Tiger Woods apologized for tampon ‘prank’ after backlash

LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods apologized on Friday afternoon for his “joke” with Justin Thomas in the opening round of the Genesis Invitational.

Woods, after outdriving Thomas on the ninth hole on Thursday, sneakily handed Thomas a tampon as the two started walking down the fairway.

The joke was meant to be between them, though a camera picked it up and the moment quickly went viral. Woods drew plenty of criticism for the move, which many took as sexist.

Woods, after carding a 3-over 74 in the second round at Riviera Country Club, insisted it wasn’t meant that way.

“Yeah, it was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn't turned out that way,” Woods said. “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."

Thomas clearly took the prank as Woods intended. The two started laughing immediately after Thomas realized what Woods had slipped him.

The joke, however, just didn't go over too well elsewhere. The insinuation, of course, is that Thomas was playing like a girl, and that this was a bad thing.

“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," Woods said.

Woods opened the week with a 2-under 69 on Thursday, but struggled to close out his day on Friday. He carded three bogeys in his final four holes, and ended right on the projected cutline by the time the second round was halted early due to darkness. Woods hasn't played in a competitive event since the British Open last July, and Friday marked only his 11th round since his car crash in Southern California in 2021.