European golf tour head apologises for using 'coloured' term while referring to Woods-Garcia spat

The head of the European golf tour has offered an apology for using the word 'coloured' during a live television interview in which he was referring to the spat between World No.1 Tiger Woods and Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia.

European Tour CEO George O'Grady had said that 'most of Sergio's friends are colored athletes in the United States', the New York Post reports.

According to the report, although the word 'coloured' was once widely used in the United States to refer to African-Americans but it is now considered antiquated and offensive.

O'Grady apologised for his remark, saying that he deeply regretted using an inappropriate word in a live interview.

The report further said that Woods and Garcia have exchanged barbs over the past two weeks during The Players Championship after the Spaniard implied that Woods purposely stirred up the gallery as he was playing a shot.

However, the report further said, the situation worsened when Garcia jokingly likened Woods to fried chicken during a dinner, similar to Fuzzy Zoeller's comment about Woods during his record-setting victory in the 1997 Masters, when Woods became the first player of black heritage to win a major.

Certain foods, fried chicken and watermelon in particular, have been used in dehumanizing caricatures of blacks as far back as the beginning America's segregation era in the 19th century, the report added.