During the third round of the 2013 PLAYERS Championship, Tiger Woods was paired with Sergio Garcia. On the second hole, a par 5, Tiger was left while Sergio was in the middle of the fairway. Tiger pulled an iron, and planned to lay up. Sergio lined up his shot, and started his pre-shot routine. Then Tiger decided to take an aggressive approach and pulled a 5 wood from his bag just as Sergio was hitting. The fans that surrounded Tiger went bananas, started clapping and began to cheer Tiger on for his aggressive decision just as Sergio hit his second shot. Guess what happened next… Sergio got mad. Go figure!
A few holes later there was a rain delay as a nasty storm moved in. A reporter grabbed Sergio and asked him a few questions about what had happened on the second hole. During his interview with Steve Sands, Sergio said, “Well, obviously Tiger was on the left and it was my shot to hit. He moved all the crowd that he needed to move, I waited for that. I wouldn’t say that he didn’t see that I was ready, but you do have a feel when the other guy is going to hit and right as I was in the top of the backswing, I think he must have pulled like a 5 wood or a 3 wood and obviously everybody started screaming. So that didn’t help very much. But it was unfortunate because – I mean I might have hit it there if nothing happens, you never know – but if I hit a good shot there and maybe make birdie, it gets my day started in a bit of a different way.” Really? You have GOT to be kidding me. You can watch his interview below.
After the rain delay they showed some footage from both perspectives. Tiger was so far left he couldn’t even see Sergio. It was NOT, and I repeat not on purpose. Everyone watching knows that. Johnny Miller, a guy that I can’t stand, even said that. The fact that Sergio is even trying to create drama makes me dislike him even more. Not that I really cared for him in the first place, but this is ridiculous.
Sergio went on to say, “There’s really not much you can do. I think that I try to respect everyone as much as possible out there. I try to be careful what I do to make sure it doesn’t bother the other players.” Give me a break, Sergio.
Because of this, I hope Tiger goes on to win the event. Sergio hit a bad shot. He hit a lot of bad shots today, as a matter of fact. Don’t try to blame Tiger for this. Grow up, be a man, and hit more balls on the driving range. Jerk!
There… my rant is over. I hope Tiger can pull it off tomorrow. Good luck, TW!
