HIGHS AND LOWS: LIFE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Root’s flops toss away big chance
HIGHS FIRST MAJOR WIN
PLAYING HIS first major as a professional and paired with defending champion Nick Faldo in the 1997 Masters, Woods covered the front nine in the first round in 40 but stormed home in 30 and then added rounds of 66, 65 and 69 to set a tournament record of 18 under par to win by 12 shots from Tom Kite. Two months later Woods became world No.1. THE “TIGER SLAM” WON THE 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach and a month later he carded four rounds in the 60s to win The Open at St Andrews and became the youngest player to complete a career Grand Slam. In August, Woods successfully defended his US PGA Championship title and the following April a second Masters victory made him the only player to hold all four major titles at the same time.
2008 US OPEN
FIRST EVENT since undergoing knee surgery after finishing runner-up in the Masters. He still managed to hold a oneshot lead heading into the final round but had to birdie the 18th to force a play-off with Rocco Mediate and then repeated the feat the following day before securing the title on the first sudden-death hole. It later emerged that Woods had been coping with a double stress fracture and knee injury which prompted seasonending surgery.
2019 MASTERS
AFTER YEARS of injury problems Woods told Jack Nicklaus “I’m done” during the Champions Dinner ahead of the 2017 Masters but then flew straight to London to see the consultant who recommended he undergo what proved to be career-saving spinal fusion surgery. Two years later, Woods held his nerve on a chaotic final day at Augusta National to win his 15th major title and fifth green jacket in the 83rd Masters.
LOWS
DEATH OF HIS FATHER WOODS WAS imitating his father Earl’s swing aged just six months and was devastated by his death in 2006. After a nine-week lay-off, Woods returned to action in the US Open and unsurprisingly missed the cut in a major for the first time as a professional. SCANDAL meteoric rise to stardom but his fall from grace was as spectacular, a car crash in November 2009 eventually leading to admissions of infidelity and divorce from his wife Elin Nordegren (inset). During an excruciating televised apology in February 2010, Woods revealed he had undergone 45 days of “therapy receiving guidance for the issues I’m facing”.
INJURIES
YEARS OF back problems led to spinal fusion surgery in 2017. The last throw of the dice proved successful but Woods still had issues in cold weather and when forced to play more than 18 holes in a day.
DRIVING UNDER INFLUENCE
VERY FIRST TIME: Nick Faldo presents Tiger with his first green jacket in 1997
JUST WEEKS after his spinal surgery, Woods was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence when he was found asleep at the wheel of his car and later pleaded guilty to reckless driving. It emerged Woods had five prescription drugs in his system at the time and he spent 11 months on probation.
WITH the series up for grabs England threw away their toss advantage in a ‘depressing’ hour of mayhem as India left them spinning in the dirt.
An afternoon so full of promise, when Joe Root correctly called heads, had started to blossom into something bold and brave.
Powered by the blade of Zak Crawley and the reassurance of Root himself, England could almost have claimed to be sitting pretty at 74-2.
But just 60 minutes later they were 93-7 on their way to 112 all out – their lowest first-innings score in India – to leave thoughts of a famous series win in tatters, barring a miracle.
Of course, this was a certain type of day/night history repeating itself. Just like the Kiwi bowlers managed to dismantle the England line-up for 58 in the bright Auckland sunshine three years ago, the Indian bowlers captured 8-38 in daylight hours here.
This pink ball Test was supposed to provide England’s route back to the front of this series thanks to the benefits of seam and swing movement under lights, which is why they picked just the one spinner.
But for India it was just another colour of ball that they could use to humiliate England’s batsmen and their frailty against spin, picking three but needing to use just two.
England were simply unable to lay a bat on balls that pitched and went straight on from the fingers of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Patel’s 6-38 was a delight to watch as he teased the opposition batsmen with flight and angles, with the odd ball turning, but most going straight ahead to trap players lbw.
Five out of England’s top six fell to the non-spinning ball which represented a remarkable collective effort of mediocrity.
“There were some poor defensive there,” said former Andrew Strauss.
“England will be very disappointed with what they’ve shown, all in all a very depressing performance.
“It was a big toss to win and England fluffed their lines. It was great bowling, the pitch has done a bit, but scoring that amount of runs in the first innings you probably lose 80 per cent of the time.”
There have been charter flights, a Covid compliance officer, a nutritionist and more players going techniques skipper Sir hither and thither across the world than ever before for a tour like this. Yet for all the expense and incredible effort being put in, this was an abject batting performance that barely seemed worth the cost.
Jofra Archer had Shubman Gill caught at square leg top edging a pull, but the real threat came from Jack Leach, hoping to emulate Patel. And he did just that in removing both Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli before the close, with both men out playing for turn that wasn’t there in what might be a crumb of comfort for England’s batters. At 99-3 though, just 13 runs behind England, the home side are already putting it into context.
BEE-UTIFUL: Ghoddos (main pic) netted the opener before Mbeumo (above left) got the second
BRYAN MBEUMO proved Brentford’s hero as they got their automatic promotion push back on track.
The French forward scored one and set up another for Saman Ghoddos to earn the injury-hit Bees a morale-boosting win to end a run of three straight defeats.
