Tiger Woods tells cameraman to “back off” after first drive at the PGA Championship

Tiger Woods’ golf game may not be back to full strength as he continues working his way back from last year’s life-threatening car crash, but his attitude seems to have already reached normal levels.

During the first round of The Masters, ESPN cameras caught Woods dropping an f-bomb, now during the first round of the PGA Championship streaming on ESPN+, they caught him asking them to back off.

The 15-time major champion teed off at the PGA Championship early in the 9 o’clock hour, driving his opening shot right down the middle of the fairway. As Woods slowly made his way to the ball for his second shot, he confronted a nearby camera operator, asking for more space.

Tiger asking the cameraman to back off. Three times pic.twitter.com/fNYIXN7KbM

— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) May 19, 2022

“Mind giving me some breathing space, please?” Woods asked before having to repeat himself. “Mind giving me some breathing space, please,” he said louder and with more angst. “Back off a little bit and give me some breathing space!”

Woods was able to continue walking down the fairway throughout the exchange. It’s difficult to tell exactly how close the cameraperson was to Woods, but they didn’t appear to be all up in his face. From the far away shot at the beginning of the clip, the cameras looked to be on the fairway, but remained a good distance away from Woods.

Usually laser focused, you would expect Woods to be worried about his second shot and not the camera operator. But the person, who was just doing their job, couldn’t have interrupted Woods too much. His second shot landed on the green a few feet away from the cup, setting himself up for a birdie, which he converted.

[Sky Sports]