Lionesses chief Wiegman says Tiger Woods should be mindful of ‘role model’ position following tampon ‘prank’

SARINA WIEGMAN says Tiger Woods should be conscious of his “role model” status after the golf star faced a backlash for a tampon incident.

The 15-time major winner was criticised for handing Justin Thomas a tampon at the Genesis Invitational in California.

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Woods, 47, was playing at the tournament in Los Angeles on Friday after seven months out.

After outdriving Thomas during the ninth hole, Woods was spotted discreetly placing a tampon in his hand.

Seconds later Thomas dropped the sanitary product on the floor with the pair seen laughing together.

The incident, which Woods has since apologised for, was met with criticism from leading figures within golf and other sports.

When asked her thoughts on the golf ace’s actions, Lionesses boss Wiegman, 53, said: “It’s very inappropriate, I think he realised that too.

“You’re such a big role model and you can have a positive impact on society and I think he should be conscious of that at all times.”

Wiegman was sharing her views a day before the Lionesses’ match against Italy in the Arnold Clark Cup tournament.

Her team, currently unbeaten under the head coach, are aiming to win the contest for the second year in a row.

Manchester City and England defender Alex Greenwood concurred with her boss on Woods’ actions.

Greenwood, 29, who said: “From what I know he’s a massive role model within the sport,

“I think if he looks back on it, he’ll be really disappointed with what he did and I’m sure he’ll apologise for it.”

Sky Sports Golf presenter Sarah Stirk described the moment as “disappointing”.

And in a comment shared via her Twitter account, Irish rugby ace Anna Caplice wrote: “If the world generally respected women, I would be able to see the funny side of this.

“But it doesn’t. So I don’t.”

The Cork-born rugby player, who plays golf in her spare time, later deleted her tweet stating: “Deleting tweets because I’m not ready for a day of being attacked.

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 Following the incident, Woods said: “If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun. 

“As I said, if I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I’m sorry. 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’s different.”