With open speculation that he was about to be sacked as Tiger Woods’s swing coach, Hank Haney got his retaliation in first by resigning from the role. The question now being asked is: who will replace him?
After Woods had hung his coach of six years out to dry last week at The Players Championship at Sawgrass, Florida, it came as little surprise that the two had finally split. But few expected Haney to be the one to end the relationship — announcing it, as is often the way these days, on his website.
“Tiger Woods and I will always be friends, but I believe that there is a time and place for everything, and I feel at this time in my life I want to move forward in other areas,” Haney, 54, said.
“As we all know, Tiger has been through a lot in the last six months and I really believe that given the chance, mind-free and injury-free, we will all see [him] play once again like we all know he can.”
With Woods struggling to find any semblance of a working swing since returning after five months in exile, Haney’s role was openly questioned. He was nowhere to be seen at Sawgrass and Woods made no attempt to quell the inevitable speculation surrounding his absence. A curt “I’m still working with him” was all he would say.
It must also have hurt Haney that before Woods pulled out with a neck injury in his final round, his swing was taken apart frame by frame by television analysts.
Not only that, but Haney became the butt of a locker-room joke. On the back of his association with Woods, he has been working on the swing of Ray Romano, the comedian, for a television series. At The Players, it was being suggested that if Woods stayed with him much longer, then he would end up with a swing like Romano’s.
Haney, who had worked with Woods since 2004, had much to prove in the early days when the world No 1 attempted to change his swing away from the one honed by Butch Harmon — who had worked with him for nine years until 2002 and had been his coach when, after the Masters in 2001, he held all four majors.
Inevitably comparisons were made between Harmon and Haney, and at first it looked as if Woods had made a mistake in switching coaches. But from 2005, he turned his game around and Haney can make note that his star pupil won six major championships in the time they were together.
Some have suggested that Woods would do well to go back to Harmon, but it is hard to imagine that the world No 1 would surrender that particular moral high ground after initiating the split.
More significantly, Harmon now works closely with Phil Mickelson, the world No 2, who would not countenance such an arrangement.
It could leave the way clear for Sean Foley, a coach with a growing reputation, who works with, among others, Hunter Mahan, Sean O’Hair and Justin Rose. You could argue that such a role would be a poisoned chalice. But with Woods’s game at its lowest point, there is only one way that it can go. And who would turn down such an opportunity to take the credit?
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Beware the backmarkers in battle for pole position
Six cars in a race of their own. A very slow race. A shiver has run through the motorhomes of the top teams here before qualifying today for the Monaco Grand Prix, because they are facing the same hurdles on the way to fighting for pole position.
Or six hurdles, if you count the twin cars from Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT. Formula One’s new teams have discovered how hard life is at the sharp end of the world’s fastest form of motor racing and the twists and turns of Monte Carlo emphasise the problems.
For the leading teams in the sport, though, it will be a desperate race in the first qualifying session to avoid arriving on the exhaust pipes of one of the new boys.
Overtaking is tough at the best of times around here and none of that gaggle of drivers fighting for the World Championship can afford to be ejected early from qualifying because he got stuck behind a backmarker.
The new teams are doing their level best and Lotus, certainly, and Virgin, to some extent, are gradually attaching themselves to the midfield pack.
Poor, cash-strapped and seemingly hopeless HRT, though, are in for an almighty struggle. They have two Monaco Grand Prix virgins in the shape of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, who will spend as much time looking in their rearview mirrors as they do straight ahead.
To illustrate how far off the pace they are, Senna set a time of 1.22.148sec in the second practice session here, 7.22sec off the fastest time, by Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. But Senna’s time was also slower than the practice times set by the top eight cars in the junior GP2 series that supports Formula One. Maybe the Brazilian with the illustrious name was in the wrong series.
Even at that speed, Senna will have his own qualifying battle ahead today. The top drivers just have to hope that it does not impinge on theirs.
Source:The Times
Or six hurdles, if you count the twin cars from Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT. Formula One’s new teams have discovered how hard life is at the sharp end of the world’s fastest form of motor racing and the twists and turns of Monte Carlo emphasise the problems.
For the leading teams in the sport, though, it will be a desperate race in the first qualifying session to avoid arriving on the exhaust pipes of one of the new boys.
Overtaking is tough at the best of times around here and none of that gaggle of drivers fighting for the World Championship can afford to be ejected early from qualifying because he got stuck behind a backmarker.
The new teams are doing their level best and Lotus, certainly, and Virgin, to some extent, are gradually attaching themselves to the midfield pack.
