judge intent, and despite Garcia's apology, there is clearly vitriol for Woods on the tour. Foolishly, Garcia made the mistake of making a joke that is usually reserved for the seclusion of country club locker rooms.
Woods responded via Twitter on Wednesday morning:
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
The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 22, 2013
Since Woods began his trek back to No. 1 from his brief stint as a pop culture punchline, the golf world has been teeing off on him. Garcia tried to join in on the Woods roast, took it too far and got burned. Judging by the backlash, Garcia wishes he could take a mulligan and wash his slip up from the public scorecard, but that's not happening anytime soon.
Garcia's sponsors TaylorMade and Adidas issued tepid responses rebuking Garcia's comments, but his endorsement deals appear safe. Ultimately, this is a stain on his reputation and possibly on Garcia's fragile psyche. The joke's on Sergio.
If Sergio Garcia ate KFC's boneless fried chicken, I'm guessing he'd still find a way to choke.
— pwnteam (@pwnteam) May 22, 2013
