Sergio fans flames of Tiger rivalry with ‘fried chicken’ remark

What was just a simmering row between Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods has turned into a flaming feud after the Spaniard made an ill-advised remark about Woods at an awards dinner last night.

Garcia and Woods have never been the best of friends but their relationship has turned particularly sour ever since a public row at the Players’ Championship in Sawgrass earlier this month after Garcia blamed Woods for putting him off before a shot by pulling a club out of his bag and sparking some noise from the crowd.

The spat between the players has rumbled on since, which prompted Steve Sands of the Golf Channel to make light of the situation when in conversation with Garcia at the European Tour's gala players' awards prior to the PGA Championship at Wentworth this week.

Sands jokingly asked Garcia if he would be inviting Woods around for dinner during the upcoming US Open, to which Garcia replied: "We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken."

Whether or not Garcia was aware of his faux-pas at the time is not clear as he left the dinner before he could clarify the remark, but he attempted to avoid a racism controversy later by issuing a statement through the European Tour.

"I apologise for any offence that may have been caused by my comment on stage during The European Tour Players' Awards dinner,” the statement read.

“I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner."

Garcia isn’t the first golfer to be caught up in a racism controversy involving Woods. In 1997, after Woods’ first victory at the US Masters, Fuzzy Zoeller commented on what Woods might serve at the Champions’ Dinner the following year, saying: "You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it? Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

More recently, Woods former caddie, the *cough* shy and retiring *cough* Steve Williams explained an over the top celebration following a victory by his current employer Adam Scott in 2011 by saying that it was his aim to “shove it right up that black ba***rd.”

This row will no doubt come to the boil over the next few days but even though he's released a statement on the matter, we suggest that Sergio goes into full on Father Ted defence mode.