Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Time and injuries catching up with Woods

19 March 2014 Last updated at 12:59

Tiger Woods: Injury problems could undermine major ambitions

 

This was supposed to be Tiger Woods's year to add to his tally of 14 major titles. With his latest injury setback that now seems a distant prospect.

Never mind that he has won at three of 2014's major venues and finished second and third at US Open tournaments staged at the other.

Woods is now facing a race against time to be fit to tee off at the first of those events when the Masters starts at Augusta in three weeks.

"It's too early to know about the Masters," Woods admitted in his statement on Tuesday announcing his withdrawal from this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

He should have been defending his title on a course where he has won eight times before.

The world number one was desperately keen to play but can't shake off back pain and spasms that forced his final round withdrawal at the Honda Classic in Florida at the start of the month.

It was a recurrence of problems that first surfaced in the PGA Tour play-offs last autumn.

Just recently Woods laboured to a 25th-placed finish at the World Golf Championships event at Doral where he carded a closing 78, his worst final round in 18 seasons as a professional.

His four tournaments this year have all been at events he has won before. Woods has completed all 72 holes in only two of them and his lowly Doral return was the best result of his year to date.

Aside from his scandal-induced absence in 2009, this has been the worst start to a season in his entire career. Worryingly, his Bay Hill withdrawal follows a week away from tournament play.

As has been well documented, he has suffered major injuries before. Four times he has undergone surgery on his left knee. There have been Achilles and neck problems as well.

In 2008 he won the last of his majors by triumphing at the US Open while suffering cruciate ligament damage and stress fractures in his left leg.

Under the tutelage of coach Sean Foley he rebuilt his swing to reduce the stress on that fragile limb. It was done to great effect, with Woods winning five times last year to return to the top of the world rankings.

But at what cost to his back?

"That change of action might well have contributed to his current problems," physiotherapist Linda Stevenson told BBC Sport.

"The only way to get long-lasting relief might be to go back to the drawing board."

At the age of 38 Woods is breaking down. He has a body that has been swinging golf clubs since the age of two.

Such is the mileage on his golfing clock, Woods is an old 38-year-old. Throughout his career he has trained like an athlete, enduring punishing gym routines in his pursuit of excellence.

Most athletes are finished by their late 30s and while golfers enjoy greater longevity, one has to wonder whether this will apply to Woods.

He is, by no means, the first golfer to suffer back problems and with good reason.

"Typical golfing posture does not help," added Stevenson. "The increased curvature caused by the stance puts more weight through the facet joints.

"This causes more compression, they get more wear and become inflamed and the back goes into spasm. Eighty percent of the weight should be going through the discs, they are designed to have more weight on them.

"The situation is then made worse by the dynamic action that goes into hitting the ball."

Stevenson, who has for several years worked with British international canoeists and rowers, reckons that it was possible to envisage back problems for Woods as far as a decade ago.

"Tiger's core strength will be amazing but he has relied on his back for many years and now it would seem it has come to find him out," she said.

"Around 10 years ago I was at a conference of physios which looked at Tiger Woods's action and we agreed then that he was likely to end up suffering back problems."

According to Stevenson, rest and massage are the most likely courses of action for Woods now. It's hardly the scenario his inconsistent golf needs with the Masters  fast approaching.

He has always claimed time is on his side in his quest to overhaul Jack Nicklaus's record of eighteen majors. The world number one has often pointed out that the last of Nicklaus's triumphs came at the age of 46.

Woods enjoys wonderful memories from this year's major courses. He's won four times at Augusta, romped to the 2006 Open at Hoylake and won a PGA at Valhalla as well as challenging twice in the US Open at Pinehurst.

If he is to pass the Nicklaus milestone, then he surely needs to win a first major in six years to kickstart the process. But now Woods must wonder whether he will be able to arrive at any of this year's venues with a body fit to contend.

Writing off Woods is not something that should be done lightly. His golfing powers have been supreme.

His current prospects, however, have never looked bleaker.

 

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    Comment number 58.

    @56

    How is it rubbish when the stats bear it out? The fields are a lot deeper nowadays, Jack alludes to this clearly in his autobiography.

