Virginia Water: Sergio Garcia's feud with Tiger Woods has deepened, with the Spaniard denying accusations of racism after "fried chicken" comments during an awards dinner. Garcia appeared on stage at the European Tour's awards dinner in England on Tuesday and was asked in jest if he would invite Woods to dinner during the U.S. Open.
News reports said Garcia replied: "We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken." Fried chicken is a food typically associated with black Americans. Garcia released a statement through the European Tour: "I apologise 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."
Garcia's comments Tuesday were reminiscent of ones Fuzzy Zoeller took heat for after Woods' won the Masters for the first time back in 1997. The Masters winner is allowed to choose the champions' dinner menu for the following year. Zoeller said: "You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it? Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve." Zoeller later apologized.
The rivalry between the two was reignited on May 11 during the third round of The Players Championship. It resumed this week on both sides of the Atlantic when Woods
12:13 PM, May 22, 2013
Kavarna, Bulgaria: Britain's Graeme McDowell and South African Branden Grace set up a mouth-watering showdown in the semi-finals of the World Match Play Championship by winning on Saturday. World number eight McDowell, the highest-ranked player in the field, avenged his defeat in last year's final by easing past holder Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium 2 & 1. Colsaerts was already trailing when his drive at the 10th hole found a hazard...
09:22 AM, May 19, 2013
Kavarna, Bulgaria: Ian Poulter was eliminated from the World Match Play Championship after losing another round-robin match on Friday. Poulter lost to Thomas Aiken, 1 up, at the Thracian Cliffs course when he bogeyed the last hole after missing the fairway. "I have no excuses," Poulter said. "There is no excuse for that display of golf over the last two days. It's disgusting, disgraceful and there's no explanation. I should...
12:23 PM, May 18, 2013
Los Angeles: Former U.S. Open champion and television broadcaster Ken Venturi, a 14-times winner on the PGA Tour, died on Friday at the age of 82 following various health complications. Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame just 11 days ago, Venturi had been in hospital for the last two months for a spinal infection, pneumonia and an intestinal infection, the PGA Tour said in a statement. Venturi's son,...
10:13 AM, May 18, 2013
Florida: Playing with controlled aggression, Tiger Woods gave notice at the Players Championship that he stands poised to reassert his dominance once again on the world of golf. After an uncharacteristic wobble with a double-bogey on the back nine of TPC Sawgrass's Stadium Course, Woods reprised his familiar role of irresistible frontrunner to win his 78th PGA event and second Players title in his 300th career start on the tour....
03:55 PM, May 13, 2013
Florida: Tiger Woods held on to clinch his second Players Championship by two strokes on Sunday after long-time adversary Sergio Garcia spectacularly imploded on his last two holes. Spaniard Garcia shared the lead on 13-under with Woods when he teed off at the short but treacherous 17th, but hit into the water twice to crash to a quadruple bogey, after the world number one had parred the famed island hole....
08:39 AM, May 13, 2013
Florida: Tiger Woods finally made another birdie and finished off the third round with a 1-under 71, putting him in a three-way tie for the lead with Sergio Garcia and David Lingmerth in The Players Championship. Woods and Garcia will each walk the fairways of the TPC Sawgrass with someone else on Sunday afternoon. Lingmerth bogeyed the 18th for a 69 to finish on 11-under 205. Woods had four holes...
06:11 PM, May 12, 2013
Florida: Sergio Garcia blamed a roar from the crowd watching Tiger Woods for an errant shot that saw him lose the lead at the Players Championship on Saturday. Garcia glared in playing partner Woods's direction after the Spaniard sliced his second shot from the fairway on the par-five second hole well into the trees on the right. The gallery had erupted during Garcia's backswing upon seeing world number one Woods...
09:21 AM, May 12, 2013
Australia's Royal Melbourne Golf Club will host this year's edition of the World Cup of Golf, which has been played in China since 2007, the tournament's promoters said on Saturday. Mission Hills Group, which has hosted the tournament five times in China, said the 57th edition would be held in Melbourne in November to ensure it maintained its global status. "Mission Hills recognises the need to maintain the tournament's prestigious...
