A pain in the neck
Posted on 10/05/2010"The last time that Tiger Woods walked off during a round was as an amateur at the 1995 US Open," writes Mark Reason in The Daily Telegraph. "We all felt sorry for him then, but no longer. Woods has become golf's biggest pain in the neck."
Woods just left town after withdrawing from the Players' Championship with a stiff neck. Woods had once again tasered the PGA Tour and his fellow golfers.Head down and hiding behind a pair of dark glasses Woods didn't utter one word to the waiting media. He preferred to turn the biggest tournament on the Tour into another circus. The bloke whom Ernie Els called selfish ahead of February's Matchplay, just did it
again.Is this the same man who won the 2008 US Open with a fractured leg and ruined knee? Is this the same man who won at Bay Hill in 2003 with severe food poisoning in the final round? After hitting a drive off the seventh tee Woods asked the official to call for a cart. When transport arrived by the green, Woods made his wretched departure from the golf course.
What will Tour commissioner Tim Fichem have to say about Woods's latest stunt? Finchem opened up the clubhouse doors here at Ponte Vedra so that Woods could make his public apology in February. Finchem was much criticised at the time for bending over to Woods and this is how he repays him. The Players is Finchem's pet tournament and Woods just reduced it to a sideshow.
Cornered in the locker room Woods said: "I've been playing with a bad neck for quite a while. They want me to go get a picture on it next week. I might have a bulging disc. I've been playing through it. I can't play through it any more. I'm having a hard time with the pain. There's tingling down my fingers."On Friday Woods was asked if there was anything wrong with him physically. He replied: "No. Zero. Absolutely 100 per cent." Yesterday he said he had been having neck pain since before the Masters.
Dr Antoni Jakubowski, who treats Justin Rose and Retief Goosen, said: "Bulging discs are a golfing epidemic. In Tiger's case the psychological stress he is under is probably 80 per cent responsible for bringing out the weak link.
"If he has surgery his career will be stuffed, but that won't happen. Neck issues are usually resolved quicker than back issues and with the right treatment he should be playing golf again in a fortnight and competitive golf in four weeks." It sounds as if Woods should be fine for the US Open.
England's trump card
Meanwhile, the fate of England's World Cup bid lies in the hands of one man, writes Charles Sale in The Daily Mail.
England's 2018 World Cup bid are playing their trump card again next Friday by using David Beckham to hand over the bid book to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the Zurich ceremony.
Beckham, whose recovery from achilles tendon surgery is far enough advanced for campaign business, is part of a five-strong England delegation travelling to Switzerland that includes FA chairman Lord Triesman and chief executive Andy Anson.
But when FIFA specified the presentation of the detailed 2018 plans to Blatter should be done by an individual rather than in group mode, there was only one choice.
Beckham has been almost wholly responsible for turning around the image of a bid that was in danger of disintegrating last year because of internal board conflict.
His appearances around the World Cup draw in Cape Town last December attracted hugely favourable publicity and charmed voting FIFA committee members.
However, the FIFA limit of 15 minutes’ media activity for the bidding countries following their presentations will prevent England showcasing Beckham for as long as they would have liked.
He won’t be returning with the 2018 party for a press conference at Heathrow later in the day owing to family commitments in Los Angeles.