Tiger Woods 'sorry' for tampon prank, supposed to be 'fun and games'

May 2024 · 4 minute read

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Tiger Woods sustained another self-inflicted blow during his return to the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational, though this one had little to do with his battered body as he continues his comeback from a horrific 2021 car crash and had everything to do with a bad joke gone awry. 

The 15-time major champion will make the cut following a 3-over 74 in the second round Friday after he opened with an impressive 2-under 69 at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. The second round will be completed Saturday morning after darkness kept the round from finishing for a second straight day.

Woods, 47, found himself in hot water, however, after a Getty Images photographer captured him slipping a tampon to Justin Thomas on Thursday as the two walked down the ninth hole during the first round after Woods outdrove his 27-year-old playing partner. 

The insinuation was that Thomas was playing like a girl and that was bad. 

Tiger Woods slips Justin Thomas a Tampon after outdriving him on the ninth hole. Getty Images

The two golfers laughed over the handoff as it unfolded, but soon the exchange went viral and many blasted Woods for the premeditated prank, with criticism ranging from the move was immature to it was sexist. 

“Imagine being this fragile,” ESPN’s Sarah Spain tweeted before responding to a comment with, “What’s the joke? Can you explain it?” 

Not everyone bashed Woods, though. 

Social media influencer and former pro golfer Paige Spiranic tweeted: “If anyone tries to cancel Tiger over this we riot. It’s funny.” 

Tiger Woods slips Justin Thomas a tampon after outdriving him on the ninth hole. Getty Images

On Friday, Woods apologized for the incident when asked about it following his second round, saying it wasn’t meant to be sexist. 

“It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn’t turned out that way,” Woods said. “If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun.” 

That “fun” quickly spiraled, however, and Woods was roundly criticized. 

“If I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I’m sorry,” he continued. “It was not intended to be that way. It was just, we play pranks on one another all the time and virally I think this did not come across that way but between us it was — it’s different.” 

Tiger Woods speaks to the media following his second round at the Genesis Invitational. Getty Images

Meanwhile, on the course, Woods’s performance has been uneven through the first two days. 

Making his first start on Tour in more than 200 days, Woods made five birdies in the opening round, including three straight to cap a strong start. 

He wasn’t nearly as sharp in the second round, though, and struggled with his putting. After playing his first nine holes in even par, Woods bogeyed three of his final four holes to barely make the cut. 

“I did not putt well today,” he said. “I blocked a lot of putts early and this is probably the highest score I could have shot today. 

“Probably should have shot probably 5 or 6 [strokes] better than this easily. Just didn’t make the putts early and the middle part of the round when I had those opportunities. And they weren’t very hard putts, I just hit bad putts and obviously had a very bad finish, too.” 

Now the challenge will be trying to make it to the finish. 

Woods, who said he felt pain in his surgically repaired right ankle following the opening round, said earlier in the week that he hadn’t even walked 72 holes yet this year, something his surgically repaired right leg will have to endure the rest of the weekend. 

Last year, he made just three starts on Tour while coming back from the crash. 

Still, through the first two rounds, he has swung with speed and fluidity and looks much better physically than he did last year. 

“I can hit the ball harder,” Woods said. “It’s just, I’ve got to be very careful in how I go about that.”

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