Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia had time to shake hands on the practice range at Merion on Monday, but the world No. 1 said his long-time nemesis has not yet delivered a face-to-face mea culpa.
2013 U.S. Open: Tiger Woods says Sergio Garcia has not apologized for fried chicken crack
Woods is ready to move on from the whole fried chicken thing, even though Sergio has yet to apologize face-to-face for his racist remark.
“No, we haven’t had time for that,” Woods told reporters Tuesday about whether Garcia had issued a personal apology for his ill-advised “fried chicken” joke that raised the ugly image of racial stereotypes.
“It’s already done,” said Woods, who shook Garcia’s offered hand yesterday. “It’s time for the U.S. Open. We tee it up in two days.”
Garcia has publicly apologized twice for his racist misstep, but has professed to want to bow and scrape before Woods in person, so it should be interesting to hear what he has to say during his presser, scheduled for later Tuesday afternoon.
While Woods was clearly expecting the issue to rear its head as it has ever since Garcia lamely chirped during a dinner last month that he would serve Tiger fried chicken if the two were to dine together, another query from the gathered scribes caught the world No. 1 off guard.
“The U.S. Open is usually one of the most grueling weeks of golf, so what would you do off the course in order to be at ease and relaxed so you can perform on the course?” was the question from Tiger’s niece, Cheyenne Woods.
The younger Woods, the daughter of Tiger’s older half-brother, Earl Woods Jr., knows a thing or two about the pressures of Open golf, having qualified for the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open. She turned professional last year after graduating from Wake Forest.
Tiger, upon spying the questioner, was momentarily speechless.
“Yeah, well,” he said with a laugh, “didn’t expect that.”
He gathered himself and responded that he and the “great crew at the house” would kick back and “have fun,” relax, “and just get away from it.”
“When it’s time to play, it’s time to play,” Woods said, but the goal was to turn off the golf -- in his head as well as on television. “Overall, we’re just going to get away from it and not really watch any golf, and when it’s time to get ready, I’ll get ready.”
Cheyenne Woods was in the press room as a correspondent for a news organization that bills itself as an alternative to Golf Channel:
Next stop: Merion. I'll be at the US Open this week with @back9network covering some fun stuff!Look out for it on back9network.com
— Cheyenne Woods (@Cheyenne_Woods) June 10, 2013
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