Category: News Features

Tiger Woods out of top 100 in world golf rankings for the first time since 1996

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VIRGINIA WATER, England — For the first time since 1996, Tiger Woods is not among the top 100 golfers in the world ranking. Woods, who hasn’t played since he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open on Feb. 6, falls to No. 104 this week. The last time he was out of the top 100 was on Sept. 29, 1996, when he was at No. 225. The following week, Woods won the Las Vegas Invitational as a 20-year-old for the first of his 79 PGA Tour victories. It is not clear when Woods will return. He said in February that his … Continue reading

List of young challengers to Rory McIlroy keeps growing

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Five weeks into the new year, all five winners on the PGA Tour were among the top 50 in the world. Jason Day didn’t need numbers to illustrate what is becoming increasingly clear. “The game is kind of changing,” Day said after winning a four-man playoff at Torrey Pines. “It’s evolving into very young, tall, big, strong-looking guys out here that hit it a mile and have fantastic touch. It’s getting tougher. It’s really tough to win out here.” That’s easy for him to say with only three PGA Tour wins in eight years. For all … Continue reading

Tiger Woods taking leave because his play ‘not acceptable,’ will return when game is ready

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PEBBLE BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods said Wednesday his game is “not acceptable” to compete in tournaments and he will return when he thinks it is. Hopeful of having injuries behind him, Woods made a horrific start to the new year. He shot a career-high 82 in the second round of the Phoenix Open to miss the cut by 12 shots. And then he withdrew after 11 holes of ordinary golf at Torrey Pines because of tightness in his back from a fog delay. Woods said on his website the last two weeks have been disappointing, especially at Torrey Pines, … Continue reading

Tiger Woods to make a telling decision; Ottawa Senators are Party McPoopers

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Items that may grow up to be columns, Vol. XVII, Chapter 7: A SHOE DROPS: Score one for the claimants. The National Hockey League has lost in an attempt to have a U.S. district court in Minnesota throw out a claim by six retired players that the league didn’t protect them from the consequences of repeated brain trauma. This may only be step one in what promises to be a long, drawn-out legal battle, but for the players, it’s a small victory because the judge rejected three NHL arguments for dismissal. The players allege that the league intentionally concealed material … Continue reading

Tiger Woods isn’t a ‘fallen icon’ and doesn’t deserve to be written off just yet

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His obits are already appearing and, very pertinently, to the majority, the reports of his demise do not seem in any way exaggerated. Tiger Woods is finished. Only the last freakish acts remain; the pitiful postscript, the wildly inappropriate finale. Think Elvis in Vegas, Ali in the Bahamas except it does not have to end like this. Of course, we can dismiss his chances of a fifth Green Jacket in the Masters next month, no matter if next week he does announce that he will play at Augusta. Yet just because the condition of his mind, body, swing and reputation … Continue reading

Tiger Woods appears to be struggling with a sheer lack of enthusiasm

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Tiger Woods is not taking a break from the PGA Tour to fix a hitch in his golf swing. He’s taking a break to fix the hitch in his head. The issue is not so much how to hit the golf ball, but whether he wants to hit it at all. When a guy who famously hates public life gives formal media interviews about his “deactivated glutes,” you get the feeling he’s looking for an out. Translation: “I think I’d like to go home and sit for awhile.” What’s really wrong with Woods is that he hasn’t been practising. No … Continue reading

Rory McIlroy’s road to Masters includes missed cut, missing club and ice cream

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Rory McIlroy’s road to the Masters was memorable for reasons not many would have imagined. He missed the cut at the Honda Classic. He was missing a club at the Cadillac Championship when he flung his 3-iron into a lake. And his highlight at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was eating a banana split after dinner with the King. “He went into it like it was the last supper,” Palmer said. It wasn’t pretty, but there was no reason for McIlroy to panic. He finished off the Florida swing with two birdies on the last three holes for … Continue reading

Did hitting the flag stick at the 2013 Masters consign Tiger Woods to a severe case of the heebie-jeebies?

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TORONTO — It was a blustery Friday afternoon at Augusta National two years ago and, had his golf ball travelled an inch to either the left or right, you wonder how the world of Tiger Woods would have unfolded in the months since. Amid all the post-mortems and eulogies offered in the past few days for the career of Woods, which was put on hold last week when he simply up and quit from a tournament at Torrey Pines, then announced that he would return at some unspecified time in the future, it was easy to overlook the fact that, as … Continue reading

Graham DeLaet has cast of fellow countrymen to help shoulder Canada’s golf expectations

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After Graham DeLaet finished a solid 1-under Saturday round that put him in the final pairing at the Northern Trust Open on Sunday, he was asked what he had learned about playing on the biggest stages during his time on the PGA Tour. He had been there before, but had yet to close the deal. “Patience,” DeLaet responded. “I’ve slept on either leads or final group pairings before and I know, like, laying in bed, you’re thinking about what a win can do and this and that. I’m past that now in my career.” He also said, of the challenge … Continue reading

Padraig Harrington takes lead after 36 holes at rainy Honda Classic in Florida

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Padraig Harrington is a 36-hole leader on the PGA Tour for the first time in nearly five years and he knows he has a long way to go. A vicious storm Saturday at the Honda Classic made his weekend even longer. Harrington made six birdies in the 12 holes he played Saturday morning in the rain-delayed tournament to complete a 4-under 66 and take a one-shot lead over Patrick Reed, with Ian Poulter and Brendan Steele another shot behind. The third round ended 51 minutes after it started because of a storm that packed 50 … Continue reading