NOW WOODS IS CHASING JACK TALLY
MO BRUSHES OFF ‘BRAWL’ CLAIMS TO FOCUS ON DUST-UP WITH KIPCHOGE
TIGER WOODS has compared his recent Masters win with his first in 1997 as he targeted more Majors in pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s record.
The former world No.1 (below) claimed his first 15th Major – and first since the 2008 US Open – in thrilling style at Augusta. Asked by Golf TV if he now comprehended the size of his achievement, the 43-year-old said: “It’s very similar to what it was in 1997. That took me years to understand what I’d accomplished, and I don’t think this one will settle in for quite some time.” Nicklaus won his 18th Major in 1986 – and now Woods has resumed his pursuit of the record after nearly 11 years. “If I do things correctly and everything falls my way, yeah, it’s a possibility,” he said. SIR MO FARAH has warned that he is “up for the fight” – and this time he intends to have it on the streets.
The four-time Olympic champion takes on worldrecord holder Eliud Kipchoge tomorrow in the London Marathon.
It will end a turbulent week in which fellow track legend Haile Gebrselassie claimed Farah “punched and kicked” a husband and wife while staying in one of his hotels in Ethiopia.
The facts of this episode, not to mention sundry other serious allegations batted around by the warring pair, are disputed.
What is not is that Farah, 36, will need the performance of his life if he is to beat Kipchoge, a threetime champion of London. The Kenyan has failed to win only one of his 11 marathons and that, six years ago in Berlin, took a then-world record from Wilson Kipsang to beat him.
For all his achievements, Farah does not have a world record to his name, save for the two-mile indoor mark, which few other than him have actually attempted.
But he insists his preparation has been perfect and that the challenge of taking on Kipchoge, not to mention Kipsang and 2017 winner Daniel Wanjiru, will bring out the best in him.
“I have got my mojo back,” declared Farah, winner of his last marathon in Chicago. “What do I mean? When you are up for the fight and a challenge – it’s that. I am hungry again. I want to fight.
“When you win on the track so many times it’s not the same. This is new territory. It’s the test of my career.
“Eliud is the legend, don’t take anything away from him. But I love competing. I love that feeling. It’s just part of me – and I believe I am capable of winning.”
Farah has talked himself into trouble this week. As a tactical move it is up there with choosing the same coloured drinks bottle as Kipchoge in last year’s race and grabbing the wrong one.
Picking a verbal scrap with Gebrselassie was needless and potentially damaging to his reputation.
Yet those who know him best suspect the controversy will, if anything, sharpen his performance.
Farah has come a long way since hanging up his spikes in 2017 and saying he was changing his race name to “Mohamed” as, “I need to forget about what I’ve achieved done”.
Two years on his race bib grandly bears the name ‘Sir Mo’. The threatening text he sent Gebrselassie which sparked this week’s furore was also signed off, ‘Sir Mo’.
Yet for all this selfimportance, Farah continues to deliver on the roads, surprising even as experienced an observer as Brendan Foster.
“I knew Mo could run a good marathon,” said the former Olympic medallist. “But I didn’t realise he would have the hunger, the appetite and the application still, after all these years, to train as he does. It’s staggering really, quite amazing.”
Foster believes Farah could beat Kipchoge if it comes down to a sprint finish. “Problem is,” he said. “There’s a hell of a long way to go before you can use your sprint finish!” and what I’ve