Tiger Woods brands Golf Digest parody interview a 'grudge-fuelled piece of character assassination'

Tiger Woods has strongly criticised a parody interview with him that was published in the Golf Digest, describing the tongue-in-cheek feature as a “a grudge-fuelled piece of character assassination”.

The former World Number One golfer, who is perhaps as much known for his antics off the green, said the piece “fails” as parody and is “conceited”.

Journalist Dan Jenkins conducted the “interview”, which even includes photographs of a look-a-like, and is set in a diner – “one of the places where [Woods has] spent the past six years not winning another major”.

It features question and answer exchanges such as:

Jenkins: “Why did you turn down previous interview requests with me?”
Woods: “Like Steiny [Woods’ agent] said: We had nothing to gain.”

Jenkins: “You haven't talked about it, but after all of those New York Post front pages during the scandal, what's the moral of your story?”
Woods: “That's easy. Don't get caught.”

Writing in The Players’ Tribune, Woods slammed the article. “Journalistically and ethically, can you sink any lower?” he said.

“I like to think I have a good sense of humour, and that I’m more than willing to laugh at myself. In this game, you have to.

“I’ve been playing golf for a long time, 20 years on the PGA Tour. I’ve given lots of interviews to journalists in all that time, more than I could count, and some have been good and some not so much. All athletes know that we will be under scrutiny from the media.

“But this concocted article was below the belt. 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.”

But it appears Jenkins is unlikely to backtrack. He tweeted: My next column for Tiger: defining parody and satire. I thought I let him off easy.”

Woods fans were left shocked when the sportsman with the cleanest image in the field publicly admitted to having affairs with numerous women in 2009 after dozens leaked voicemails and text messages to the press as evidence of their trysts. He has since divorced from his wide, Swedish model Elin Nordegren.

His public image has largely recovered from his previous indiscretions, and he has been in a relationship with Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn since March 2013.