Golf: Woods says no time for Garcia apology

Tiger Woods said on Tuesday that while he shook hands with Sergio Garcia a day earlier at the US Open, no formal apology had been offered by the Spaniard for remarks he made last month.

Asked if there had been any talk between the two during a handshake on the practice range at Merion Golf Cub on Monday, a stoney-faced Woods replied: “No, we didn’t discuss anything. Just came up and said hi, and that was it.

Had there been any apology forthcoming from the Spaniard? “No, we haven’t had time for that.”

“It’s already done. We’ve already gone through it all. It’s time for the US Open and we tee it up in two days.”

A simmering dispute between the two players nosedived at a dinner ahead of the BMW PGA Championship event at Wentworth when Garcia attempted a joke about what he might serve Woods should they have dinner together.

“We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken,” Garcia said.

The reference to fried chicken, seen as an insult to African-Americans, sparked a racism furore much the same way that Fuzzy Zoeller had in 1997 when he suggested Woods serve fried chicken at a Masters champions dinner.

The feud between the two started at the Players Championship last month, with Garcia incensed when distracted by crowd noise he felt had been generated by playing partner Woods.

Garcia later apologized in a statement for his “fried chicken” comments and said that he wanted to do so in person to 14-time major champion Woods when they next played in the same tournament at the US Open.

But he has gone on record as saying that Woods was not his favorite player on tour.

“You can’t like everybody. There are people you connect with and people that you don’t — it is as simple as that.

“He doesn’t need me in his life and I don’t need him in mine so let’s move on and keep doing what we are doing.”

Garcia was due to give a press conference later on Tuesday at Merion.