Tiger Woods hands Justin Thomas a tampon during his comeback round
It occurred as the Americans walked off the ninth tee, with Thomas laughing and dropping the tampon on the floor.
The incident drew a mixed response on social media, with some criticising 15-time major champion Woods.
The 47-year-old is playing in his first competitive PGA Tour event since missing the cut at The Open in July.
He was in a group with PGA Championship winner Thomas and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy.
"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.
"... He employed basic misogyny to insult his good friend Thomas, a knee-slapper of a dig against female athletes: You hit the ball like a girl!"
Sky Sports presenter Sarah Stirk said it was "crass" and "extremely disappointing".
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Stirk added: "It was seemingly done in jest. To me, it was laddy, blokey behaviour, passing him the tampon effectively saying: 'I've outdriven you, you're driving the ball like a woman'.
"[That is] effectively the inference of the incident that happened and that to me says females, women, are inferior to men.
"Women should not be portrayed as inferior to men in any walk of life and certainly on a sporting landscape."
US lawyer Dr Ann Olivarius tweeted: "See, it's funny because feminine hygiene products are INHERENTLY emasculating, so when a man makes another man touch a tampon, he's saying 'I am a bigger and better man than you, because, GROSS, I made you touch a wrapped Tampax!'."
Golf podcast host Brian Kirschner said: "Truly cannot get over the idea of Tiger Woods preparing for his first non-major start since 2020 at a tournament he's hosting and being like "oops, almost forgot to pack a tampon to hand to JT when I hit it past him".
And Julie DiCaro, a lawyer and author, tweeted: "Ugh. All the guys think this is hilarious, but the joke is denigrating women. So played out and stupid."
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