Jay Williams slams AI videos ‘mocking’ Tiger Woods after Rory McIlroy’s back-to-back Masters wins

Photo by Adam Glanzman/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images

Jay Williams has strongly criticised the rise of AI-generated and manipulated Tiger Woods content, arguing that the line between entertainment and exploitation is being crossed at a time when golf is already dominating the wider sports conversation.

Rory McIlroy’s second straight Masters win has naturally brought Tiger Woods back into the discussion, because McIlroy is now the first player to win back-to-back Green Jackets since Woods did it in 2001 and 2002.

In other words, Woods’ legacy is already part of the story without social media trying to manufacture something extra.

That is what makes the recent wave of fake and AI-style content feel more uncomfortable than amusing. Instead of letting a genuine golf storyline breathe.

Photo by Mike Pont/Getty Images

Jay Williams says AI content mocking Tiger Woods crosses the line

Williams made his feelings clear in a post shared via his X handle, where he focused not only on the disrespect shown to Woods, but also on the way reality broadcast material is being repurposed to make the content look more authentic.

He wrote, “Mocking Tiger Woods with AI isn’t entertainment it’s exploitation. Add stolen PGA and CBS footage and it becomes theft. That’s a real man, with real kids, and a real family.

“Platforms need to take it down. Now.”

The strength of that reaction reflects a wider discomfort that is starting to build around AI-generated sports content.

In Woods’ case, the concern is even sharper because his image carries enormous commercial and cultural value.

Using that likeness to create misleading content does not just distort reality; it also risks reducing a real athlete with a real family to a prop in a viral joke.

Fake Tiger Woods videos spread as Rory McIlroy’s Masters repeat revives old comparisons

As McIlroy completed his 2026 title run and became the first player to retain the Masters since Woods, online interest in Tiger surged again, and with it came fabricated content designed to exploit that attention.

One of the clearest examples was a viral clip that falsely appeared to show Woods making a dramatic SUV entrance at Augusta. Subsequent fact-checking made clear that the video was fake, but by then it had already circulated widely enough to become part of the week’s online noise.

That is the broader issue Williams is reacting to. The technology is now good enough to create believable enough scenes around major sporting events, and those clips can spread faster than the truth catches up.

So while Woods was not the central figure in the tournament itself, his name and image still became part of the conversation in a way that many people now find unsettling.

Williams’ point, ultimately, is that golf does not need manufactured Tiger content to fuel interest, especially not during a week when the real story was already big enough on its own.

Read more:

• Butch Harmon pinpoints the difference between watching Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods play golf
• Brandel Chamblee suggests why Rory McIlroy can never be compared to Tiger Woods
• Paul McGinley states how Rory McIlroy is ‘very different’ to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus