‘Pathetic!’ Pundit blasted for controversial Tiger Woods take at The Open

Former European Tour player Mark Roe has come under fire for a remark he made about Tiger Woods while live on air at The Open.

The 61-year-old, who has worked as a TV pundit since ending a tour career that spanned three decades, was commentating on Woods’ opening round at Royal Troon.

During the featured groups coverage, the camera lingered on the 15-time major champion for a few moments when Roe made his quip.

Absolutely insane thing to say out loud pic.twitter.com/1WIJ3aBrYQ

— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) July 18, 2024

If you didn’t quite catch that, he said: “You look at the eyes, you’ve got to think there’s a lot of painkillers being taken.”

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The replies, as you can imagine, caught fire…

“I’m not a big fan of Tiger, but even if it’s true, there are just things that need not be said”
– @RussNormandin

“You don’t say that on air”
– @BracketNky

“They should be fired. Dude has already fought painkiller addiction problems and there is no indication that he is taking anything. Unethical and unprofessional.”
– @DirtyTheOG

“Extremely unprofessional”
– @MikeCarboneJr

“Yikes!”
– @golfnjokes

“Extremely odd and unprofessional”
– @NFLMarquise

“This could be a fireable offense”
– @Blakepadilla55

“Pathetic and unprofessional!”
– @kpierce79

“That’s a really bad take. Speculating on medical care is not his job.”
– @Kaufm020

“Totally uncalled for”
– @MCdaGOAT10

“Dude. Hit the cough button next time. You shouldn’t be speculating on the GOAT”
– @JmwhiddenJoshua

“Pretty irresponsible. Even if he has knowledge/source. He should have kept his mouth shut. Legal team will be in touch”
– @stompdrum

“These commentators are a joke”
– @Ryno_

“Very, very weird thing to say.”
– @TheApexHound

“Poor choice of words”
– @SmokedWhiskey69

“Some hack announcer diagnosing Tiger by looking at his eyes on a tv screen. A real doctor wouldn’t do that. Get rid of this guy.”
– @genevalaitis

“It doesn’t get any more unprofessional than to say something like that, unfounded, on the air.”
– @davidpick1987

Roe played in 12 Opens between 1987 and 2003, but his most notable contribution to golf’s oldest major was when, in the last of those, he was disqualified while two shots off the lead going into the final round at Royal St George’s after he and playing partner Jesper Parnevik forgot to swap scorecards, and therefore signed for incorrect scores.

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Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor