I love watching golf on TV. I particularly love watching Tiger Woods play golf on TV – and one of my bucket-list events is to see Woods play in person before he hangs up his clubs for keeps, or before I, um, kick it.
An intriguing feud erupted into the open this past weekend at the Players Championship between Woods and Sergio Garcia, one of Woods’s contemporaries on the PGA Tour.
Here’s my take on what ought to happen now: Sergio, put a sock in it, concentrate on playing golf and stop whining about whether Tiger Woods is enough of a gentleman to suit your taste.
These two young men seem to dislike each other. They came onto the PGA scene at roughly the same time; Tiger debuted a couple of years earlier than Sergio. Tiger began winning almost immediately. He won his first of 14 – and likely still counting – major championships in 1997. Sergio’s record in majors? Zero. Tiger has won 78 PGA tournaments overall. Sergio’s PGA record? Eight.
Garcia called Woods out during Saturday’s third round at the Players. They were paired together. They hit tee shots. Tiger hit a shot toward the green just as Sergio was taking a cut at his ball on the other side of the fairway. Crowd erupted. Sergio’s timing was thrown off. Sergio hit a bad shot and then blamed Tiger for not showing proper course etiquette.
It went downhill from there. The two men sniped at each other publicly.
The Players Championship ended badly for Garcia and quite well for Woods, who won the event on Sunday while Garcia faltered badly down the stretch.
Here’s my advice to Sergio. If you’re going to take pot shots at the No. 1 player in the world, a guy aiming to become the greatest golfer who ever walked on Planet Earth, you’d better have the goods to back up your snarky talk.