Tiger can still have big impact on game - Rory
RORY McIlroy believes Tiger Woods can have a great impact on golf even if fans are no longer able to see his “genius at work” on the course.
Woods is recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery on significant injuries to his right leg which he suffered in a car accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Open fractures to the 45-year-old’s tibia and fibula and further injuries to his foot and ankle were stabilised with the insertion of a rod, screws and pins.
The severity of the injuries, coupled with the fact that he was already sidelined following a fifth back operation, leaves the prospects of Woods being able to return to action hanging in the balance.
“Hopefully he comes back and is able to play, but if he’s not, I think he’ll still be a part of the game in some way, whether it’s his design business and his foundation and hosting golf tournaments,” McIlroy said. “It might be the end of seeing the genius at work with a club in his hand, but there’s still a lot of other ways that he can affect the game in a great way.”
McIlroy also stressed that thoughts of a competitive return should be secondary given that Woods was lucky to escape with his life.
Asked if Woods, who won the 2019 Masters two years after undergoing spinal fusion surgery, could recover, McIlroy said: “He’s not Superman. He’s a human being at the end of the day and he’s already been through so
much so at this stage everyone should just be grateful that he’s here, he’s alive, that his kids haven’t lost their dad. That’s the most important thing.”
THIS year’s Randox Grand National meeting will take place in its scheduled slot after Jockey Club Racecourses ruled out delaying the Aintree showpiece, writes Alastair MacDonald.
There had been calls from some parts of the industry to push back the fixture, which will run April 8-10, to the following week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his road map to lifting lockdown restrictions on Monday.
Non-essential retail, including bookmakers, is pencilled in for reopening on April 12 - two days after the National - meaning only punters with online accounts will be able to have a wager on what is the biggest betting race of the year.
Following talks with stakeholders, it has been decided there is not enough certainty around the plans, among other factors, to move the meeting with just six weeks to go.
Dickon White, who runs the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree as the Jockey Club’s north west regional director, said: “Since the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday, we’ve consulted with various stakeholders and weighed up the pros and cons of attempting to delay the Randox Grand National Festival to a time when the country may have moved into ‘Step Two’ of lockdown restrictions lifting.
“We’ve reviewed multiple aspects, including people being at home and available to watch the racing and showcase our sport to the maximum audience; the impact on other racing fixtures in the UK and Ireland and feasibility of any delay; and the impact on hundreds of participants across 21 races at Aintree and beyond.
“We’ve considered whether there is any financial upside for the sport when all parts of such a move are accounted for; whether it is responsible to cause such a rush on betting shops just as they open again with a pandemic ongoing or if the Government intended for this to be more gradual; and whether we would disappoint fans by creating clashes with other sports events.
“This has been a really difficult time for the retail and on-course betting industry and we very much hope that retail outlets will reopen on Monday, April 12, but like so much in this pandemic, this is far from certain at this stage.”
MANY have questioned just how Exeter City would fare without Ryan Bowman in their starting XI, but the early signs were encouraging at Colchester United on Tuesday night.
Bowman has been a virtual everpresent for the Grecians, ever since he first joined the club in January 2019 and the fact he has drummed up 96 appearances already, in all competitions, underlines his value and importance to the team. There have even been times he has played when he has perhaps needed a break from leading City’s frontline.
Quite simply, there is no one else like him in the Exeter squad, but without their talisman for the midweek jaunt to Essex, manager Matt Taylor tried something new with academy graduate Ben Seymour chosen to lead the line in Bowman’s absence.
At 21, Exeter’s number nine certainly doesn’t have the experience of Bowman, or his physical attributes. But his constant running and movement, coupled with the performances of those around him, set the tone for a magnificent away day which saw the Grecians return home with three points and a 2-1 win, with Seymour scoring the winner - his maiden goal in the Football League.
“It was really pleasing. Ryan is one player and helps us play in a certain way, but Ben Seymour has watched enough games to know what we need,” Taylor said.
“I was really pleased because we could be talking about a different performance if the second goal doesn’t go in, but the way we played and the way we looked threatening on a difficult surface was a really strong aspect for us.
“Having Joel Randell back gives the team another dimension. He wasn’t perfect in terms of his play, but he is going to be finding his feet again so all of a sudden, you have Robbie and Joeller, who have great legs, so Ben has to give them a bit of a platform and he has great legs as well.
“MJ (Matt Jay), Archie (Collins) and Jake (Taylor) are solid in the middle, but I thought both full-backs played really well as well and we were attacking from defensive positions. The amount of runs Josh Key did down that touchline was incredible and we want to see more of that from Lewis Page as well because we know he can do it.
“We looked more dynamic on Tuesday, but that suited us against this opposition and this weekend is different animal in Crawley.”
There is some debate as to whether Key is more effective as a rightback or as a winger. His best performances this season have certainly come when he has played deeper and Taylor feels that is helping his development right now.
“His best performances this season have been at right-back. Sometimes, when you are introduced to new football, or football he has not encountered in terms of the level or physical needs of the game, young players need the game in front of them and I feel Josh is one of them.
“It simplifies his game and that is with no disrespect to Josh in any way but, with the game in front of him, he can see the whole picture, see the space and he knows when to step in and he knows when to use those legs of his.
“People won’t always recognise what he does defensively. He’s got great legs going forward, which suggests he can defend one-v-one, which he does, he heads it better than most right-backs in the league, he is good on set pieces in both penalty boxes, so there are a lot of ticks at this moment for Josh Key.
“More often than not, they come in that full-back position, but we have good flexibility at the moment and Josh actually played on the right of a back three for long periods of that game.”