    @55 Proving my point, the top 4 or 5 guys shared the majors around whereas nowadays the winner can and does come from deep, deep in the strong field. Look at the last 20 major winners. Mostly different players!. It's harder now to rack up big totals!

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    Comment number 57.

    He's had his time and what a spell of dominance he enjoyed however that "furious" swing was bound to take it's toll. Even if fit I'm not sure he has the mental will to win a major now, too many fearless younger players around not afraid to win.

    @54 You should read about the sacrifices Nicklaus and his family made in pursuit of being the best.

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    Comment number 56.

    #54 Absolute rubbish to say it was easier to win multiple majors in the Nicklaus era. Anyway, as they say you can't educate pork ! Just go and check the statistics. I would argue if you put Hogan, Nicklaus, Player, Trevino into today, current players would know all about it !

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    Comment number 55.

    @54

    Yeah, 'cause Arnold Palmer (7 majors), Gary Player (8 majors) and Tom Watson (9 majors) couldn't give anyone a game ever...

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    Comment number 54.

    Anyone that knows their golf knows Tiger is still the best player in history. It was much easier to win multiple majors in Jack's era. If you put the Tiger of 2000 in a time machine and sent him back to he 60s it would be a complete and utter bloodbath.

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Lewis Carroll letter sold at auction

19 March 2014 Last updated at 13:49

Lewis Carroll letter goes under hammer at Bonhams

Lewis Carroll Lewis Carroll wished he had "never written any books at all'

A letter from Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, in which he complains about the downside of fame, has sold for £11,825 at auction.

Written under his own name, Charles Dodgson, he says he hates "being pointed out to, and stared at, by strangers, and treated as a 'lion'".

The handwritten letter was expected to fetch between £3,000 and £4,000 at the Bonham's London sale.

It was sent to his friend Anne Symonds in 1891.

Carroll was notoriously shy and he wrote that although he realised many people "like being looked at as a notoriety... we are not all made on the same pattern; and our likes and dislikes are very different".

"I hate all that so intensely that sometimes I almost wish I had never written any books at all," it reads.

British buyer

The letter was being sold as part of a books, manuscripts, maps and photographs sale - other lots included first editions of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities.

It was bought by an anonymous British buyer who was present in the room during the bidding.

Two photographs by Carroll also sold at the auction. One of a young girl at the seaside sold for £5,250 and his portrait of a three-year-old girl on a couch went for £2,750.

Carroll was a lecturer and tutor in mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, and originally wrote Alice in Wonderland as a private gift to 12-year-old Alice Liddell in 1864.

He came up with the story of Alice and her trip to a fantasy world while on a boat trip in the city with the real Alice and her family in 1862.

Their relationship was recently dramatised by American writer John Logan in the play Peter and Alice, starring Dame Judi Dench as the adult Alice Liddell Hargreaves.


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Exam board to re-mark GCSE papers

19 March 2014 Last updated at 15:33

WJEC exam body to re-mark some GCSE English papers after review

The WJEC found the marking scheme was applied consistently in all but one of the cases reviewed

Welsh exams board WJEC is to re-mark some of the new GCSE English papers taken in January after carrying out a review into "unexpectedly low grades".

The grades, which were issued earlier this month, left heads at secondary schools across Wales shocked.

But the WJEC found the marking scheme was applied consistently in all but one of the cases reviewed.

The six centres whose candidates' work was marked by that examiner have been told and 318 papers will be re-marked.

The internal review also found the results of papers from two pupils had been added up incorrectly.

'Reassurance'

Gareth Pierce, the WJEC's chief executive, said: "We understand that this has been a distressing period for teachers and pupils alike.

"We hope that this review along with the Welsh government's fact-finding exercise provides reassurance that we are collectively undertaking appropriate action to assess and remedy the situation.

"WJEC remains firmly committed to supporting high standards of education to learners in Wales, delivering qualifications which are rigorous, fair and valued."

The unit, or module, was part of the first Wales-only GCSE examinations, ordered after a split between England, Northern Ireland and Wales in 2012.

