Tiger Woods slips his partner a tampon in prank at Genesis Invitational

It has received a mixed response online.

Tiger Woods was caught discreetly slipping his playing partner, Justin Thomas, a tampon, after outdriving him at the Genesis Invitational. The Americans were walking off the ninth tee when Thomas started laughing and was seen dropping the tampon on the floor. Woods was playing alongside Thomas and Rory McIlroy in his first appearance in seven months, and was clearly in giddy form. The suggestion seemed to be that Thomas was playing like a woman, which has sparked some criticism on social media, although the two-time major winner didn't seem to take offence to the incident. The 47-year-old is playing in his first competitive PGA Tour event since missing the cut at The Open in July and made three birdies on his final three holes to card an opening round of 69. Although interviewed after the incident, he was not asked about the prank he played on his teammate. https://twitter.com/bustedcoverage/status/1626425969832783875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1626425969832783875%7Ctwgr%5E4dc6ce86932cd6be4b2b04717a2bf75673ec5d1e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-17142705621381928677.ampproject.net%2F2301261900000%2Fframe.html “I was able to fight back and get it going,” Woods said after play. “It was a nice finish.” The golf legend's teammate, McIlroy, is making headlines for more pragmatic reasons, as he claimed the world number one ranking last October only to be replaced last week, but can claim it back soon.

"Yeah, of course I care about it," McIlroy told a pre-tournament press conference. "I think it's a really cool thing to be ranked number one in whatever you do, but I think it just goes to show the level of depth and the level of talent that's out here.

"I literally have one average week, it wasn't even a bad week, just an average week, and there's always someone waiting to overtake you or to come and try to take that mantle from you. I think it's a great thing for the game.

"I've got a chance to get it back this week. You know, hopefully it's a bit of a sort of hot potato thing where me, Scottie and Jon [Rahm] sort of pass it around a little bit because it means we're all playing great golf."

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• Tiger Woods goes to town on LIV Golf defectors at Open press conference