Post by gabriel on May 11, 2010 5:02:50 GMT -5
au.sports.yahoo.com/golf/news/article/-/7208844/neck-injury-puts-woods-limbo-coach-quits
Neck injury puts Woods in limbo as coach quits
AFP May 11, 2010, 4:52 pm
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AFP) - Tiger Woods said Monday the neck injury hindering his game had put his upcoming schedule in limbo, then learned he'll have to deal with it without the help of swing coach Hank Haney.
"A lot is up in the air still, which I don't like," said Woods, who is clinging to his world number one ranking by the skin of his teeth.
Woods withdrew during the final round of The Players Championship on Sunday - the first time in his pro career that he had pulled out mid-round in a tournament.
"For me not to play all 18 holes, that was as angry and as frustrated as I've been in a long time," said Woods, who left the course after playing six holes at the Sawgrass TPC.
That disappointment followed a dismal showing the previous week at Quail Hollow, where he missed the cut by eight strokes.
Woods said he doesn't yet know exactly what the injury is, but he insisted it has "zero connection" to the mysterious car crash outside his home in November - which heralded the start of a sex scandal that drove him into self-imposed exile for five months and left his reputation in tatters.
"Zero connection, absolutely zero," Woods said.
Woods had said last month that the accident had left him with a "busted-up lip and pretty sore neck".
But he said he believed his current problem began began when he returned to practice after his break from golf.
"One of the reasons I think this thing flared up is because I wasn't conditioned to it," he said. "I'd been away from the game for such a long time, then came back and ramped up really quickly in order to try and play the Masters. The body wasn't quite ready for that."
Woods said he first thought the intermittent pain was "no big deal".
But it has steadily worsened and now muscle spasms are preventing him from practising and playing properly.
Woods said Sunday he feared the injury could be a bulging disk, and he plans to have an MRI exam.
"I need to figure out what's going on," he said.
Woods has played three tournaments since his return, starting with an apparently encouraging tie for fourth at the Masters.
But his struggles in his next two outings prompted questions on his relationship with Haney.
Woods said last week - and indicated again on Monday - that he had every intention of sticking with Haney, his coach of six years.
But Haney announced Monday night that he was resigning as coach of the 14-time major champion.
"I have informed Tiger Woods this evening that I will no longer be his coach," Haney said in a statement carried by the Golf Channel.
Haney said he believed Woods would rebound from his problems on and off the course.
Woods, who is reportedly headed for divorce from wife Elin, acknowledged that he was "battling".
"There's a lot of things going on in my life, period, right now," he said. "Just trying to get everything in a harmonious spot, and that's not easy to do."
The injury adds another layer of uncertainty for Woods, who had been looking forward to the US Open June 17-20 at Pebble Beach - where Woods won by an astonishing 15 shots in 2000.
The British Open in July will be at St. Andrews, where Woods has won twice.
Those events are still on his radar, as are the US PGA Tour's Memorial June 3-6 and the AT&T National - both of which he won last year.
"I'm trying everything I can to get back as soon as I can," he said.
Including dodging Elin's divorce attorneys? Maybe the pain in his neck is coming from the pain in his hip...pocket?
Omega
?