About 22,500 pupils sat the exam but there was shock and anger on 6 March at unexpected poor grades awarded to students who sat the new exam in January.

Head teachers wrote to Education Minister Huw Lewis saying the test results have eroded confidence in the examinations system.

Following the outcry at the grades awarded, exam officials stressed that tougher requirements on accuracy in the new exam and a much higher number of students taking the papers could explain lower grades.

But BBC Wales learnt that schools were assured 16 months ago by the Welsh government that pupils would not be disadvantaged by new English language GCSEs.

'Positive' findings

As well as the internal review into marking, the exam board said schools and exam centres could still challenge individual results using the traditional appeal route.

The WJEC's review found the marking scheme was applied consistently in all but one of the cases reviewed.

It said there were indications that the examiner's marking was slightly inconsistent and, although there were no sizeable disparities, a full re-mark of the examiner's work would take place.

The centres whose candidates' work was marked by this examiner have already been informed.

The review also identified an error in adding up the total marks on two candidates' papers, which WJEC has since corrected and communicated to the relevant centres.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said the findings of the review were "positive".

WJEC officials previously said they would be making more support available to schools preparing for the next round of exams in June.

Measures include:

  • Post-exam review meetings at the end of March and in April, with heads of all English departments invited to a session
  • Extra specimen assessment material to be made available, with marking schemes
  • Additional feedback on two questions that students found most difficult in the January exam unit

The Welsh government is carrying out its own review into the January exams and will announce its findings at a later date.

Owen Hathway, NUT Wales Policy Officer said: "It is important now that the Welsh government complete their own review into this situation as quickly as possible and publish the details so that the facts about this issue can be examined.

"Teachers and pupils remain almost in a state of limbo and I am sure that everyone involved wants to see the right course of action taken to recognise fairly the dedication of pupils sitting these exams and the quality of their work."

The Welsh government said it would consider the information provided by the WJEC.

A spokesperson added: "In broad terms WJEC consider that their examiners marked question papers correctly and accurately.

"However this is just one part of the picture and there are other, wider issues that we still need to investigate.

"We are doing this through the Rapid Fact Finding Exercise that we are conducting. The review is now well underway and will be rigorous in its approach. It will identify factors underlying the results and put in place appropriate actions to support schools as they prepare learners for the June assessments."


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Weightlifting wins funding appeal

19 March 2014 Last updated at 17:06

Rio 2016: Weightlifting only winner in UK Sport funding appeals

Weightlifting has had its UK Sport funding restored after a successful appeal, but the withdrawal of funding for six other sports remains in place.

Basketball, synchronised swimming, water polo and Paralympic sports wheelchair fencing, goalball and five-a-side football continue to lose out.

All of the sports facing funding cuts are considering an appeal against the decision.

Weighlifting's reinstated funding is £894,000, taking the total to £1.8m.

Continue reading the main story

“"This is a very dark and sad day for British sport - especially for women's sport”

David Sparkes British Swimming chief executive

Badminton has had £250,000 reinstated, taking its total funding to £5.9m.

Rod Carr, chair of UK Sport, said: "The starting point for UK Sport and the board is that we want to be able to invest in as many Olympic and Paralympic sports as possible but they must be able to credibly demonstrate medal-winning potential within eight years.

"Weightlifting came back to us with a compelling new strategy focussed on developing their most talented female athletes with a view to challenging for medals by Tokyo 2020."

Around £350m is to be spent preparing Britain's best medal chances at both the Olympics and Paralympics.

After UK Sport announced its funding in February, chief executive Liz Nicholl said that it would be "high risk" to continue funding sports with little chance of winning a medal by 2020.

"If the nation values sporting success, we can deliver it but only if we remain focussed as the Olympic and Paralympic environment is becoming increasingly competitive," Nicholls said after Wednesday's decision.

"These are tough calls to make and we know that it is even tougher for the sports and athletes directly affected by funding withdrawal."

British swimming chief executive David Sparkes said the decision not to reinstate synchronised swimming's funding marked a "very dark and sad day for British sport".