01:58 PM, May 11, 2013
Florida, USA: Tiger Woods was nine shots out of the lead, not the best position at The Players Championship, especially since he had not even started his round. Perhaps the bigger surprise was the guy who posted the record-tying round Thursday. Roberto Castro had only played the TPC Sawgrass in a practice round. He made a debut he won't soon forget. There was the 9-iron to a foot on the...
08:52 AM, May 10, 2013
Ponte Vedra Beach: Rory McIlroy won two major championships at age 23. He was the youngest player since Tiger Woods to reach No. 1 in the world. He was won the money titles on the PGA Tour and European Tour in the same season. Now if he can just break par on the TPC at Sawgrass. Or at least make it to the weekend. McIlroy keeps showing signs that his...
08:54 PM, May 09, 2013
Ponte Vedra Beach: Adam Scott never had to take this much time walking from the clubhouse to the practice range at TPC Sawgrass. He couldn't take more than a few steps without a player or a caddie stopping to congratulate him for his feel-good win at Augusta National. There were so many fans pressed against the fence to get his autograph that it nearly collapsed. Finally, he got into a...
11:36 AM, May 09, 2013
Former world number one Vijay Singh sued the PGA Tour on Wednesday, a week after golf's premier tour dropped a doping a case against the three-times major winner. Singh was initially found by the PGA Tour to have breached the sport's doping rules after using a spray, which contains a banned substance, to treat an injury but was later cleared of any wrongdoing after winning an appeal. He filed a...
11:43 PM, May 08, 2013
Ponte Vedra Beach: One night after making his red carpet debut in New York, Tiger Woods was on a golf course that hasn't treated him very well over the years. Woods said it took him a week to get over his tie for fourth at the Masters. Next up is The Players Championship, where he has won only once in 15 years and has just one top 10 since that...
09:21 AM, May 08, 2013
Fred Couples, renowned for being one of the most laid-back figures in the game, was overcome by emotion after being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2013 on Monday. The American former world number one, a 15-times champion on the PGA Tour, twice choked up with tears during his acceptance speech in St. Augustine, Florida on what he described as "the coolest...
11:18 AM, May 07, 2013
Dubai: Donald Trump plans to extend his golfing empire to the Middle East, opening a course in the desert outskirts of Dubai. The Trump International Golf Club will be the centerpiece of a 28 million foot project being developed by DAMAC Properties that includes a luxury residential community, hotels, spa and international schools. It is being developed on land purchased from Dubailand, a much-hyped project that included a $1 billion...
08:40 PM, May 06, 2013
Athens: Former Bulldogs star Brendon Todd won the Web.com Tour's Stadion Classic on Sunday when rain washed out the fourth round at the University of Georgia Golf Course. The 2007 graduate became the third consecutive Bulldogs player to win the event. Russell Henley won in 2011 while still in school and Hudson Swafford took the 2012 title. "I think it has something to do with being comfortable out here," said...
10:08 AM, May 06, 2013
Athens: Daniel Chopra, lying second overnight, dropped to eighth following a terrible back nine after the third round of the Stadion Classic at UGA on the Web.com Tour in the US. Chopra (74) bogeyed three times in his back nine while Bhavik Patel had only three bogeys in his 74 and he was down to tied 13th. Chopra had a birdie on seventh and then after a bogey on eighth,...
08:57 AM, May 06, 2013
Charlotte: One phone call changed his plans. One shot changed a whole lot more for Derek Ernst. Six days after Ernst received a call that he was in the Wells Fargo Championship as the fourth alternate, the 22-year-old rookie found himself one shot out of the lead and 192 yards away from the flag on the 18th hole, the toughest at Quail Hollow in the cold, wind and rain of...
08:19 AM, May 06, 2013
Austrian Bernd Wiesberger held off the persistent challenge of South Africa's Ernie Els to win the Indonesian Masters by one stroke on Sunday. The 27-year-old hit a final round five-under-par 67 for a 15-under par total in the Asian Tour event held at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club. British Open champion Els carded a 68 to finish second, while overnight leader Daisuke Kataoka of Japan slipped back to third, a...
04:19 PM, May 05, 2013