Mbeumo, starting through the middle in place of top scorer Ivan Toney, set Brentford on their way before the break then turned provided for Ghoddos to seal victory in the 74th minute.
Mads Bech Sorensen added a third late on when he nodded in from close range.
Bees boss Thomas Frank said: “We just needed to win. The most important thing is we defended well and took the initiative. It was a solid performance.
“The reason we went on the 21game unbeaten run was because
3 0
we’ve been good defensively, so I was very pleased with the clean sheet.”
However, it was the visitors who started on the front foot and former Brentford target Barry Bannan forced David Raya to turn the ball around the post, while Tom Lees headed the resulting corner just wide in the opening stages.
But the Bees eventually took the lead in the 23rd minute.
The Wednesday defence failed to deal with Sorensen’s long throw and Mbeumo diverted Sergi Canos’ effort in from point-blank range. They should have doubled their lead early in the second half when skipper Henrik Dalsgaard pulled the ball back for Ghoddos but he steered his shot wide.
However, the Iran international made no mistake next time around. Mbeumo played him in down the right and he fired across Joe Wildsmith into the far corner.
The points were safe seven minutes from time when Ghoddos floated in a teasing free-kick from the right and Sorensen pounced to head in off the far post.
Caretaker Owls boss Neil Thompson said: “We gave away three poor goals and didn’t create enough chances. We’ve got to be more ruthless.”
IF JOSE MOURINHO was still confused about whether it was Dele Alli or Dele Alli’s brother out on the pitch, the man himself provided the perfect answer last night.
One brilliant goal, that took everyone back to 2018 when the world was at England World Cup star Alli’s feet, and two superb assists told Mourinho in no uncertain terms.
The Tottenham boss had joked with Alli, straight after taking over as manager, about whether he was talking to Alli or to his brother.
That’s because Mourinho had not seen the player who had previously taken the Premier League by storm.
Since then Alli had drifted to the sidelines under the manager who once accused the midfielder of “lazy” training.
Too many tepid showings, too many niggling injuries, not enough chances.
A loan move to Paris St-germain was close in January, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy blocked the deal. Alli had
TOTTENHAM 4 WOLFSBERG 0 Tottenham win 8-1 on Agg
started just one Premier League game before last night, his only two goals coming in the Europa League, and his England prospects had faded.
Then came the 10th minute against doomed Wolfsberg.
Matt Doherty’s cross came to him in the box. One touch, and Alli’s brilliant bicycle kick flew into the corner.
Mourinho said: “I don’t need to talk about that goal. Everyone will watch it around the world.
“The goal was beautiful, but the assists and hard work for the team mean more to me. Dele played very well. To have him back at this level’s amazing.”
Defender Eric Dier added: “Everyone has a short memory. Maybe they have forgotten Dele’s quality. Maybe he’s reminded them.” Okay, Spurs were already 4-1 up from the first leg and this was an easy game for Mourinho to give Alli a run out. But as a reminder also to England coach Gareth Southgate of what he can do, it was timely.
As was the moment four minutes after the break, when Alli’s pinpoint cross found Carlos Vinicius, who headed home the second goal.
To wrap things up, Alli’s incisive pass saw substitute Gareth Bale ram in Tottenham’s third.
The fourth goal arrived as teenage substitute Dane Scarlett robbed Gustav Henriksson, and Vinicius thumped home. Scarlett was the first 16-year-old to assist a Europa League goal since Kylian Mbappe in 2015.
Mourinho said: “Dane is an incredible talent. I want him to be part of the first-team squad next season.”
Mourinho is going through the roughest spell of his managerial career, having lost five out of his last six league games.
He admits the Europa League is crucial for Tottenham this season. At least the last 16 has now been reached.
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Hart 7; Doherty 7 (Lavinier 74), Alderweireld 7, Dier 7, Davies 7; Sissoko 7 (John 81), Winks 7; Lamela 6 (Bale 68, 7), ALLI 8 (Scarlett 81), Bergwijn 7 (Moura 68, 6); Vinicius 7.
WOLFSBERG (3-5-2): Kuttin 6; Baumgartner 6 (Giorbelidze 64, 6), Henriksson 5, Lochoshvili 5; Novak 6 (Pavelic 46, 6), Wernitznig 6, Liendl 6, Stratzing 5 (Rnic 78), Scherzer 6 (Peric 64, 6); Vizinger 5 (Joveljic 46, 6), Dieng 6.
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia) 7.
MANCHESTER CITY took a stroll near the Danube to extend a winning run that is becoming almost as long as the famous river itself.
Pep Guardiola’s men sank Borussia Monchengladbach in Budapest to make it 19 straight wins in all competitions.
Goals in each half from Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus in this Champions League last 16 first-leg tie got the job done.
The German outfit looked out of their depth against Guardiola’s supreme side as they took another small step towards what would be a historic quadruple haul of trophies this season.
City now have one foot in the quarterfinals and the question remains – who can stop them?
The answer was Monchengladbach, never going who found to be themselves on the wrong end of a schooling – without their opponents having to get out of second gear.
Guardiola made five changes and could even afford to leave Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero on the bench.
Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Jesus and Phil Foden were among those who returned but the truth was it didn’t seem to matter who Guardiola picked.
The Spaniard has been rotating his squad for months now and the end result always seems to be the same. A win for City. The Premier League leaders resem