The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Woods to face Scott and former caddy Williams in Presidents Cup
- Nicol and Delia easily clear first round in HK
- Kvitova is the best
| Woods to face Scott and former caddy Williams in Presidents Cup Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:18 PM PST MELBOURNE, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Presidents Cup team captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples have ensured Thursday's opening foursomes matches will have additional spice by pairing Tiger Woods against Australia's Adam Scott and the American's former caddy Steve Williams. Williams, who now carries Scott's bag after Woods fired him in July ending a partnership that had started in 1999, sparked a global controversy in the leadup to the biennial tournament by making a racist remark about Woods in China earlier this month. New Zealander Williams later apologised online and to Woods in person and the American said he wanted to move on. Scott, who rejected calls to sack his caddy and denied Williams was a racist, had said he would be prepared to take on Woods regardless of any tension in the match-up. Capping off days of speculation, U.S. captain Couples called Hunter Mahan and David Toms for the second-last match against Kim Kyung-Tae and YE Yang, leaving Scott and South Korean team mate KJ Choi to play against Woods and Stricker. Before calling out the second-last name, Couples hesitated before mistakenly calling out Phil Mickelson's surname for the penultimate pairing before correcting himself. Both he and Internationals captain Norman denied the match-up was premeditated but their comments appeared to contradict the claim. "Like Greg said, and we were right here, we were writing down cards and it's just the way it felt, and I think it would be worse if we hid this deal," he told reporters at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Wednesday. Norman said had not spoken with Couples and his assistants about it but had consulted Scott and Choi. "I think it's great for the tournament. It needed to be done. It played out the way it played out," he told reporters. "I just think that in the situation and the best spirit of the competition for the tournament there's obviously a lot of speculation and intensity from the people in this room here that it could take place. "We talked about it as the three of us and say, 'okay, if we had to diffuse anything and just get this thing over and done with, wouldn't you rather have it sooner than later?' "Because I personally wouldn't have wanted to be sitting down at the singles and everybody is playing a really tight match and it comes down to the last group or the second to last group, and all of this pressure is coming on because it's the first time the two met." HELPING HAND As holders, the U.S. team were entitled to the first pick but Couples deferred it to the hosts and Norman duly selected South African triple major champion Ernie Els to partner with Japan's Ryo Ishikawa. They will face Bubba Watson and Nick Watney in the first match-up and Norman said their pairing was intended to allow Els to give the 20-year-old a helping hand around the Royal Melbourne course. Ishikawa arrived late on Tuesday, well after his team mates and has little time to get to know the challenging lay-out. "Well, I think that had a lot to do with it," said Norman. "We knew Ryo got in late and only had one practice round. They are out there playing now. "Ernie shot 60 around this golf course so he knows how to play Royal Melbourne," he added of the South African, the only player on the team to have tasted victory in the Cup back in 1998. Norman picked a trio of Australians in the following three pairings, in part, he said to get the local crowd firing early. Local Geoff Ogilvy and South Africa's U.S. Masters champion Charl Schwartzel face captain's pick Bill Haas and Nick Watney before Australia's Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day take on Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar. Four-times major champion Mickelson forms a seasoned pairing with Jim Furyk in a veterans' match-up against South African double U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen and Australia's Robert Allenby in the fourth match-up. "You put an Aussie in one group, (the fans) are going to be going, 'Oi, Oi, Oi!' so I don't have a problem with that," Norman said with a grin. The United States are bidding to win their fourth successive Presidents Cup, though Royal Melbourne is the venue of their sole loss in the tournament in 1998. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Nicol and Delia easily clear first round in HK Posted: 15 Nov 2011 03:13 PM PST PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 Nicol David continued her winning ways with a cakewalk over qualifier Tong Tsz-Wing in the Hong Kong Open squash championships yesterday. The 28 year-old Penangite, who clinched her record sixth World Open crown two weeks ago, won 11-9, 11-4, 11-2 in just 23 minutes at the Hong Kong Squash Centre. National No. 3 Delia Arnold also won her opening match. She ousted French qualifier Coline Aumard 11-2, 12-10, 12-10 in 42 minutes. Nicol, who is eyeing her sixth Hong Open title, will take on Donna Urquhart of Australia in tomorrow's second round while Delia will meet England's Laura Massaro. Five other Malaysians – Low Wee Wern, Mohd Azlan Iskandar, Ong Beng Hee, Nafiizwan Adnan and Ivan Yuen – will start their campaign today. Results Men's first round: Olli Tuominen (Fin) bt Borja Golan (Spa) 11-7, 11-9, 11-5; James Willstrop (Eng) bt Jonathan Kemp (Eng) 13-11, 11-6, 11-5; Peter Barker (Eng) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9; Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Max Lee (Hkg) 11-2, 11-8, 3-11, 11-6; Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Julian Illingworth (US) 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3; Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt Aamir Atlas Khan (Pak) 11-8, 11-4, 11-8. Women's first round: Delia Arnold (Mas) bt Coline Aumard (Fra) 11-2, 12-10, 12-10; Nicol David (Mas) bt Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) 11-9, 11-4, 11-2; Donna Urquhart (Aus) bt Line Hansen (Den) 11-4, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7; Laura Massaro (Eng) bt Olga Ertlova (Cze) 11-3, 11-4, 11-7; Joelle King (Nzl) bt Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 12-10; Annie Au (Hkg) bt Gaby Huber (Swi) 11-3, 11-6, 11-8; Jaclyn Hawkes (Nzl) bt Tania Bailey (Eng) 11-3, 12-10, 11-8; Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Latasha Khan (US) 11-4 (rtd). Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 15 Nov 2011 03:03 PM PST LONDON: Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was voted WTA's player of the year on Monday following a season in which she claimed her debut Grand Slam title, steered the Czech Republic to Fed Cup glory and shot up 32 places in the world rankings. The Czech, who ended the year ranked second in the world, picked up four prizes in total on Monday following a remarkable 12 months in which she won six titles and chalked up a 6-0 record in Fed Cup singles. "This season has been simply a dream," the 21–year–old said in a statement after being voted to the top prize ahead of world number one Caroline Wozniacki. "It is an incredible honour to win the player of the year award and join the ranks of some of the best players that have ever played the sport, especially Martina Navratilova. "I will always cherish the 2011 season and look forward to building on it." Kvitova also bagged the most improved player award and the fair play prize, while fans voted her the breakthrough player of the year. Kveta Peschke completed a good day for the Czech Republic when she and Slovenian partner Katarina Srebotnik earned their first award for doubles team of the year. Romanian Irina–Camelia Begu won newcomer of the year after a breakthrough season that saw her reach two finals – both on clay at Marbella and Budapest – and rise from 214 in the world to 38, eventually finishing it at 40th. Sabine Lisicki of Germany scooped the comeback player of the year honour. The 22–year–old was out of action for five months last year with a horrific ankle injury and by March this year, she had toppled out of the top 200. However, by the end of the season, she had clawed back into the top 15 thanks to triumphs in Birmingham and Dallas and by charging into the semi–finals at Wimbledon despite entering the tournament with a wildcard. – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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