Poor, cash-strapped and seemingly hopeless HRT, though, are in for an almighty struggle. They have two Monaco Grand Prix virgins in the shape of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, who will spend as much time looking in their rearview mirrors as they do straight ahead.
To illustrate how far off the pace they are, Senna set a time of 1.22.148sec in the second practice session here, 7.22sec off the fastest time, by Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. But Senna’s time was also slower than the practice times set by the top eight cars in the junior GP2 series that supports Formula One. Maybe the Brazilian with the illustrious name was in the wrong series.
Even at that speed, Senna will have his own qualifying battle ahead today. The top drivers just have to hope that it does not impinge on theirs.
Source:The Times
Mike Hussey’s big blows ensure improbable Australia win
Beausejour Stadium (Australia won toss): Australia beat Pakistan by three wickets
Michael Hussey engineered a near-impossible fightback to carry Australia into the final of the World Twenty20 tomorrow.
England will need to end the only unbeaten record of the tournament to secure the title.
Australia needed 125 from ten overs and 18 from the last six balls from Saeed Ajmal, but the requirement came down quickly as Hussey swung successive sixes over square leg and long-on to finish 60 not out from 24 balls.
Monitoring the game in Barbados after a morning flight, Paul Collingwood, the England one-day captain, and his colleagues must have thought that Pakistan would form the opposition. England beat Shahid Afridi’s side in Bridgetown nine days ago, but must now take on Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes on the fastest pitch in the tournament.
“That is one of the best wins I have been involved in across any form of the game,” Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, said. “Mike Hussey is an absolute freak. You look forward to any opportunity to beat England, but they have some match-winners as well, so it will be a great final.”
Play in the Beausejour Stadium began 30 minutes late because of rain and Australia gradually lost control in the field. The Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, hit fifties and the addition of 69 runs from the last 26 balls took the total to 191, which Clarke thought was about 20 runs too many. The hitting looked sensational until it was trumped by Hussey.
Clarke’s concern proved justified when David Warner cut the second ball of the reply to backward point and Shane Watson forced to long-on. Cameron White injected stability to the innings and, with 43 needed at one point from 15 balls and heads in hands in the Australia dugout, Hussey timed the recovery perfectly.Pakistan †Kamran Akmal c Warner b Johnson 50 (34 balls) Salman Butt c Warner b Smith 32 (30) Umar Akmal not out 57 (35) *Shahid Afridi c Haddin b Hussey 8 (9) Khalid Latif c Warner b Nannes13 (6) Abdul Razzaq run out11 (7) Misbah-ul-Haq run out 0 (0)Extras (b 10, lb 1, w 9) 20Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 192Mohammad Hafeez, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-89, 3-114, 4-145, 5-190, 6-192.Bowling: Nannes 4-1-32-1; Tait 4-0-25-0; Johnson 4-0-37-1; Watson 2-0-26-0; Smith 2-0-23-1; Hussey 3-0-24-1; Clarke 1-0-13-0.
AustraliaD A Warner c U Akmal b Aamer 0 (2) S R Watson c Rehman b Aamer 16 (9) †B J Haddin st K Akmal b Rehman 25 (20) *M J Clarke st K Akmal b Afridi17 (19) D J Hussey c and b Rehman13 (9) C L White c Hafeez b Aamer 43 (31) M E K Hussey not out 60 (24) S P D Smith st K Akmal b Ajmal5 (4) M G Johnson not out5 (3)Extras (lb 7, w 5, nb 1)13Total (7 wkts, 19.5 overs) 197S W Tait and D P Nannes did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-26, 3-58, 4-62, 5-105, 6-139, 7-144.Bowling: Aamer 4-0-35-3; Razzaq 2-0-22-0; Rehman 4-0-33-2; Ajmal 3.5-0-46-1; Afridi 4-0-34-1; Hafeez 2-0-20-0.
Umpires: B R Doctrove and I J Gould (England).
Michael Hussey engineered a near-impossible fightback to carry Australia into the final of the World Twenty20 tomorrow.
England will need to end the only unbeaten record of the tournament to secure the title.
Australia needed 125 from ten overs and 18 from the last six balls from Saeed Ajmal, but the requirement came down quickly as Hussey swung successive sixes over square leg and long-on to finish 60 not out from 24 balls.
Monitoring the game in Barbados after a morning flight, Paul Collingwood, the England one-day captain, and his colleagues must have thought that Pakistan would form the opposition. England beat Shahid Afridi’s side in Bridgetown nine days ago, but must now take on Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes on the fastest pitch in the tournament.
“That is one of the best wins I have been involved in across any form of the game,” Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, said. “Mike Hussey is an absolute freak. You look forward to any opportunity to beat England, but they have some match-winners as well, so it will be a great final.”
