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It has been a little more than a week since Sergio Garcia made his racially insensitive “fried chicken’’ joke about Tiger Woods, and Woods has been content to quietly sit back and leave Garcia hanging, choking on his words.
In an interview yesterday at the Memorial, which begins today at Muirfield Village, Woods made his first public appearance since Garcia made a mess of his public image. Woods pronounced the matter “done with.’’
Garcia, who attempted a lame joke about inviting Woods over to dinner and serving fried chicken, apologized profusely in a hastily called press conference the next day at Wentworth in England, where he was playing in the BMW PGA Championship. In doing so, Garcia, who is not playing the Memorial this week, said he tried to reach out to Woods through his agent to apologize in person.
Asked if he got that personal apology, Woods joked, “Was I supposed to go to Wentworth’’ to get it?
Asked if he would allow Garcia to reach him on the phone to issue an apology, Woods said, “That’s already done with.”
Asked if that meant Garcia apologized to him, Woods said, “Not in person, no.’’
Asked if he considered Garcia’s public mea culpa an apology, Woods said, “Move on.”
Many not directly involved sounded as if they are ready to move on, including Jack Nicklaus, the host of the tournament this week.
“The Sergio-Tiger thing, I mean it’s stupid,’’ Nicklaus told reporters yesterday. “I mean … do guys have an issue with one another? They usually resolve it themselves. You guys want to resolve it in the newspapers today. Nobody needs that. And I think they both finally said it’s enough. Let’s move on.
“In our days, I suppose there were times when you had an issue with somebody and it came about. You never read about it.”
What Woods would rather everyone read about is the fact he’s won four tournaments already this year — the first time he has won four before the Memorial, which he won last year.
It has been a year of controversy in golf, with Woods’ rules infraction issue at the Masters, the Woods-Garcia showdown at The Players Championship, and Garcia’s subsequent banquet comments, Rory McIlroy’s struggles since his change to Nike equipment, Vijay Singh’s lawsuit against the PGA Tour and the USGA and R&A banning the use of the anchored putter beginning in 2016.
Asked if these kinds of stories are good for golf, Woods joked, “Well, I’ve won four times this year.’’
Woods enters this week having won the Memorial five of the 13 times he has played.
“I’ve been saying it a lot the last two or three years, ‘What’s the matter with Tiger? Nothing is the matter,’ ” Davis Love III said yesterday.
The only thing missing to cap off Woods’ comeback from knee and Achilles injuries and the fallout from the scandal in his personal life is his 15th major championship. To prepare for that, he and his caddie, Joe LaCava, made a Tuesday stop at Merion for a U.S. Open tuneup — the first time Woods has seen the course.
But before Merion in two weeks, there is the Memorial, which, if Woods wins again, will make him a winner in four of his last five tournaments, including his most recent start at The Players Championship.
Including the No. 1 Woods, the Memorial has the top six players in the world ranking and the strongest field in golf among regular tour events. Rory McIlroy, Masters winner Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Brandt Snedeker are all playing.
“Most golf courses set up well for Tiger Woods,” McIlroy said yesterday. “He’s won The Players this year, and that was a golf course that everyone said didn’t quite suit him. The guy is good wherever he goes and plays. It’s not like he goes to the same course and wins. He can win anywhere.’’
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com