Saying he had difficulty sleeping and contemplated withdrawing from this week's European Tour event, Sergio Garcia on Wednesday afternoon apologized for racially insensitive remarks directed at Tiger Woods at a tour function outside London the previous night, acknowledging his comments were "totally stupid and out of place."

The two golfers have been engaged in a war of words going back two weeks to The Players Championship, and it turned ugly Tuesday night with Garcia's admitted poor attempt at humor, which prompted a tweet from Woods: "The comment that was made wasn't silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate."

Garcia jokingly answered a question at a European Tour players dinner Tuesday night about getting together with Woods at the U.S. Open by saying, "We'll have him 'round every night. We will serve fried chicken."

"Fried chicken" references are associated with racial stereotypes of African-Americans.

Garcia had issued a statement late Tuesday night apologizing for the remarks, then met with the media on Wednesday after his pro-am round at Wentworth, site of this week's European Tour flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship.

"I want to apologize to Tiger and anybody that I could have offended," Garcia said. "I feel sick about it. I'm truly, truly sorry. And I hope we can kind of settle things down and hopefully move on."

Garcia had issued a statement Tuesday night.

"I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during the European Tour Players' Awards dinner," Garcia said. "I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner."

Before Garcia's news conference, Woods tweeted:

"I'm confident that there is real regret that the remark was made. The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it's long past time to move on and talk about golf."

One of Garcia's sponsors has also weighed in on the matter.