- Tiger Woods was seen handing opponent Justin Thomas a tampon at the Geneis Invitational on Thursday.
- Woods apologized for the incident on Friday saying he meant the gesture as "fun and games."
Tiger Woods handed fellow golfer Justin Thomas a tampon after outdriving him on the ninth hole at the Genesis Invitational on Thursday.
Video of the prank shows the 47-year-old golf champion placing the tampon into Thomas' hand before Thomas drops it on the ground.
Woods addressed the incident to reporters on Friday, "It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn't turned out that way," Woods said in a press conference. "If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun. As I said, if I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I'm sorry. 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."
Following the prank, Woods received backlash on social media from those who deemed the incident as sexist.
—Alison Hall (@AlisonReporting) February 17, 2023
—Chad Lowe (@ichadlowe) February 18, 2023
However, not all social media users took offense to Woods' stunt.
—Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) February 18, 2023
Woods has been making a professional comeback of sorts following a serious car accident in 2021 that left him with major leg injuries. This tournament is his first in seven months.
According to ESPN, Woods ended Friday's round with a score of 74. Despite being three over par, Woods is expected to make the cut and continue playing in the tournament this weekend.
"I did not putt well today, I blocked a lot of putts early and this is probably the highest score I could have shot today," Woods said of his gameplay Friday. "Probably should have shot probably 5 or 6 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."
The tournament, which ends tomorrow, is hosted by Woods and takes place at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.