Tiger Woods has been criticised after he gave a tampon to Justin Thomas during the first round of the Genesis Invitational.
The 15-time major champion handed Thomas the sanitary product after he outdrove his playing partner on the ninth tee.
The pair laughed as they walked towards the fairway before Woods gave Thomas a hug, while the 29-year-old dropped the tampon on the floor.
Woods, who is playing in his first competitive PGA Tour event since missing the cut at The Open in July, is hosting the tournament at the Riviera Country Club, California.
The 47-year-old did not reference the incident after the opening round but said: ‘I was trying to calm myself down all day, trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing out here because I haven’t played. I probably should have appreciated the fans more than I did, but there was so much going on in my head.’
Speaking about the incident, Sky Sports Golf presenter Sarah Stirk slammed Woods’ behaviour and described the joke with Thomas as ‘crass’.
‘My overriding feelings, completely surprised and, if I’m being honest, really disappointed,’ Stirk told Sky Sports News.
‘I’m a female working in sport, I’m passionate and love the game of golf, I think we’re all striving for equality, we’ve all seen massive inroads that everybody’s doing when it comes to promoting women’s sport, more media exposure, increase in participation level, we want women’s sport to be on a level playing field with men.
‘I think this incident last night was extremely disappointing, I think it was crass, to be honest.
‘They’re two good friends, JT and Tiger Woods, good buddies, play a lot together, Tiger Woods outdrove Justin Thomas, it was seemingly done in jest, to me it was ‘laddy’, blokey behaviour.
‘He passed him the tampon effectively saying, ‘I’ve outdriven you, you’re driving the ball like a woman’, this is the inference of the incident that happened.
‘That to me says females, women, are inferior to men, ‘I’ve outdriven you, you’ve driven the ball a shorter distance than I have, therefore women are inferior to men’. I just think that’s not what we want to be showcasing in the world of sport right now.
‘I think it was crass, disappointing, the surprise from my side, utter bewilderment really, that he’s playing in the Genesis on the PGA Tour again, a tournament that he hosts, he’s been out of the limelight for a while, he’s been injured, he comes back, there’s multiple cameras, millions, billions watching this around the world, a joke that he thought was private, clearly it’s been picked up, a lot of people have jumped on this and no wonder, it’s extremely disappointing, and I’m surprised that the most-recognisable golfer on the planet has put himself in this position to be exposed in this way.
‘I just think it’s really disappointing, really poor and surprising.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
