The Daily Indian

The waiting for Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf continues.
As expected, Woods did not enter the field for next week’s CA Championship at Doral, marking the first time he’ll miss that World Golf Championship event. Players had until yesterday to commit to that event.

In all, 64 players will be at Doral, including Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson, the two players immediately behind Woods in the world ranking.

Woods resumed practicing about a week ago but has not said when he’ll play again. He has won on Doral’s Blue Monster three times in his career.

Gatorade has ended its marketing deals with Tiger Woods, joining the list of sponsors to drop the superstar golfer in the wake of a sex scandal.

“We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” Gatorade spokeswoman Jennifer Schmit said. “We wish him all the best.”

The spokeswoman for the sports drink, sold by PepsiCo, said
Gatorade would continue its relationship with the Tiger Woods Foundation, the golfer’s charitable organisation that focuses on offering educational opportunities to disadvantaged children.

Gatorade discontinued its Tiger Woods-brand drinks in November, a decision that was made before the star’s marital infidelity sparked a media frenzy.

The scandal erupted after Woods crashed his car in mysterious circumstances outside his Florida home in the early hours of November 27.

Indian pro Jeev Milkha Singh continued his dream run in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, ousting two-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar to breeze into the third round of the USD 8.5 million elite golf tournament here.

Jeev, who had upstaged three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington in his opening round, tamed Kuchar one-up in the Bobby Jones bracket to set up a third round showdown with Englishman and eight-time European Tour winner Ian Poulter, who edged out Adam Scott 2 and 1.

The Indian played immaculate golf with the fifth hole bogey being the lone blot in his otherwise impeccable card.

Jeev did not have a great start as Kuchar won the opening hole with a par.

Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh held on to the top spot in the middlewight category in the latest International Boxing Association (AIBA) rankings.

Vijender, who clinched a silver medal at the Champion of Champions tournament in China earlier this month, has 2513 points.

The Indian is followed by Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa Bayeux, who has been out of action because of a wrist injury.

Bayeux has 2300 points and is followed by Uzbek Abbos Atoev (1875) to whom Vijender lost in the World Championship semifinals last year.

Impressed with Indian athletes overwhelming performance at the 11th South Asian Games here, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi has promised cash incentives for the star performers of the country.

“We have got about 170-odd medals of which 90 are gold medals. I am very happy with their show. They must be given some monetary boost. I will talk to the Sports Ministry in this regard and ensure that their commanding performance is not ignored,” Kalmadi told PTI.

“I am sure this will do great to Indian sport ahead of the Commonwealth Games. All our athletes are undergoing intensive training under good facilities and well-trained coaches.

These performance has come as a boost in the run up to CWG,” he said.India dominated the SAG and wrapped up their campaign with 90 gold, 55 silver and 30 bronze medals.

World number one Tiger Woods’ “indefinite break” from golf could be Englishman Ross McGowan’s ticket to the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship.

Sunday was the final day to secure a berth in the elite 64-player field, which is based on the world rankings.

American Kevin Na, Chad Campbell and Scott Verplank all finished well enough at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club to secure their spots.

Na fired a final-round 66 to finish tied for 10th and move up from 67th to 62nd in the world. Campbell moved down a spot to 63rd and Verplank retained the 64th position in the wake of Sunday’s play.

Phil Mickelson – who slipped to third in the world rankings behind Riviera winner Steve Stricker – has already said he won’t play. That opens the door for world number 65 Chris Wood of England.

Rejecting Pakistan’s charge that its players were snubbed for IPL at the behest of India, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said it should draw a line between government programmes and private events.

“Government has nothing to do with IPL, on selection of players and various exercises that are connected with it.

So, Pakistan will have to draw a line between where Government of India is connected and where Government of India is an actor,” he said.

Krishna said this when reporters sought his comments on Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s remarks that the manner in which the players were “insulted” showed that India was not serious about the peace process.