He added: "How can an elite programme such as synchro, which has long been held by UK Sport as a model of world-class athlete development and leadership, that has achieved all of its performance indicators since it first received funding, have its funding removed just 12 months after it was enhanced?

"It is a sport that has never failed to deliver on its performance promises and this decision beggars belief - it clearly highlights a fundamental flaw in the UK Sport funding system."

Roger Moreland, performance chairman for British Basketball, is still hopeful of gaining some funding.

He said: "If there is the political will and the leadership, a solution can be found. Other countries have done so."

British Disabled Fencing Association (BDFA) released a statement that read: "For a sport that offers 14 gold medals at a Paralympics, the decision is tough.

"It will be extremely difficult to continue to progress the talented athletes and further develop the performance programme without any other sources of funding."

Goalball UK CEO, Mike Reilly said: "The UK Sport decision will have a profound and long term detrimental impact on Goalball in the UK."

Badminton, however, welcomed UK Sport's decision to reinstate their funding.

GB chairman Simon Clegg: "It recognises the excellent progress made in recent months by the whole squad.

"We can now fully focus on the challenge to hand, this year's World Championships, qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and delivering the targeted results."


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Madeleine police seek sex attacker

19 March 2014 Last updated at 15:42

Madeleine McCann: Police hunt sex attacker

Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal in 2007

UK police probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are seeking an intruder who sexually abused five girls in Portugal between 2004 and 2006.

Detectives say the attacks happened in holiday villas occupied by UK families in the Algarve.

The man, described as tanned with dark hair, is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties from 2004 to 2010.

Madeleine was three when she went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve, in May 2007.

The five girls - aged between seven and 10 - were sexually assaulted in their beds.

On one of these occasions, the man assaulted two girls in one villa.

'Serious offences'

Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood said the man had an "unhealthy interest in young white female children" - and tracing him was a priority.

"We need to establish the identity of this man," DCI Redwood said.

Burgundy top Two families said the intruder had worn a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top

"These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our enquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance."

Police said the man was bare-chested in some of the attacks, and some witnesses said he had a pot belly. Three victims said he had a "noticeable odour".

Two of the families said the intruder had worn a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top, and one family said the top had a white circle on the back.

The man was said to have spoken English slowly, with a foreign accent.

While not identical, many aspects of the sexual assaults were similar, police said.

In most of the cases, the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning and there were no signs of forced entry to the properties.

The suspect may have been in the villa or looking around for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed, either by a parent coming in or the child waking up, officers said.

He remained calm even when disturbed, they added.

The incidents had previously been discounted by Portuguese investigators because they were spread over a wide geographical area and there had been no apparent attempts at abduction.

DCI Andy Redwood says he needs to hear from other families who may have been affected

Four of the 12 break-ins took place in Carvoeiro, two in Praia da Luz - where the McCanns had been staying - and six in Vale da Parra and Praia da Gale.

There are currently 38 people classed as "persons of interest" linked with the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.

Detectives are also sifting through details of 530 sex offenders whose whereabouts are unknown.

Of those, 59 are classed as a high priority, and some of those are British.

Police 'frustration'

Scotland Yard launched a new investigation - codenamed Operation Grange - into Madeleine's disappearance last July, two years into a review of the case, and made renewed appeals for information.

A high-profile campaign run by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, and a Portuguese police investigation had so far failed to locate the missing child.

The search for Madeleine was given fresh impetus in October when a BBC Crimewatch appeal that aired in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands prompted 5,000 calls.

Kate and Gerry McCann Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday home while parents Kate and Gerry McCann dined at a nearby restaurant

In January, British detectives flew to Portugal and spoke to local police officers there.

DCI Redwood said: "This is an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children who he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds.

"It is really critical for us to identify this offender and prove or disprove whether he was involved in Madeleine's disappearance."

Investigators in the UK have so far sent three international letters of request to Portuguese authorities over the inquiry in to Madeleine's disappearance.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the slow legal process had caused "frustration".

"We know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process," he said.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family, said: "Kate and Gerry still believe that Madeleine is alive and out there to be found, and that is why they are so pleased that the British police are doing such a good job on this."


