Tiger Woods acknowledges the gallery after his birdie putt on the 18th hole. Photo / AP
Tiger Woods has been involved in a bizarre incident at his PGA Tour comeback golf tournament, handing a tampon to playing partner Justin Thomas after he outdrove him on the ninth tee.
Playing alongside World No 2 Rory McIlroy and World No 7 Thomas at the Genesis Invitational, Woods was looking brilliant, regularly hitting 320 yards and outdriving his partners on several holes.
But on hole nine, Woods had a gift for Thomas - pulling out the tampon and placing it in his opponent’s hand.
Thomas flung it away and Tiger headed in for a hug as the pair shared a laugh - but the golf world believed it was a lot more than a simple prank.
Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead wrote: “It is slightly insane that Tiger Woods, while hosting an entire tournament and playing his first competitive round in seven months, decided to carry a tampon in his bag. And then he immediately pulled it out of his bag in time for the walk down the fairway after he realised he had hit it further than Thomas. This is the most Tiger is Back moment we’ve had since he won the Masters.”
Golf influencer Paige Spiranac also hit out at any potential critics, writing: “If anyone tries to cancel Tiger over this we riot. It’s funny”.
She also teased what must be a popular idea with the bad blood between the PGA and LIV golfers.
“I need a LIV vs PGA tour Ryder cup type event just so Tiger can give Phil a tampon after out driving him,” she tweeted.
Others were rather less impressed, accusing Woods of having “the sophistication of a 14-year-old schoolboy”. Dr Ann Olivarius, the well-known American-British lawyer who specialises in cases of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, lambasted the 15-time major champion.
The KC posted: “See, it’s funny because feminine hygiene products are INHERENTLY emasculating, so when a man makes another man touch a tampon, he’s saying ‘I am a bigger and better man than you, because, GROSS, I made you touch a wrapped Tampax!’.”
Woods is known in golf for possessing a sense of humour more appropriate to the frat house than the clubhouse. In one of his first interviews as a pro, Woods was quoted as telling jokes about lesbians, and others with racial overtures, and the resulting fall-out is credited as forging his long distrust of the media.
At the 2006 Masters, he felt obliged to apologise after saying, “I putted like a spaz”, a statement which earned him a rebuke from disability groups. Since the sex scandal that tore his world apart 13 years ago, Woods has been careful to steer well clear of controversy, but now his team and his many admirers will fear that this incident will escalate.
in terms of the actual golf, the scene was similar to the last time Tiger Woods played against the world’s best. Fans packed onto every balcony on every level of the Riviera clubhouse on Friday, all of them straining for a rare sight of golf’s biggest star.
Woods had them cheering even louder at the end.
He put on a show in his first competition in seven months, closing with three straight birdies and one big smile for a 2-under 69, leaving him five shots behind Max Homa and Keith Mitchell.
Woods went bunker-to-fairway-to-bunker on the 10th hole and had to make an 8-footer to save bogey. He was wild off the tee for another bogey on the 12th, leaving him over par on a mild, breezy afternoon.
And then he looked like the Woods of old at the end — a tee shot to 5 feet on the par-3 16th, another birdie from 25 feet on the par-5 17th and then a big drive — a few yards longer than Rory McIlroy — on the 18th that set up 9-iron to 7 feet.
“I was able to fight back and get it going,” Woods said. “It was a nice finish.”
His legs held up fine, though still sore. The final task was making it up those 52 steps toward the clubhouse to sign his card. The next step is a quick turnaround. Woods finished about 5 p.m. local time, and faced a 7:24 a.m. start to the second round.
- with News.com.au
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