CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG? Sergio Garcia (left) said Tiger Woods distracted him while he was hitting a fairway shot on the par-5 second hole in yesterday’s third round play of the Players Championship. Garcia said Woods should not have pulled out a wood while he was hitting because it caused a loud crowd reaction. (
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Casting a larger shadow over The Players Championship third round than the electrical storm clouds that suspended play yesterday was a squall brewing in the final pairing of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.
Garcia called out Woods for distracting him before a shot and turned the cool story about a little-known PGA Tour rookie named David Lingmerth leading the tournament by two shots into an afterthought.
Lingmerth, who has the 18th hole to play when play resumes this morning, is at 12-under par. Woods and Garcia (who are through 14 holes) and Henrik Stenson (through 16) are at 10-under.
Garcia, who entered the day at 11-under par with a one-shot lead over Woods, accused Woods of distracting him as he was about to hit his second shot on the second hole.
Woods, commenting after play was suspended by darkness, said, “It’s not surprising he was complaining about something. Obviously, he doesn’t know all the facts. The marshals told me he had already hit, so I pulled a club and was getting ready to play my shot.’’
The scenario unfolded after Garcia hit a perfect tee shot into the fairway on the par-5 second hole and Woods hooked his tee shot into the left trees, leaving himself with a narrow opening from a pine straw lie to hit a second shot toward the green.
Garcia, who was farther away from the green than Woods and had honors to hit his second shot first, waited patiently on the right side of the fairway while Woods surveyed the situation and had the crowds along the ropes moved out of the way.
Then, as Garcia stood over his ball and was about to draw the club back, Woods pulled a fairway wood from his bag. That elicited a loud reaction from the gallery surrounding him, because it meant he was going for the green and not going to pitch out to the fairway.
Garcia said the crowd reaction occurred just before he made his swing and was why he sprayed his approach shot into the woods short and to the right of the green.
A short time later, during a 108-minute weather delay, Garcia called out Woods in an interview on NBC.
“Well, obviously Tiger was on the left,’’ Garcia said. “It was my shot to hit. He moved all the crowd that he needed to move and I waited for that. I want to say that he didn’t see that I was ready, but you do have a feel when the other guy is going to hit.
“Right as I was on top of the backswing, I think he must have pulled a 5-wood or 3-wood out [of his bag] and obviously everybody started screaming, so that didn’t help very much. It was unfortunate.”
Garcia bogeyed the hole as Woods scrambled for a birdie — a two-shot swing that gave Woods the lead at the time at 11-under par to Garcia’s 10-under and left Garcia seething.
“I might have hit it there if nothing happens, you never know,” Garcia said. “If I hit a good shot there and make a birdie, it gets my day started in a bit of a different way.”
A TV replay, however, showed the noise came before Garcia’s swing.
“I try to respect everyone as much as possible out there,’’ Garcia added. “I try to be careful what I do to make sure it doesn’t bother the other players.’’
Garcia’s ball ended up in the pine straw behind a tree, forcing him to punch out short of the green and then pitch onto it.
Asked if he was aware of Garcia’s claim by the time play resumed after the weather delay, Woods said, “I knew.’’
“We didn’t do a lot of talking out there,’’ Woods said.
History of bad blood
Woods and Garcia have a history of contentious incidents.
After Woods won the 2006 British Open at Hoylake, playing in the final round with Garcia, who was dressed in canary yellow, he reportedly texted some friends this message: “I just bludgeoned Tweety Bird.”
Woods also has tweaked Garcia for having not won a major championship, once saying he would have thought the Spaniard would have won a major by now.
“He’s been so close,” he said. “He’s been in the final group a few times and he’s been right there with a chance.”
Garcia, who has chided Woods for his poor Ryder Cup record, annoyed Woods with an over-the-top celebration when he beat Woods in a made-for-TV “Battle at Bighorn’’ exhibition in 2000.
In 19 rounds together in their PGA Tour careers, Woods has shot the lower score 12 times, they have shot the same score four times and Garcia has shot lower three times. On weekends when paired together, Woods is 6-0.
In the 12 tournaments in which Woods and Garcia have been paired together, Woods went on win eight.