Play in the Beausejour Stadium began 30 minutes late because of rain and Australia gradually lost control in the field. The Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, hit fifties and the addition of 69 runs from the last 26 balls took the total to 191, which Clarke thought was about 20 runs too many. The hitting looked sensational until it was trumped by Hussey.
Clarke’s concern proved justified when David Warner cut the second ball of the reply to backward point and Shane Watson forced to long-on. Cameron White injected stability to the innings and, with 43 needed at one point from 15 balls and heads in hands in the Australia dugout, Hussey timed the recovery perfectly.Pakistan †Kamran Akmal c Warner b Johnson 50 (34 balls) Salman Butt c Warner b Smith 32 (30) Umar Akmal not out 57 (35) *Shahid Afridi c Haddin b Hussey 8 (9) Khalid Latif c Warner b Nannes13 (6) Abdul Razzaq run out11 (7) Misbah-ul-Haq run out 0 (0)Extras (b 10, lb 1, w 9) 20Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 192Mohammad Hafeez, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-89, 3-114, 4-145, 5-190, 6-192.Bowling: Nannes 4-1-32-1; Tait 4-0-25-0; Johnson 4-0-37-1; Watson 2-0-26-0; Smith 2-0-23-1; Hussey 3-0-24-1; Clarke 1-0-13-0.
AustraliaD A Warner c U Akmal b Aamer 0 (2) S R Watson c Rehman b Aamer 16 (9) †B J Haddin st K Akmal b Rehman 25 (20) *M J Clarke st K Akmal b Afridi17 (19) D J Hussey c and b Rehman13 (9) C L White c Hafeez b Aamer 43 (31) M E K Hussey not out 60 (24) S P D Smith st K Akmal b Ajmal5 (4) M G Johnson not out5 (3)Extras (lb 7, w 5, nb 1)13Total (7 wkts, 19.5 overs) 197S W Tait and D P Nannes did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-26, 3-58, 4-62, 5-105, 6-139, 7-144.Bowling: Aamer 4-0-35-3; Razzaq 2-0-22-0; Rehman 4-0-33-2; Ajmal 3.5-0-46-1; Afridi 4-0-34-1; Hafeez 2-0-20-0.
Umpires: B R Doctrove and I J Gould (England).
Pride that came after the fall at Portsmouth
Portsmouth take on Chelsea in the FA Cup Final today hoping to end a traumatic campaign on a high note. Four owners, two managers, a winding-up petition, forced player sales, administration, a nine-point deduction and relegation — few teams have been through so much. This is their story of the season.
July 2009. Sulaiman al-Fahim undertakes due diligence on a possible buyout of Alexandre Gaydamak as players still under contract report back from their summer break.
Paul Hart, manager: We returned for pre-season training on July 9. I had 14 players and four of them were goalkeepers. I had to lie to the media, tell them we had a squad of 20, because the truth was just too shocking.
David James, England goalkeeper: The August transfer window was sad because as a group of players it was like: “Who’s going to be here tomorrow morning?” Niko [Kranjcar] said he was going up to talk to Spurs, but he didn’t think he was going to sign. Then he texted me to say: “I’ve signed.” I didn’t see that one coming and it was that transfer that encapsulated the state of the club.
August 26. Al-Fahim finally completes his takeover just before the transfer window closes and Hart is given the green light to sign eight players in five days, mostly on loans or free transfers, including Michael Brown and Jamie O’Hara
Brown: Paul Hart rang me up and said: “We’ve got a battle on our hands and it’s not going to be pretty, but I think we’ve got a chance.” I like a challenge and I thought I’d give it a go. But none of the lads coming in thought it could possibly be as bad as it eventually became.
September 24. The wages are late, paid eventually thanks to a loan from Ali al-Faraj, who becomes the third owner of the season.
Brown: We were told that it would be just the one month. But then it was another one, and another one, and another one, and different things happening in the club all the time, until the bubble burst.
November 24. Hart is sacked, replaced by Avram Grant, who is promised money to buy in January. Instead, he is forced to sell two players.
Brown: It was so disappointing to see more go when we were supposed to be signing four. So we were six down from where we thought we’d be. I still think we could have done better and we had enough to avoid relegation. Then someone might have taken us over and we might have avoided administration. But some bad results and the writing was on the wall, and these “investors” just disappeared.
February 4. Al-Faraj defaults on loan payments to Balram Chainrai, who becomes the fourth owner of the season.
Brown: It was always “the next takeover”. Even as we were signing, there was another potential sheikh taking over the club. Generally when a takeover happens, a club starts to head in a healthier direction, but eventually that takeover didn’t seem to be happening, so there was another takeover and we all thought the worries would be over. But it seemed to go from bad to worse by the week and obviously it got much worse.
