Golf
An email conversation with Retief Goosen
Published: 07 May 2007
Washout forces restart
Published: 05 May 2007
European Tour officials yesterday took the rare decision to make players play holes twice at the Italian Open here. Heavy rain suspended the event for almost nine hours on the second day and the Tolcinasco course was deemed fit for a resumption only if placing was allowed on the saturated fairways.
Carnoustie vows 'no more Carnasty'
Published: 02 May 2007
The man many hold responsible for creating the hardest Open Championship in history yesterday accused the professionals who criticised him of "whinging", but at the same time assured them that July's return to Carnoustie will be nowhere near as brutal. Apparently, the Angus links of 2007 will be "Carnicey" compared to the notorious "Carnasty" of 1999.
Verplank finally wins Nelson tournament
Published: 30 April 2007
Scott Verplank used three straight birdies and Luke Donald's lead-blowing double bogey yesterday to take the lead and then take the Byron Nelson Championship, the tournament he always wanted to win.
The Hacker: Small but perfectly formed in Surrey
Published: 29 April 2007
When many of our golf clubs were being founded 100 years or so ago it was, not surprisingly, men who led the way. They had the wherewithal to acquire the ground, hire pros to design the courses, build clubhouses and organise matters.
Little's big chance pays off in the rain
Published: 28 April 2007
Three days after sitting at home thinking there was no tournament for him this week England's Stuart Little led the Spanish Open here yesterday when rain forced yet another delay.
Begay makes light of heavy weather
Published: 27 April 2007
The American Notah Begay had further proof yesterday that the people who told him the weather in Europe can be awful were not lying.
Pilkadaris bathes in flying birdie start
Published: 27 April 2007
The Australian Terry Pilkadaris certainly found it worth the wait when he finally began the Spanish Open almost eight hours late after heavy rain here yesterday. Pilkadaris birdied the first three holes at the new Centro Nacional course to establish a one-stroke lead over the Scot Stephen Gallacher, England's Gareth Davies, the Spaniard Ignacio Garrido, the Swede Henrik Nystrom and the Finn Mikko Ilonen.
Mickelson turns to Woods' mentor
Published: 25 April 2007
Phil Mickelson yesterday hinted at the extent of his determination to relaunch the assault on Tiger Woods' hegemony when breaking the habit of a lifetime and dumping one of his cherished inner circle. The news that he has replacedhis long-term coach, Rick Smith, with Butch Harmon had been expected in the golfing world, but still the fairways were abuzz with the appointment.
The Hacker: New woods, but I still visit the trees
Published: 22 April 2007
It seems I have stumbled on a secret that most hackers have known for ages - a nine wood can be a duffer's best friend. Add a seven wood and your approach to the green can be revolutionised.
McDowell happy to be a contender again
Published: 14 April 2007
Graeme McDowell admits he is happy simply to be in contention at a European Tour event again in the China Open. Consecutive rounds of 70 lifted the Northern Irishman into a tie for sixth at the halfway mark in Shanghai.
Johnson masters elements to grow into jacket
Published: 10 April 2007
In future years, when the finger runs down the columns of past Masters and hovers over the entry of 2007, many might take a few seconds to recall what exactly happened in Georgia that week. Will the mind throw up the image of Zach Johnson, the unknown Iowan being fitted with a Green Jacket with all the sartorial likelihood of a door-to-door salesman stumbling on to Savile Row? Or will it simply flash up the label "the worst Masters in history"? Probably both, although both will palpably be unfair.
James Lawton: Winner's devotion offers timely parable for wayward Tiger
Published: 10 April 2007
Zach Johnson steered his big bus down Magnolia Drive and into his version of the American Dream. If it continues to be linked so closely to the game of golf and the born-again Christianity he works as relentlessly as the nice little draw shot which made him the owner of the Green Jacket, this should hold good for the rest of a life which started on the wheat plains of the Mid-West 31 years ago.
