Woods hits back at Golf Digest parody

It was all done in jest, but Tiger Woods didn’t see the funny side of a “pretend” interview by veteran US golf journalist Dan Jenkins.

While he is renowned as one of the world’s best golf writers through his long run with US Golf Digest, 84-year-old Jenkins must have ‘crossed the line’, certainly in Tiger’s eye, anyway, with his parody interview.

Tiger Woods (Credit: Anthony Powter)

Jenkins poked fun at Woods’ failed marriage and even joked that the 38-year-old enjoyed firing people and disliked paying tips.

Woods later described Jenkins’ piece as “a grudge-fuelled piece of character assassination.”

Maybe Jenkins felt he was in a position to make such a character assassination…he has covered more than 200 major championships.

Jenkins did claim he wrote the story because he had never been granted an exclusive interview with the 14-time major winner.

“I like to think I have a good sense of humour, and that I’m more than willing to laugh at myself,” Woods said.

“Good-natured satire is one thing, but no fair-minded writer would put someone in the position of having to publicly deny that he mistreats his friends, takes pleasure in firing people and stiffs on tips – and a lot of other slurs, too.”

Woods’ management has written to US Golf Digest and asked for an apology.

That might be as forthcoming as they hoped: Jenkins suggested he let Woods off lightly.