Tiger taken aback by wiener-wielding fan

Published Oct. 9, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

A man threw a hot dog at Tiger Woods at the Frys.com Open on Sunday.

The 31-year-old man stepped from the crowd on the seventh green at CordeValle Golf Club and called out, "Tiger, Tiger," before launching the hot dog in the direction of the former world No. 1.

The hot dog didn't come near Woods, who nonetheless backed away from his putt.

"When I looked up it was already in the air," Woods said. "The bun was kind of disintegrating there."

Woods said the man "came running on the green and he had a hot dog."

"I don't know how he tried to throw it, but I was kind of focusing on my putt when he started yelling," Woods said. "Next thing I know he laid on the ground and looked like he wanted to be arrested. He put his hands behind his back and turned his head."

The man was besieged by five police and private security officers, who wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him.

The man, who was not identified, was later arrested on charges of disturbing the peace. A sheriff's deputy said the man denied throwing the hot dog at Woods, saying it fell out of his hand.

The deputy said that when asked why he committed the act, the man just shook his head and gave no reason.

"He's an idiot," said Dan Diggins, the Frys.com head of security.

Arjun Atwal, who was playing alongside Woods, said that, although the incident was minor, it could have escalated.

"It's funny now," Atwal said, "(but) the guy could've been shot.

"The way that guy ran out there with the hot dog, he knew the cops were going to take him down."

The incident was captured by Golf Channel cameras, but executives at the network, after consultation with a PGA Tour official, chose not to broadcast it. "We don't want to provoke or inspire others to do the same thing," a tour representative explained.

Woods has been occasionally heckled since his life imploded in the wake of a tabloid sex scandal in November 2009, but this was the first time anything was thrown at him by a spectator.

"He wanted to be in the news, and I'm sure he will be," Woods said.