Sergio Garcia apologized Wednesday to Tiger Woods for saying he would serve fried chicken if they had dinner together at the U.S. Open, an ugly addition to nearly two weeks of verbal sparring.
What had been a celebration of European golf at an awards dinner Tuesday night south of London shifted suddenly to a racially sensitive moment involving Woods, the No. 1 golfer in the world and the only black player on the PGA Tour.
Garcia said he meant to give a funny answer to a playful question, but it turned out to be “totally stupid and out of place.”
“I feel sick about it, and I feel truly, truly sorry,” Garcia said Wednesday from the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, England, site of the European Tour’s flagship event.
The golfers have exchanged barbs over the past 11 days, dating to the third round of The Players Championship when Garcia implied that Woods purposely stirred up the gallery as the Spaniard was making a shot. Woods said it wasn’t surprising that Garcia was complaining.
Garcia and his Ryder Cup teammates were at a dinner Tuesday night when the emcee, Steve Sands of the Golf Channel, jokingly asked Garcia if he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open.
“We’ll have him round every night,” Garcia said. “We will serve fried chicken.”
The remark was reminiscent of Fuzzy Zoeller’s comment about Woods during his record-setting victory in the 1997 Masters, where Woods became the first player of black heritage to win a major.
Garcia issued a statement through the European Tour after the dinner that did not mention Woods by name. He apologized “for any offense that may have been caused” by answering the question with a “silly remark.”
“But in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner,” the statement read.
Woods responded Wednesday morning with a series of tweets that said: “The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate. I’m confident that there is real regret the remark was made. The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.”
That was one thing upon which both players finally agreed.
Garcia held an impromptu news conference later Wednesday at Wentworth to elaborate on his statement.
“I want to also apologize to my Ryder Cup teammates who were there last night for taking the shine away from a wonderful event, and finally and foremost, I want to apologize to Tiger and to anyone I could have offended,” Garcia said. “I felt very sick about it and feel really bad, and just hope to settle things down and move on.”
Garcia said he left a voice mail for Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at Excel Sports, because he doesn’t have a phone number for Woods. Steinberg didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail to confirm he received the call or whether Woods planned to call Garcia.
“I would love to talk to them as soon as possible and make sure that everything is OK, tell them how sorry I am and obviously it was a bad comment that shouldn’t have been said,” Garcia said.
The reference to fried chicken, a stereotype as a favorite food among blacks, was reminiscent of comments made by Zoeller in 1997 when Woods was emerging as golf’s biggest star. Woods was on his way to a record score and a 12-shot victory at Augusta National when Zoeller, who grew up in southern Indiana, spoke of his performance that week and his selections for the menu at the following year’s champions dinner, which is traditionally chosen by the previous year’s winner.
“So you know what you guys do when he gets in there? Pat him on the back, say congratulations, enjoy it, and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it?” Zoeller said. Then he added as he walked away, “Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”
The remark followed Zoeller, a popular two-time major champion, for the rest of his career and cost him major endorsements.
Garcia’s main sponsor is Taylor Made-adidas, which issued a statement Wednesday distancing itself from the golfer’s comment.
“We have spoken with Sergio directly and he clearly has regret for his statement and we believe he is sincere,” the statement read. “We discussed with Sergio that his comments are clearly out of bounds and we are continuing to review the matter.”
Sports, Pages 19 on 05/23/2013