TIZZ THE END FOR COLIN Trainer’s Cheltenham swansong
McIlroy’s in a Major mess as he slumps to a painful 79 that includes a ‘snowman’ in the Florida sun
COLIN TIZZARD has revealed that he is to quit training — and will hand over the reins to son Joe next season.
Next week will be the final Cheltenham Festival for the Gold Cup-winning handler.
Tizzard said: “Joe (right) will be on the licence soon. I’m 65. It won’t change anything — I’ll still argue with him every morning.
“He is doing a good job and retirement was always going to be 65. I’ve got other things I wouldn’t mind doing. I don’t want to wake up every morning worrying about horses all the time.
“As soon as he has done his modules he will be on the licence. He should be on by next season. He deserves to have his name at the top.”
Tizzard, who reports Native River and Lostintranslation in good form for the Gold Cup, believes The Big Breakaway is his best chance next week in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.
He added: “He was fourth in the Ballymore last year when he didn’t travel very well but he is in beautiful form at the moment. With a clear round he will be there or thereabouts.
“His first run of the season at Cheltenham, I don’t know what he beat but he walked away from them.
“The second run we had these ideas to teach him how to be a racehorse and sit in behind but they went too slow and he sat there and waited. “I don’t think he was quite right then but he is right now. Nothing can stay with him on the gallops.”
WALK ON WILD SIDE
Rory McIlroy found plenty of trouble spots in a horror opening round at Sawgrass
RORY McILROY admitted his game is in a mess a month before The Masters.
The Northern Irishman, now down to world No.11, hooked his way to a nightmare first-round seven-over-par 79 at The Players Championship.
McIlroy, 31, had limped in with a closing 76 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.
And his defence of the title dubbed the ‘fifth Major’, which he lifted in 2019, began in disastrous fashion from the opening tee shot at Sawgrass, – a pulled drive into the trees which led to a double-bogey six on the 10th hole.
McIlroy’s low point was a quadruple-bogey EIGHT on the 18th – his ninth hole – when he twice found water down the left for a ‘snowman’ in the Florida sun.
And he closed with a threeputt bogey on the par-five ninth to finish 14 shots behind playing partner Sergio Garcia (right), who set a superb early clubhouse lead on seven under.
McIlroy’s horror round equalled the worst start by a defending champion at Sawgrass set by Scot Sandy Lyle in 1988.
The four-time Major winner had insisted this week his “best days are ahead of me”.
Yesterday, though, his many misses went off in both directions, but mainly to the left.
“It was very hard to recover from that start, especially when you’re trying to figure it out as you go along on the course,” McIlroy said.
“You’re trying to figure it out, but you still know you’re not really sure where the shots are coming from and it’s hard to at least try to eliminate one side of the golf course.
“On 18, I just hit a drive that started 10 yards left of where I was aiming and it went on the wind and did the same thing with the 4-iron. Even if you take that 18th hole out, it still wasn’t a very good day.”
McIlroy’s latest woes mean he will now have gone 26 events without a win – and he is running out of time to find form before his latest bid to complete the Major Grand Slam at Augusta starting on April 8.
His former
Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley, said: “It was a really, really poor performance. “Every facet of Rory’s game is off. I would question his scheduling. There is a staleness about him. There is no excitement.”
Fellow Sky Sports pundit Rich Beem added: “He has got to quit analysing everything he is doing.” Justin Rose pulled out before the start due to “personal medical reasons” and was replaced by USA Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker.
Matt Fitzpatrick holed out twice with wedge shots on his way to a fourunder par 68. Fitzpatrick said: “It was a good score in the end but I admit I had a bit of luck with a couple of chips.”
OWEN FARRELL last night faced up to the flak flying his way – and refused to be brought down by it.
He has been criticised for his game, his captaincy, even his post-match TV interview, since defeat in Wales ended England’s Six Nations hopes.
Jamie George and Elliot Daly (right) have paid the price for the loss by being dropped, along with Jonny Hill, for the clash with France tomorrow.
And England coach Eddie Jones revealed he had gone so far as to create training sessions designed to teach his indisciplined players to cope better with on-field setbacks.
Farrell said: “I understand people have opinions, that’s fine. Whether it matters to us or not is another thing. We’re going through a process of how to get the best out of ourselves. I don’t think I dwell on the scrutiny.” World Cup winners
Lawrence Dallaglio and Paul Grayson believe England would be better off led by a forward rather than the fly-half.
Even Jones admits Farrell “can improve in the way he leads the team”, though he adds the whole operation is “open to that sort of scrutiny”. With that in mind, Jones enlisted top refs Wayne Barnes and Matt Carley to officiate England sessions this week.
Jones described their input as “enlightening” for a team that conceded 42 penalties in three games.
“Whenever good teams go through a run like this, it is never a lack of effort,” he said.
“It is handling the disappointment of the game that is the most important thing.
“We have tried to create training sessions to replicate what might be termed a ‘disappointment’ in the game – like a bad call by the referee – to elicit a response and practise not losing our focus.”
Andrew Brace, who took charge of England’s dismal home loss to Scotland last month, is back in charge at Twickenham.
In a thinly veiled swipe at Pascal Gauzere, who wrongly allowed two Wales tries a fortnight ago, Jones said he was “hopeful” Brace would enforce the laws
“as the law book states”.
Jones has made three changes, with Max Malins, Luke CowanDickie and Charlie Ewels coming in at full-back, hooker and lock respectively.
Six Nations boss Ben Morel has denied that agreeing a £365million deal with a private equity firm signals an end to the Championship broadcast on free-to-air channels.
The six unions will retain “responsibility for all sporting matters and control of commercial decisions” and Morel insists this includes the TV rights.