February 10. Portsmouth narrowly avoid a winding-up in the High Court after Revenue & Customs presents a petition over a tax bill of more than £11 million.
Linvoy Primus, retired defender and mentor to young players: It wasn’t until it got to court that we thought: “Wow, there is a possibility this could really happen.” I think that was when it really hit home how serious it all was. We weren’t hearing anything from the club. No one seemed to know the final outcome of anything. We heard about Mr al-Faraj, but that was as far as it went. We never met him.
February 26. Portsmouth become the first Premier League club to enter administration. A nine-point penalty makes relegation almost inevitable and 85 employees are made redundant. The players fund the wages of seven members of training-ground staff.
Brown: You could see as the weeks were ticking by that the writing was on the wall. They were saying for so long: “It has never happened before and it never will.” But you were thinking: “They’ve got no chance.” Footballers are generally lucky, we do very well. It brings you back to earth when you see other people in the club losing their jobs and it’s a big, big thing — they can’t make payments for their houses. It didn’t make us feel too good when friends and work colleagues were being laid off. Even people who were still here were taking wage deferrals.
O’Hara: When people started losing their jobs, a lot of the lads tried to stand up and say something, because there were people that we still needed around the place, but we couldn’t help everyone. I was still getting paid by Spurs, but only the basic salary. After that, there were bonuses that I haven’t received and I think most of the team has got money owed to them, but that’s something that is just going to have to be sorted out in future.
Brown: Our aim was to get enough points to prove that we would have succeeded in getting out of the bottom three but for the points deduction. Amazingly, after what’s gone on, we’ve come up only six points short ... and I still think we should have got them.
April 11. FA Cup semi-final: Portsmouth 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Brown: Tottenham was a big performance for us. That was how we needed to play in a lot of the games that we lost. I think someone quoted us at 11-1, so it just shows you what the achievement was. A lot of people were saying that it was a better day than winning the Cup in 2008.
April 21. The administrator’s report reveals that Portsmouth owe more than £4.3 million to charities and other creditors, including Primus’s Faith In Football.
Primus: Compared to the amounts out there that they owe, it was small, but for their own reputation we believed that we would get it and it was just a question of when. And it’s not as if they could hide from me, because I’m here every day.
Steve Finnan, defender: It wasn’t a shock when the administrator’s report came out, because we’d heard about similar things before that. The internet bill hadn’t been paid earlier in the season and they cut the office internet off. There was no money for anyone really, which is a shame because local businesses needed it.
Brown: They actually missed quite a few things off there, to be honest, I know that for a fact. But it was such a lot of debt and I can’t see how they can sort it out. Something went wrong and a club with the revenue this one was producing couldn’t pull it back. You see these people who have worked very hard for Portsmouth who are not going to get paid and it’s very difficult.
May 15. Chelsea v Portsmouth, FA Cup Final.
Brown: The Cup run has saved our season, because three months of the situation we were in would have been a disaster. But we have achieved something. It will be a special season even though we are relegated. It has even been funny at times, but when people lose their livelihoods, it becomes serious.
Hayden Mullins, defender: I was at Crystal Palace when they were in and out of administration but this has been unbelievable, with one thing after another, and I’ve never seen anything like it in football. You think it couldn’t get any worse: nine points, then administration, no money, then the debt is getting bigger every week. You have to have a sense of humour to get through it, you have to look at it and laugh, because it’s such a bad situation that the club finds itself in. Hopefully this is the end of it and we can build next year.
July 2009. Sulaiman al-Fahim undertakes due diligence on a possible buyout of Alexandre Gaydamak as players still under contract report back from their summer break.
Paul Hart, manager: We returned for pre-season training on July 9. I had 14 players and four of them were goalkeepers. I had to lie to the media, tell them we had a squad of 20, because the truth was just too shocking.
David James, England goalkeeper: The August transfer window was sad because as a group of players it was like: “Who’s going to be here tomorrow morning?” Niko [Kranjcar] said he was going up to talk to Spurs, but he didn’t think he was going to sign. Then he texted me to say: “I’ve signed.” I didn’t see that one coming and it was that transfer that encapsulated the state of the club.
August 26. Al-Fahim finally completes his takeover just before the transfer window closes and Hart is given the green light to sign eight players in five days, mostly on loans or free transfers, including Michael Brown and Jamie O’Hara
Brown: Paul Hart rang me up and said: “We’ve got a battle on our hands and it’s not going to be pretty, but I think we’ve got a chance.” I like a challenge and I thought I’d give it a go. But none of the lads coming in thought it could possibly be as bad as it eventually became.
