Rookie Backs Off Tiger Accusations

As we knew he would, Tour Rookie Brendan Steele has backed off his suggestion that Tiger mailed it in the final round of last week’s Farmers Open. Claim he was misconstrued, Steele has sent a written apology to Tiger. He now claims that he simply meant that Tiger was working on his game:

“What I was really trying to say was that . . . when it came down to being two guys that were not going to win the golf tournament, you know, as Tiger has said, he’s working on the process of his golf swing,” said Steele, 27.

“He’s got it on the [practice] range, and he’s trying to make it transition over to the course, and I could see that. I could see that he was working on some shots and he really wasn’t going to win the tournament.

“You could see him, after every swing, he’s rehearsing things. He’s working hard on the mechanics of it.”

Here’s Steele’s original statement:

“I don’t think he gave it ­everything today. Once it started going in the wrong direction, I don’t think it had his full attention.”

I’m not sure what the difference is, though. He’s saying that, because he thought he wasn’t going to win, Tiger was taking the opportunity to work on his swing. That’s still giving up in my book.