New Woods woe
TIGER WOODS faces further questions about his future despite being optimistic of a “strong” recovery following his latest demoralising injury withdrawal.
Woods insisted he had not suffered an injury setback after an opening 77 in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club.
However, the 41-year-old pulled out of what was just his third event since August 2015 before the start of yesterday’s second round due to a ROSS HEPPENSTALL back spasm, raising further speculation that he is close to the end of his stellar career.
In his past 19 event starts, he has withdrawn four times. “He can’t get the spasm to calm down,” said Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg. “The fact, though, he feels it’s not the nerve pain, that’s very encouraging for him.”
South African George Coetzee was leading by one shot when the second round was suspended due to high winds. JOSE MOURINHO has warned some of his stars to climb out of their “comfort zone” and develop the winning mentality needed at Manchester United.
Mourinho believes some of the players he inherited have struggled to meet his demands after expectation was lowered during the spells of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
While his predecessors talked of transitional periods and long-term projects following the Alex Ferguson era, Mourinho immediately raised the bar by declaring he wanted to win the Premier League in his first season.
That looks a distant hope with United sixth, 14 points behind leaders Chelsea with 15 games to go, and Mourinho feels part of the reason is that some of his players cannot handle the pressure at United.
“I said in my first press conference about becoming champions because I don’t think there is another position a manager can have at this club,” he said.
“I didn’t know the players very well then. I didn’t know that some players need time to live with this – because it must be part of your natural habitat.
“Play to win and to cope with the responsibility and pressure to win. This is something that has to belong to your natural habitat. For some guys, it doesn’t.
“They also need that time to come out of their comfort zone or a zone where they are protected and where we assume the objective is not to win – that takes time.”
Mourinho has been critical this season of Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Chris