Golf great Tiger Woods has apologized for last week's joke where he handed fellow pro Justin Thomas a tampon when one of Thomas' drives came up shorter than Tiger's.

On Thursday, Woods was playing the Genesis Invitational in a threesome with Thomas and Rory McIlroy when on the ninth hole, his drive off the tee bested those of both his partners. As they started the walk to their balls, Tiger slipped a tampon into Thomas' hand to emphasize that the younger golfer's drive didn't quite make it the distance.

Naturally, feminists and wokesters alike were furious at Woods for using a feminine hygiene product to hint that Thomas was "playing like a girl."

After a storm of vituperation leveled against him, Woods came out with an apology, according to Fox News.

By Friday, Woods was saying it was just a joke, but that he was sorry for it.

"Yeah, it was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn't turned out that way. If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun," he told reporters during a media availability session at the tournament.

"As I said, if I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I'm sorry," Woods said. "It was not intended to be that way. It was just, we play pranks on one another all the time and virally I think this did not come across that way, but between us it was -- it's different."

Tiger did some marketing for a feminine product this week, maybe you heard. Here’s his response to the reaction of the clip below after today’s round: https://t.co/KqPvonaApd pic.twitter.com/hQVVP0lXNW

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) February 17, 2023

Woods has been struggling to keep up with the scores among his peers for several years, especially since the February 2021 car crash that nearly cost him his leg. And the Genesis Invitational has been no less a struggle.

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The tournament is the 47-year-old golf star's first competitive outing in seven months, and he barely made the cut Friday as he carded a 3-over 74 in the second round. At one over par, Woods tied for 60th place in the tournament as the top 65 players advanced to the next round, ESPN reported.

On Saturday he recovered somewhat, according to CBS Sports and was tied at 26th place with an overall 3 under par.

While many were excited to see Woods on the course once again, the tampon joke brought much criticism on Thursday.

The attacks started when Woods hit a 323-yard drive off the ninth tee while Thomas' shot rolled to a stop at only 313 yards. It appears that was the moment Tiger was waiting for, because as the two began walking down the fairway, Woods slipped a tampon into Thomas' hand.

Yes, Tiger Woods 100% handed Justin Thomas a tampon after he outdrove him. pic.twitter.com/VJbfldyXhw

— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) February 17, 2023

Tiger Woods had a gift for Justin Thomas after driving it past him on number nine.

(via @GettyImages) pic.twitter.com/HXZEQSAhEU

— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) February 17, 2023

Not everyone was amused by Tiger's tampon joke.

USA Today columnis Christine Brennan blasted Woods as a bad "girl dad" for the tampon joke. Brennan slammed Tiger for using the tampon to in essence say, "You play like a girl."

Really, Tiger? You’re a 47-year-old 'girl dad’ who still pulls juvenile and sexist tampon pranks like an immature school boy? My @usatodaysports column: https://t.co/s6Pk6vTLn3

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) February 17, 2023

"Really, Tiger?" Brennan moaned. "What a bizarre thing for a 'girl dad' to do. His daughter Sam, now 15, grew up playing soccer and had just played in a tournament in Florida when she arrived to watch him win the Masters in 2019."

Brennan was hardly alone. Many jumped to social media to deliver a feminist rebuke to Woods.

😡WHY did they think this was funny? WHAT was the purpose of it? HOW are we supposed to remove any stigma around periods and menstrual health if top-level sportsmen are pulling stunts like this & giggling like school boys?😡@thewellhq https://t.co/RvTQKuh9CO

— Georgie Heath (@GeorgieHeath27) February 17, 2023

Positioning menstruation as weakness is the patriarchy and this is a puerile, stale joke. Let’s put the menstrual cramp machine on Tiger Woods so he can have some more data about menstruation. https://t.co/0tuZdYzjLZ

— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) February 17, 2023

Sports commentators laughing, and the fact that Tiger Woods had the tampon in his pocket, ready for the right moment to disrespect women, again 🙄 yeah, I guess Tiger might want to get a refresher on all that therapy he had after his first wife discovered what his other hobby was

— liz (@liz63972336) February 17, 2023

It remains to be seen if Tiger's explanation that it was just a private joke meant for "fun" between two pros or if his apology will be accepted by his detractors.

But it does show that Tiger continues to have a spotlight on his every move.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.