Things are heating up between world's no.1 Tiger Woods and his old time nemesis Sergio Garcia as the two golfers exchanged barbs following a controversial play early in the third round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Woods and Garcia rekindled their bitter rivalry on Saturday after the two former Players Championship title-holders expressed their discontent about playing with each other.
Garcia, who bagged the Players Championship trophy in 2008, was paired with Woods (2001 Players Champion) for Saturday's third round, but their partnership suddenly turned icy after the Spaniard accused the world's top golfer of distracting him.
Garcia was apparently annoyed after his second shot off went off the target, well to the right side of the par-5 second hole. Garcia blamed Woods for sparking a commotion behind him almost at the time he was teeing his shot.
"He moved all the crowd that he needed to move. I waited for that. I wouldn't say that he didn't see that I was ready, but you do have a feel when the other guy is going to hit, and right as I was in the top of my backswing, I think he must have pulled like a 5-wood or a 3-wood and obviously everybody started screaming," Garcia told NBC during the two-hour delay caused by rain.
Woods, on the other hand, insisted he would never intend to distract his playing partner, though he wasn't surprised at all hearing complaints from Garcia.
"Obviously, he doesn't know all the facts," Woods told reporters, according to ESPN. "The marshals told me he had already hit. I pulled the club and played my shot. Then I hear his comments afterward. Not really surprising that he's complaining about something."
To ease the tension between the two, the tourney organizers decided not to put Woods and Garcia in the same group for Sunday's final round.
Nevertheless, that won't stop the feisty Spaniard from launching more barbs towards Woods.
"I'm not going to lie,'' Garcia told ESPN. "He's not my favorite guy to play with. He's not the nicest guy on tour.''
Round 4 TV Schedule
Live Coverage begins from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST Saturday on NBC.
Live Stream
Live stream coverage can be caught on The Golf Channel.com. More live stream footage is available at NBC Sports Live Extra at 1:30 p.m.
Leaderboard
For the leaderboard and up-to-the-minute changes, go to PGA Tour.com.
Tee Times
The tee times of Round 4 could be found by clicking here (PGA Tour).
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