Tiger Woods has written an angry response to Golf Digest's Dan Jenkins after the journalist penned a parody interview with the former world number one.
Jenkins has been a harsh critic of Woods over the years, but his latest article in the December issue has sparked a reaction from Woods, who had decided against responding in the past.
In the parody interview, Jenkins suggested - from the point of view of a fictional Woods - that the 38-year-old takes pleasure in firing people, while also including a criticism of Sergio Garcia, who has clashed with the American in the past.
"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," Woods revealed in a statement.
"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.
"Whether it is misreported information or opinions I think are way off base, I let plenty of things slide. But this time I can't do that. The sheer nastiness of this attack, the photos and how it put false words in my mouth just had to be confronted."
Mark Steinberg, the agent of Woods, has written to Golf Digest asking for an apology after being mentioned in the article.
Callum Mulvihill
