The Tiger Woods-Sergio Garcia Slapfight Continues

Golf's longest-running feud reached new levels of cattiness on Monday. Recall earlier this month, when Sergio Garcia rekindled some old animosity when he blamed Tiger Woods for his errant shot on the second hole of The Player's Championship, an accusation that elicited a someone-get-this-baby-a-bottle response from Woods.

Yesterday, at a news conference to promote the AT&T National, Woods was asked if he might be willing to reach out to Garcia and bury the hatchet. Woods seemed less than enthused about that idea:

Of course, word of Woods's answer got back to Garcia, who didn't hesitate to throw a few more barbs at Woods. From Golf.com:

"He called me a whiner. He's probably right," Garcia said Monday at Wentworth, England, at the start of the week of the BMW PGA Championship. "But that's also probably the first thing he's told you guys that's true in 15 years. I know what he's like. You guys are finding out."

[...]

First of all, I don't have his number. And secondly, I did nothing wrong and don't have anything to say to him. And he wouldn't pick up the phone anyway. But that's OK; I don't need him as a friend. I don't need him in my life to be happy and that's fine. It's as simple as that. Like I have always said, I try to be as truthful as possible," Garcia said. "That's why I think sometimes most of the people love me and some hate me. I understand that but I'm not going to change. That's what makes me who I am and that's what makes me happy. And that's what makes the people I care about happy because they know they can trust me. Tiger doesn't make a difference to my life. And I know that I don't make a difference to his life.

Meow. There was a time, when Woods was the most dominant athlete in sports and Garcia was a promising young upstart, when the hatred between these two was something more than a sad sideshow. But those days are long gone, and this is starting to feel more like a feud between two surly old men rather than an example of two world-class golfers letting their competitive fire get the best of them. At least Woods is keeping his jabs subtle and brief. Garcia, on the other hand, should really think about pumping the brakes. This is not a good look for him.

[ Golf]