Augusta: Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia, frosty rivals at the heart of a 2013 racism row, spoke little and avoided controversy while playing together in Saturday’s third round of the Masters.
While 14-time major champion Woods shot a four-under par 68 to put himself into the last-day hunt on six-under 210 at Augusta National, Spanish star Garcia, still seeking his first major title at 35 after 65 failed chances, settled for a 71 to finish on 213 for 54 holes.
Despite past issues, there was some talk between Woods and Garcia. “At the end we talked a little bit. On two or three holes, 17 and a couple others,” Garcia said. “But mainly it was saying, ‘good shot’ and ‘well done’ and ‘good putt’ and ‘good birdie’ and things like that, just the normal stuff. I thought we were both very good. It was the way it should be.”
It was the first Woods-Garcia pairing since the 2013 BMW Championship, which followed bitter disputes the prior May.
“I think that everybody makes a bigger deal than it is for both of us. I think we’re both fine and we showed it,” said Garcia. “Some of the people think that it’s going to be chaos and it’s not like that. At the end of the day, it’s just a golf game.”
But it was one Garcia felt the need to tweet about just hours before meeting Woods on the first tee.
“Tiger Woods and I might not be best friends but we do respect each other and that respect will stay the same today! Enjoy some good golf,” Garcia tweeted.
In four prior majors paired together, Woods had a combined 10-under total while Garcia was a combined 13-over. In nine times paired together overall since 2007, Woods has outdone Garcia eight times and was level once.
Woods has played solidly in his return from a two-month layoff to hone his game after shocking poor chipping contributed to a career-worst 82 at Phoenix earlier this year.
Garcia and Woods were playing partners at the 2013 Players Championship when the Spaniard became upset that Woods had drawn a club and sparked crowd noise while Garcia was swinging, for which Woods dubbed him a whiner.
Later in the month, Garcia made a racial remark at a European Tour dinner at the BMW Championship. Asked if he would invite Woods to dinner, Garcia replied, “We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken,” a food choice stereotypically associated with African-Americans.
In response to the comment, Woods tweeted at the time, “The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate.”
Garcia quickly apologized but the racism furore lingered and led to hecklers clucking at Garcia like chickens as he played the 2013 US Open at Merion.
