Tiger Woods Apologizes for His Insensitive Tampon Joke

Tiger Woods apologized Friday for a joke he made during the first round of the Genesis Invitational when he handed Justin Thomas a tampon after outdriving him on the ninth hole. 

Woods slid it into Thomas’s hand after they walked off the tee at Riviera Country Club, jokingly mocking the younger golfer because he could not keep up with the 47-year-old Woods. 

“It was supposed to be all fun and games, and obviously it hasn’t turned out that way,” Woods said after shooting 74 in the second round. “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. 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 and Thomas are close friends who play numerous rounds together near their South Florida homes. They played in the made-for-TV Match in December and for the past three years have been grouped together during the PNC Championship, where Thomas has played with his father, Mike, and Woods with his son, Charlie.

This was Woods’s first official tournament appearance since missing the cut at the British Open in July. He is the tournament host for the Genesis Invitational, which benefits Woods’s foundation.