Unheralded Johnson dashes English Rose's Masters quest
Published: 09 April 2007
Zach Johnson enacted one of the most audacious party-pooping routines the Masters has witnessed when denying Tiger Woods his third major in a row here last night.
Triumph of the spirit helps Casey enjoy 'entertaining' finale
Published: 09 April 2007
Lucas Glover may be many things but Tiger Woods he is not. Glover is from just over the state line in South Carolina and started attending the Masters at the age of six, the year Jack Nicklaus won his sixth green jacket. After three days playing with Woods, the young American, playing in his second Masters, made the perfect companion for Paul Casey in yesterday's final round.
Augusta Diary: Emotional Faldo a big hit
Published: 09 April 2007
While Gary Lineker was continuing to earn mixed notices with his laconic fronting of BBC's coverage, Nick Faldo was winning a warmer reception for his debut as CBS's lead analyst. Particularly beguiling, decided aficionados of "TV schmaltz" here, was Faldo's performance in the famous Butler Cabin. He confessed to feeling powerful tides of emotion. His colleague Jim Nantz asked the three-time champion if he was "OK"; like a trouper, Faldo said he was. Faldo is plainly mindful of the hawk-like gaze of the Augusta National committee, ruthless when rights-holding stations allow a breath of criticism. While Lee Westwood was blistering in his putdown of the course, Faldo's opinion is that the problem is fast, hard conditions caused by the cold snap. Most critics seem to think that Faldo is playing the course just about perfectly .
James Lawton: Rose falls short of major glory but releases burden of youthful promise
Published: 09 April 2007
Right from the start there was something in Justin Rose that encouraged the highest hopes. Not just in his talent but in his nature, his understanding of the vagaries and cruelties of life as well as golf.
New Augusta preys on mind
Published: 08 April 2007
James Lawton: Tiger's mettle detector
Published: 08 April 2007
Taylor and Howell keep home fans yearning
Published: 08 April 2007
Much of the focus at the 71st Masters has been on looking back 10 years to the shattering emergence of Tiger Woods. But in these parts they have also been remembering 20 years ago when one of their own ruled at Augusta National. The aftershocks of one of the most dramatic finishes to any Masters are still being felt today.
Woods keeps Masters hopes alive
Published: 07 April 2007
Sport on TV: Benign Beeb hegemony, Alliss included, best serves Masters' interests
Published: 07 April 2007
As far as the BBC is concerned, the most important person at the US Masters this weekend isn't Tiger Woods, or that nice young man Justin Rose, or indeed Peter Alliss or Gary Lineker. It's the director-general, Mark Thompson.
Augusta Diary: Lineker finds spot of rough
Published: 07 April 2007
Gary Lineker might even prefer to be watching England playing international football than suffering the further slights on his presenting qualities. If it's not bad enough that certain members of the, how to put this, " senior" BBC golfing team continue to mutter about Lineker replacing Steve Rider as the Masters anchorman, then some of the viewer comments on the BBC website might have Steve McClaren wincing at their vitriol. One described Lineker's performance on the first night as "so wooden it could have been on Thunderbirds". The Augusta National, itself, is said not to be delighted at having an irreverent "soccer" player as their British face and have respectfully suggested that maybe, just maybe, the "team" is reviewed before the next contract discussions begin in earnest.
James Lawton: Tiger rides a sea of belief to stare down adversity
Published: 07 April 2007
For a parallel on this side of the Atlantic you probably have to go back to those days when they brought someone from the graveyard and put him in the ring with the great Joe Louis. However, a similar certainty about the chances of Tiger Woods winning his fifth green jacket at the 71st Masters was always extraordinary given the hard, fast course and the presence of 50 of the world's best golfers. Yesterday it became surreal.
Harrington and Donald warm up course's shivering patrons
Published: 07 April 2007
For Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald the second round of the 71st US Masters was far more important than merely being the warm-up men for Tiger Woods. For Harrington it was about launching a sterling fightback. For Donald, it was about the fight.
