Tiger Woods wants to turn the page in his controversy with Sergio Garcia. The world number one has once again spoken about the matter in a conciliatory tone. The controversy between the two stems from an infraction committed by the Californian at the Augusta Masters, to which the judges turned a blind eye. Sergio was one of the few players who criticized him in public and that did not please the American.
However, the atmosphere remains heated and the player from Borriol has earned a lot of enmity among American fans. And the fact is that Sergio never thought that one sentence could get him into so much trouble. Last week the golfer from Castellón joked when asked if he would invite Tiger to dinner: “We’ll invite him every night; we’ll serve him fried chicken”. The consumption of fried chicken by African-Americans is a stereotype. which dates back to the slavery era and is offensive in the United States. Despite apologizing and denying the racist component of his phrase, it could cost him dearly.
TaylorMade-Adidas, the clothing firm that sponsors him, has issued a statement explaining that “Sergio Garcia’s comment is offensive and in no way aligns with TaylorMade-Adidas’ values and corporate culture.” In the statement, the company says that they contacted the Castellón player and that while they believe his regret is sincere, “we discussed with Sergio that his comments are clearly out of bounds and we are looking into the matter.”
TaylorMade-Adidas has sponsored Sergio Garcia for 11 years and is estimated to earn $16.2 million per year.
In addition to this contract, Sergio Garcia’s reputation in the United States is also in jeopardy. The player from Burriol is receiving a lot of criticism from the specialized press in the United States and the United Kingdom. John Huggan writes in the prestigious magazine Golf Digest that Garcia’s joke “is a reflection of total ignorance” and describes him as “spoiled” and “immature”.
Ferrell Evans, in a column on theESPN website, asserts that Garcia “has played enough in the United States to know the racial landscape.” Cameron Morfit, a golf expert for Sports Illustrated magazine, says that “Garcia is the most obvious candidate for a sports psychologist I’ve seen” and accuses him of having “thrown out so much garbage that he has now dug himself into a hole so deep he can’t dig himself out of it.” And in the same medium, Michael Rosenberg states that “Sergio is a whiner, he is petty and thinks that every dark cloud in the sky is looking at him” and compares him to Tiger Woods, who “is a champion, one of the greatest competitors ever seen in his sport” and ends his column by assuring that “Sergio Garcia tried to win an argument and lost. Tiger Woods tries to win golf tournaments, and he succeeds”.
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