September 24. The wages are late, paid eventually thanks to a loan from Ali al-Faraj, who becomes the third owner of the season.
Brown: We were told that it would be just the one month. But then it was another one, and another one, and another one, and different things happening in the club all the time, until the bubble burst.
November 24. Hart is sacked, replaced by Avram Grant, who is promised money to buy in January. Instead, he is forced to sell two players.
Brown: It was so disappointing to see more go when we were supposed to be signing four. So we were six down from where we thought we’d be. I still think we could have done better and we had enough to avoid relegation. Then someone might have taken us over and we might have avoided administration. But some bad results and the writing was on the wall, and these “investors” just disappeared.
February 4. Al-Faraj defaults on loan payments to Balram Chainrai, who becomes the fourth owner of the season.
Brown: It was always “the next takeover”. Even as we were signing, there was another potential sheikh taking over the club. Generally when a takeover happens, a club starts to head in a healthier direction, but eventually that takeover didn’t seem to be happening, so there was another takeover and we all thought the worries would be over. But it seemed to go from bad to worse by the week and obviously it got much worse.
February 10. Portsmouth narrowly avoid a winding-up in the High Court after Revenue & Customs presents a petition over a tax bill of more than £11 million.
Linvoy Primus, retired defender and mentor to young players: It wasn’t until it got to court that we thought: “Wow, there is a possibility this could really happen.” I think that was when it really hit home how serious it all was. We weren’t hearing anything from the club. No one seemed to know the final outcome of anything. We heard about Mr al-Faraj, but that was as far as it went. We never met him.
February 26. Portsmouth become the first Premier League club to enter administration. A nine-point penalty makes relegation almost inevitable and 85 employees are made redundant. The players fund the wages of seven members of training-ground staff.
Brown: You could see as the weeks were ticking by that the writing was on the wall. They were saying for so long: “It has never happened before and it never will.” But you were thinking: “They’ve got no chance.” Footballers are generally lucky, we do very well. It brings you back to earth when you see other people in the club losing their jobs and it’s a big, big thing — they can’t make payments for their houses. It didn’t make us feel too good when friends and work colleagues were being laid off. Even people who were still here were taking wage deferrals.
O’Hara: When people started losing their jobs, a lot of the lads tried to stand up and say something, because there were people that we still needed around the place, but we couldn’t help everyone. I was still getting paid by Spurs, but only the basic salary. After that, there were bonuses that I haven’t received and I think most of the team has got money owed to them, but that’s something that is just going to have to be sorted out in future.
Brown: Our aim was to get enough points to prove that we would have succeeded in getting out of the bottom three but for the points deduction. Amazingly, after what’s gone on, we’ve come up only six points short ... and I still think we should have got them.
April 11. FA Cup semi-final: Portsmouth 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Brown: Tottenham was a big performance for us. That was how we needed to play in a lot of the games that we lost. I think someone quoted us at 11-1, so it just shows you what the achievement was. A lot of people were saying that it was a better day than winning the Cup in 2008.
April 21. The administrator’s report reveals that Portsmouth owe more than £4.3 million to charities and other creditors, including Primus’s Faith In Football.
Primus: Compared to the amounts out there that they owe, it was small, but for their own reputation we believed that we would get it and it was just a question of when. And it’s not as if they could hide from me, because I’m here every day.
Steve Finnan, defender: It wasn’t a shock when the administrator’s report came out, because we’d heard about similar things before that. The internet bill hadn’t been paid earlier in the season and they cut the office internet off. There was no money for anyone really, which is a shame because local businesses needed it.
Brown: They actually missed quite a few things off there, to be honest, I know that for a fact. But it was such a lot of debt and I can’t see how they can sort it out. Something went wrong and a club with the revenue this one was producing couldn’t pull it back. You see these people who have worked very hard for Portsmouth who are not going to get paid and it’s very difficult.
May 15. Chelsea v Portsmouth, FA Cup Final.
Brown: The Cup run has saved our season, because three months of the situation we were in would have been a disaster. But we have achieved something. It will be a special season even though we are relegated. It has even been funny at times, but when people lose their livelihoods, it becomes serious.
Hayden Mullins, defender: I was at Crystal Palace when they were in and out of administration but this has been unbelievable, with one thing after another, and I’ve never seen anything like it in football. You think it couldn’t get any worse: nine points, then administration, no money, then the debt is getting bigger every week. You have to have a sense of humour to get through it, you have to look at it and laugh, because it’s such a bad situation that the club finds itself in. Hopefully this is the end of it and we can build next year.
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