Retief Confirms He Has No Sense Of Humor, Jokes That Tiger Was Faking Knee Injury

Reuters' Norman Dabell reports on Retief Goosen's attempt to put out the fire caused by his comments to the Times' Kevin Eason.

Goosen told Reuters on Wednesday before playing in the BMW International Open pro-am that he had not been serious.

"I was joking, really. I mean, how do I know? I never spoke to the guy," Goosen said.

"He's got a sore knee, yes, and at the end of the day it's a great achievement by Tiger winning his 14th major.

"But I wouldn't really know how sore or not his knee was. Obviously if his knee was really bad he would have withdrawn.

"I won't say I knew he was faking it. How would I know?

"Anyway, it's great to see that he's recovering well and that he's back on form."

From the original Eason story:

“Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played.”

The South African was trying to soften the impact of his remarks last night, although he did not attempt to retract them, merely implying that he was not being serious. When approached by The Times on the eve of the BMW International Open in Munich, Goosen said: “I was being light-hearted. No one but Tiger himself knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn, wouldn’t he?”

Goosen’s comments caused embarrassment at IMG,

...now that's saying something...

the management group that looks after the interests of both golfers, which would not make an official statement last night, but suggested that the South African’s remarks may have been misconstrued.