Garcia Embarrasses Himself with Racial Remark
Sergio Garcia landed himself in hot water after an off-the-cuff remark at a European Tour gala player’s awards dinner in London. Golf Channel’s Steve Sands asked Garcia if he would have Tiger Woods over for dinner one night during next year’s U.S. Open.
He responded, “We will have him round every night. We will serve friend chicken.”
Garcia left the event before being asked about his comments and later issued a response through the European Tour.
““I apologize for any offence 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 isn’t the first fried chicken-related joke at Woods’ expense. After the 1997 Masters, Fuzzy Zoeller suggested that fried chicken be served at the following year’s champions dinner, which Woods would host.
Woods and Garcia have been wrapped up in an ongoing war of words since an incident at the Player’s Championship two weeks ago, where they were paired together.
Garcia held a press conference today where he reiterated his apology. “I want to apologize to Tiger and anybody that I could have offended,” he said. “I feel sick about it. I’m truly, truly sorry. And I hope we can kind of settle things down and hopefully move on.”
Before the press conference though, Woods took to twitter to voice his thoughts. “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,” Woods tweeted.
When asked earlier this week at the AT&T National media day if he planned on reaching out to Garcia, Woods kept it short: “No.”
