Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia try to end ugly spat ahead of US Open

THEY may have shaken hands on the practice range at the US Open, but thereafter Tiger Woods kept Sergio Garcia at arm's length.

Tiger Woods

THEY may have shaken hands on the practice range at the US Open, but thereafter Tiger Woods has kept Sergio Garcia at arm's length.

Garcia has been determined to apologise in person for his "fried chicken" gibe at a gala dinner near London last month, but Woods has made it anything but easy for him to do so at Merion. There was a touch of testiness from Woods last night when he was asked if he had received an apology from the Spaniard.

"No, we didn't discuss anything," he said. "He just came up and said 'Hi', and that was it."

What Woods did not reveal, but a visibly nervous Garcia later confirmed, was that the player with whom he has had a long-running feud had left a handwritten note of apology in his locker.

"Hopefully, he can take a look at it," Garcia said. "It's a big week and I understand that it's difficult to meet up and stuff. Hopefully, I'll be able to do it, but, if not, at least he has read the note and he's happy with that.

"When I saw him on the range, I felt like it wasn't the appropriate place, out of respect to him and to the other players, to do it there. So I was hoping to see him afterwards.

"Unfortunately, when I got done practising, he was gone already, so I couldn't see him. And this morning, he wasn't here."

Woods has chosen not to be drawn on the matter, other than to say that they had not had the time to get together but that he had drawn a line under the incident and was moving on. "It's already done," Woods said.

"We've already gone through it all. It's time for the US Open."

Garcia, on the other hand, is desperately trying to mend fences with sponsors, fans and the African-American community. He fears a backlash from the passionate Philadelphia crowds this week, but hopes they will go easy on him.

"I am obviously a little bit nervous, but [with Tiger] saying he considers it closed, that obviously means a lot to me," he said.

"I also have to say, the people around this last couple of days have been amazing."

"I feel like I've had a great relationship with the crowds for pretty much my whole career. Obviously a couple of incidents here and there, but other than that, I feel very fortunate. I feel like they love me. I love them too."

Asked by an African-American journalist if he realised that his comments were "not just about you and Tiger, they go way beyond that", Garcia was contrite. "I understand that," he said.

"That's why I said sorry because I can obviously see that I hurt a lot of people. And that doesn't make me feel good. I wish I could go back in time and take back what I said, but unfortunately I said it.

"You know, the only thing I can do is show you my respect from here moving forward. I tried to be as respectful as possible competing and hopefully what I do [from now on] will show you how much I care about everybody."

Almost forgotten in the brouhaha is that Garcia has a major championship to play for.

Asked if he felt the distractions would adversely affect his chances, he said: "I don't know. It obviously doesn't help, but it is my own fault. I don't have anyone to blame other than myself."

Asked if he feared losing sponsors, Garcia admitted that he had been nervous. "Obviously I've been very worried about the whole situation," he said.

"I felt terrible about it. TaylorMade and all my sponsors are aware of my apology. I've told them that I want to be a respectful competitor to everyone. And that includes my sponsors."

One footnote: while all this was going on, Phil Mickelson had flown home to California for the graduation of his daughter from middle school. He was conspicuous by his absence from Merion, but do not rule him out.

The Times