Tiger Woods upset with British Open spectator who shouted 'Free Palestine' during tee shot

Incident happened at the 18th hole on the way to the American's joint sixth-place finish at Carnoustie

Tiger Woods was not happy on the 18th hole when a spectator shouted out during his tee shot. Getty Images

Tiger Woods said a spectator reportedly shouting "Free Palestine" as he teed off at the final hole of the British Open had come "too close to affecting the game of play"

The 14-time major winner conceded he was annoyed by the incident as he finished joint sixth at Carnoustie.

Woods later confronted the spectator who shouted as he was mid-swing, with his drive still ending up on the fairway.

“I flinched, but I’ve had things like that happen a lot in my career with people who just tried to time it," he told reporters.

"Unfortunately, that’s part of what we have to deal with in today’s game.  People are trying to yell out things to try to be on TV or be in social media or whatever it may be.

“But that was too close to affecting the game of play.”

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Despite the incident, Woods was pleased overall with a return to form that he believed allowed his two children to get to see what all the fuss was about.

Woods held the outright lead at Carnoustie heading into his back nine as he looked to win a major for the first time since 2008, but dropped three shots in two holes and he never regained the momentum.

He finished three shots behind champion Francesco Molinari.

Daughter Sam, aged 11, and son Charlie, nine, were too young to see their dad in his pomp but they greeted him with a hug behind the 18th green.

"I told them I tried, and I said 'hopefully you're proud of your pops for trying as hard as I did'," he said. "It's pretty emotional because they gave me some pretty significant hugs and squeezes there.

"I know that they know how much this championship means to me and how much it feels good to be back playing again.

"To me, it's just so special to have them aware because I've won a lot of golf tournaments in my career, but they don't remember any of them.

"The only thing they've seen is my struggles and the pain I was going through. Now they just want to go play soccer with me so that's just such a great feeling."

The 42 year old said he had enjoyed being in contention again at the front as he put loss of form and injuries behind him.

"It was a blast," he said. "I was saying earlier that I need to try and keep it in perspective because, at the beginning of the year, if they'd have said you're playing the Open Championship I would have said I'd be very lucky to do that."