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VIDEO: The 2014 Budget in four minutes

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Budget 2014: Headlines of George Osborne's statement

19 March 2014 Last updated at 14:28 GMT

Huw Edwards reviews the headlines of George Osborne's Budget statement looking at changes to borrowing, debt, growth, duties, tax and spending figures.


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Key points of Budget: At-a-glance

19 March 2014 Last updated at 16:22

Key points of Budget 2014: At-a-glance

Here are the key points of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget.

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Taxation

Commuters

Point at which people start paying income tax will be raised to £10,500

Bingo duty will be halved to 10%

Threshold for 40p income tax to rise from £41,450 to £41,865 next month and by a further 1% to £42,285 next year

Inheritance tax waived for members of emergency services who give their lives in job

Tax on homes owned through a company to be extended from residential properties worth more than £2m to those worth more than £500,000

All long-haul flights to carry lower rate of air duty currently charged on flights to US

VAT waived on fuel for air ambulances and inshore rescue boats

Duty on fixed-odds betting terminals increased to 25%

Osborne "incredibly proud" of increase in personal tax allowance to £10,500

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Savings

Money

Cash and shares Isas to be merged into single New Isa with annual tax-free savings limit of £15,000 from 1 July

The 10p tax rate for savers abolished

Cap on Premium Bonds to be lifted from £30,000 to £40,000 in June and £50,000 next year

George Osborne announces changes to help savers and pensioners

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Pensions

Pensioners

All tax restrictions on pensioners' access to their pension pots to be removed, ending the requirement to buy an annuity

Taxable part of pension pot taken as cash on retirement to be charged at normal income tax rate, down from 55%

Increase in total pension savings people can take as a lump sum to £30,000

New Pensioner Bond, paying "market-leading" rates, available from January to over-65s, with possible rates of 2.8% for one-year bond and 4% for three-year bond - up to £10,000 to be saved in each bond

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Alcohol, tobacco and gambling

Men drinking beer

Beer duty cut by 1p a pint

Duty on spirits and ordinary cider frozen

Tobacco duty to rise by 2% above inflation and this escalator to be extended beyond the next general election

Chancellor announces freeze on duty on whisky and ordinary cider

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Energy and fuel

Traffic seen in wing mirror

Fuel duty rise planned for September will not happen

£7bn package to cut energy bills, including £18 per ton cap on carbon price support, predicted to save medium-sized manufacturers £50,000 and families £15 a year

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State of the economy

GDP forecast to grow by 2.7% this year and 2.3% next year, then by 2.6% in 2016 and 2017 and by 2.5% in 2018

Chart showing the forecasts for GDP growth
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Coinage

Twelve-sided £1 coin

Twelve-sided £1 coin to be introduced in 2017

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Welfare

Man pushing buggy

Budget to be capped at £119bn for 2015-16, rising in line with inflation to £127bn in 2018-19. The cap includes child benefit, incapacity benefit, winter fuel payment and income support - but does not include state pension and Jobseeker's Allowance

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Public borrowing/deficit

Deficit forecast to be 6.6% of GDP this year, 5.5% in 2014-15 then falling to 0.8% by 2017-18 with a surplus of 0.2% in 2018-19

Chart showing the forecasts for government borrowing

Borrowing forecast to be £108bn this year and £95bn next year, leading to a surplus of almost £5bn in 2018-19

A new charter for budget responsibility to be brought in this autumn

Promises to make permanent £1bn reduction in government department overspends

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Business

Factory

Direct lending from government to UK businesses to promote exports doubled to £3bn and interest rates on that lending cut by a third

Business rate discounts and enhanced capital allowances in enterprise zones extended for three years

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Housing/infrastructure

Housebuilding

Help to Buy equity scheme for new-build homes extended to 2020

Support for building of more than 200,000 new homes

£270m guarantee for Mersey Gateway bridge

A "new garden city" at Ebbsfleet in Kent

Legislation to give Welsh government tax and borrowing powers to fund infrastructure needs, including improvements to M4

£140m extra for flood defence repairs and maintenance

£200m made available to fix potholes


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