Tiger: I may never be fit enough to return
Tiger Woods has admitted that he might never return to competitive golf.
on the day rory Mcilroy revealed plans for a full body MoT and a three- month sabbatical, former world No 1 Woods, 41, said: ‘i don’t know what the future holds for me. i don’t know what 100 per cent healthy means after eight surgeries, but i’ll try to get as close as i can to that.
‘is anybody in their 40s ever going to feel like they did in their 20s? exactly. At the moment i’m just hitting 60-yard shots.’
Woods has only played six competitive rounds in the past two years while trying to recover from multiple back surgeries.
Mcilroy’s lay-off is to make sure that during the next decade he is not left behind by his rivals. ‘These three months can give me the foundation to turn the great career i’ve had so far into one of the greatest,’ he said.
The testing will take place over two days in Manchester next month, as the Northern irishman tries to get to the bottom of not only his injury woes this season, but why he has felt fatigued on occasion.
‘There have been times when my joints have been inflamed or my energy levels low,’ he revealed. ‘i need to delve deeper to see where i can get better. After that, i’ll head to dubai for four weeks of rehab.
‘it is vital i use these weeks to improve. i need to be ready to start next year in a much better place.’
Mcilroy, 28, admitted it was a mistake to play in the Us open in June, when he was not fully fit. And without the necessary rest for his rib to heal he paid for that decision with a flurry of missed cuts.
Before his sabbatical, he has two more tournaments to fulfil his required total to remain a european Tour member and be eligible for the ryder Cup.
First up is the British Masters at Close House, near Newcastle, where begins today.
If any England player is equipped to disperse the gloom of the Ben Stokes affair, it is surely Moeen ali. after a 53-ball hundred in Bristol on Sunday, he was at it again in London, turning a lost cause into a remarkable series- clinching win over West Indies.
as Moeen sauntered to the crease, with a deluge approaching and the young fast bowler alzarri Joseph running amok, England were 181 for five in reply to West Indies’ mammoth 356 — and lagging behind on Duckworth-Lewis.
Eoin Morgan spoke of the distraction of Stokes’s misadventure, but one of Moeen’s strengths is his personal bubble — a space in which rising run-rates come a distant second to his impulse to whack the ball.
By the time the rain arrived at 7.35pm, he and Jos Buttler had put on 77 in eight overs to take England six ahead on DLS, with Moeen’s share 48 from 25 balls. Since they had inched ahead only two deliveries earlier, it was timing to match the crucial stroke — a Moeen coverdrive for four off Jerome Taylor.
Until then it looked as if Joseph’s burst of five wickets in 28 balls would give West Indies a shot of squaring the series in tomorrow’s finale, and complete a desperate few days for English cricket.
Their huge total had centred on a brutal 176 from 130 balls from Evin Lewis, whose free hitting recently led West Indies’ Twenty20 captain Carlos Brathwaite to suggest he would outshine Chris Gayle.
and so it proved. While Gayle fell to the fourth ball of the match — one of three early wickets for Chris Woakes — Lewis carted the fourthhighest score ever by a West Indian before he was carried off after edging a full-length delivery from Jake Ball into his right ankle. an X-ray revealed a hairline fracture.
as Lewis added 117 with Jason Mohammed, then 168 in just 18 overs with his captain Jason Holder, Morgan sorely missed the extra option usually provided by Stokes.
It didn’t help that Morgan dropped two important catches — Mohammed on nine and Holder on three. Jason Roy also spilled Lewis on 122 and England looked ragged.
needing more runs than they have successfully chased to win a oneday international, they were given a blistering start by the returning Roy, playing due to alex Hales helping the police with their enquiries.
Roy had been dropped for the Champions Trophy semi-final in June, but now cracked 84 from 66 balls with the fluency that earned him an international call in the first place. But, with Jonny Bairstow starting the series with a century at Old Trafford, Morgan said Roy will make way for Hales tomorrow.
from 126 without loss in the 18th over, England lost five for 55, with West Indies suddenly plucking blinders from nowhere. Moeen, though, had other ideas, launching ashley nurse for two huge sixes, and making Buttler look one-paced.
‘We were up against it, given there was rain,’ said Morgan, who heaped praise on Moeen. ‘We lost wickets at bad stages, but that was an extremely confident innings. His bat looks wider than it normally does.’
a 3-0 lead will not ease concerns over Stokes, but as shots in the arm go, it was decidedly welcome.