The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Johnson has surgery on right knee, out until January
- Phelps predicts records will tumble in new swimsuit
- Sherwood offers rich reward for Tiger and guests
| Johnson has surgery on right knee, out until January Posted: 29 Nov 2011 06:47 PM PST LONDON (Reuters): American world number five Dustin Johnson is expected to be sidelined until at least early January after having knee surgery on Tuesday, his manager said. The big-hitting Johnson, a five-times winner on the U.S. PGA Tour, had experienced pain in his right knee since July and underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage. "All is well - no worries! Feelin' good...or is that the meds!? Appreciate all the support but it's all pretty minor stuff," Johnson said on his Twitter feed. Earlier in the day, Johnson's doctor said in a statement: "His prognosis is excellent and we expect a quick and speedy recovery." Johnson's manager, David Winkle, said the American was likely to be on crutches for a week before resuming his normal practice routine in late December before competing again by early to mid-January. Johnson won his fifth PGA Tour title at The Barclays in August, triumphing by two shots in an event cut to 54 holes because of Hurricane Irene. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Phelps predicts records will tumble in new swimsuit Posted: 29 Nov 2011 06:45 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters): The bodysuit war that reduced the 2009 swimming world championships to farce and effectively turned the sport into a battle of technology could erupt again on Wednesday when Michael Phelps takes to the catwalk to launch a new outfit for next year's London Olympics. Phelps was bitterly opposed to the now-banned swimsuits that were used in Rome two years ago, refusing to wear them because he believed they aided buoyancy, but he is getting ready to promote a new space-age suit. More than 40 world records were set during the championships, setting off howls of protests, and Phelps, who said he considered quitting the sport, was vindicated when the sport's world governing body FINA agreed to ban them and place a limit on technology. However, with the start of the London Olympics less than eight months away, Phelps will join fellow Americans Ryan Lochte and Natalie Coughlin on Wednesday to unveil the latest suit they will wear in London. Makers Speedo say it is both revolutionary and innovative and will produce a flood of world records at the Olympics. Before 2009, not all scientists who tested the suits were convinced they provided any real benefits but the claims, which are sure to trigger another technology war with rival suit makers, have nevertheless been a marketing dream for sponsors. For most of the swimmers, the controversy is no more than a storm in a teacup. World records never last long in swimming and Phelps believes all the records set in the now-illegal suits are also doomed to tumble. "Records are always made to be broken, in my eyes that's not a question," Phelps told Reuters in an exclusive interview marking the launch of his appointment as the global face of head&shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo. "If people want to work hard and do it then they will do it. There are still people who have that desire to be the best they can and they will find it. It can be done." NOT UNTOUCHABLE Phelps currently holds the world record for three individual events - 100 and 200 metres butterfly and 400m individual medley. The 14-times Olympic gold medalist also once held the 200m freestyle and 200m medley marks but lost them both at Rome in 2009. He was beaten by Germany's Paul Biedermann in the freestyle and Lochte in the medley. Lochte went on to lower his record even further at this year's world championships in Shanghai, proving that the records from Rome could be bettered. "People have got to get out of their heads that these records are untouchable," Phelps told Reuters. "Everything is possible. That's something I have learnt in my career. There are no limits if you want to go out and do it then you just go out and do it. "If you have that thought process, that you think you can do it, then you can do it. You're going to see a lot of fast swims and hopefully we're going to see a lot of new records in the next year and I think we will." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Sherwood offers rich reward for Tiger and guests Posted: 29 Nov 2011 06:44 PM PST THOUSAND OAKS, California, (Reuters): For the 18 players vying for supremacy at this week's $5 million Chevron World Challenge, merely competing in the Tiger Woods-hosted event is confirmation of a successful year. With the notable exception of four-times champion Woods, who has not won a tournament for more than two years, every other player in the invitational field at Sherwood Country Club is ranked in the world's top 50. While the title at Sherwood is unofficial, the Challenge offers official world ranking points and the player who finishes last on Sunday is guaranteed a cheque for $140,000. "I played a pro-am here maybe five years ago, and I watched my dad (Jay) play the event," American Bill Haas told reporters on Tuesday while preparing for Thursday's opening round. "I remember he was saying this should be one of your goals ... to get here one day, so it's a great feeling for me to be inside the ropes playing this event. Hopefully I can make it back here in the future." Haas earned his first World Challenge spot after a career-best PGA Tour campaign highlighted by victory at the season-ending Tour Championship along with FedExCup honours and its $10 million bonus. "I had an unbelievable finish there, and the way the points all worked out for me to win the FedExCup was pretty amazing," Haas said of his lucrative windfall at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Since then, the 29-year-old has kept busy, playing in the Australian Open, representing his country at the Presidents Cup and also competing in China. "It seems the better you play, the less off-season you have," the world number 22 said with a broad grin. "But these are all good problems to have. "If I could play these (events) every year, I don't know if I care to have an off-season. These are pretty special tournaments to be in." Fellow American Keegan Bradley, who won his first major title at the PGA Championship in August, agreed with Haas. PLAYING HONOUR "It's just an honour for a player like me to be in a field like this with players like Tiger, Nick Watney and some of the other guys," Bradley said. "It's really cool. "I've watched this tournament a bunch of times. I watched it every year pretty much. At the beginning of the year, I would never have thought I'd be here playing. "Before the PGA (Championship), I wouldn't have thought I would have been here playing. This week is a fun experience for me, and I'll really, truly enjoy it." This week will be an especially significant one for Woods as he seeks to win his first tournament since the 2009 Australian Masters. A year ago, he was seemingly perfectly poised to end his title drought when he began the final round with a four-shot lead over U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. However, 14-times major winner Woods surrendered his advantage before losing to McDowell in a playoff. "It was a great week, even though I didn't win," Woods said of his crushing loss. "I putted awful starting out ... then I lost my swing in the middle part of the round, and pieced it back together again piece by piece. "I was proud of that. I was very committed coming in, and hit some really, really good shots coming in, which was good." Woods looked in good shape on a glorious sun-splashed afternoon at Sherwood on Tuesday as he crisply struck golf balls on the practice range watched by his coach Sean Foley. While a long-awaited victory this week would not count as official, it would certainly validate the encouraging form he recently displayed in Australia during that country's national open and at the Presidents Cup. It would also give him a welcome jolt of confidence for his 2012 campaign as he bids to put behind him the bitter memories of his struggles for fitness and form over the last two years with his private life in tatters. He has an impressive track record at Sherwood, where he last triumphed in 2007, and a fifth success in his own tournament could well be on the cards for Sunday. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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