The Minister’s remarks also come in the wake of Pakistan’s move against sending any parliamentary delegations to India to protest the ‘treatment meted out’ to the country’s cricketers in the auction for the Indian Premier League tournament.

Annoyed at being treated like a “Mr Nobody” by the national federation, India’s first and only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra is planning to quit shooting.

The 27-year-old world champion, who clinched the historic Olympic gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Games, is tired of being at loggerheads with the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI).

“He is annoyed that his point of view is not being taken properly by the national body and he is being treated like a Mr Nobody. He needs space to do his training and prepare himself for this year’s Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games the way he prepared for the Olympics,” Abhinav’s father A S Bindra said in Chandigarh.

Abhinav has defied NRAI in the past as well, openly criticising its functioning, and the latest standoff has been provoked by the body’s insistence on his presence at national level trials.

“He has been asked to undergo trials and he even agreed to it. He came all the way from Germany for some trials on December 18 but to his dismay, the trials were postponed. He has requested that he be exempted from such trials not once but twice. He can’t be harassed like this,” Bindra Senior said.

“His emotional state is very low. He is planning that if ‘I am subjected to such harassment then it’s better to quit then confront’,” he added.

The NRAI, however, dismissed Abhinav’s allegations and said the body never misinformed him about the trial schedule.

“We never told him that trials are on December 18. Actually, he never wants to come to trials in India,” retorted NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia.

Abhinav’s father said the only way out now is to allow the shooter to train the way he wants.

“If the country wants him to compete then the way out is to let him train. He is training with the support of the Sports Ministry. They know his every movement. His international scores should be considered for selection,” he said.

Golf superstar Tiger Woods is reported to have checked into an sex rehabilitation centre at Arizona for treatment.

People magazine reported that Woods, 34, is believed to have joined The Meadows, a clinic which specialises in substance abuse and compulsive disorders such as gambling or sex addiction, around New Year for a period of five weeks.

“He should be out by Valentine’s Day or thereabouts,” a source told the entertainment magazine.

Everyone at the clinic is asked to wear a coloured nametag that corresponds to their addiction, according to entertainment website X17,

“He has been there for a few days since his handlers forced him to enter the programme. They feel that if he blames his cheating on addiction, the public will forgive him,” sources told X17.

“Tiger wants to get back on top.

Tigers Woods was reportedly undergoing intense marriage counseling on Thursday, a day after the golf superstar admitted “transgressions” in his private life.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Woods was holed up at the family home in Florida with his wife Elin as the steady stream of tabloid revelations concerning his alleged affairs showed no sign of abating.

A lawyer for the first woman linked to Woods — Rachel Uchitel — cancelled a Los Angeles press conference citing “unforeseen circumstances” as fresh allegations about the woman and the world number one emerged.

The TMZ.com entertainment news website reported that Uchitel, who has denied an affair, did have a fling with Woods and that the couple exchanged text messages shortly before his car accident last week.

Woods has yet to be seen in public since he crashed his car in strange circumstances in the early morning hours on Friday outside the mansion where he lives with his wife and their two children.

He apologized Wednesday for “transgressions” as a magazine posted what it said was evidence of an extra-marital affair between him and a second woman, cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs.

A third alleged mistress, Las Vegas night club manager Kalika Moquin, told celebrity magazine Us Weekly on Thursday that rumors of an affair between her and Woods were “completely untrue.”

Uchitel was first linked to Woods in a National Enquirer article two days before the golf star’s crash.

She initially dismissed reports of an affair, telling the New York Post: “It’s the most ridiculous story. It’s like they are asking me to comment if there are aliens on earth.”
She also rubbished suggestions she had a secret rendezvous with Woods at a recent tournament in Australia, saying their presence in the country at the same time was a coincidence.

But TMZ.com reported late Thursday that a close business associate of Woods had paid for Uchitel’s trip to Australia and had traveled to Melbourne with her for the tournament.
Woods ended five days of silence on Wednesday after Us Weekly quoted Grubbs as saying she had secretly dated him for 31 months and met him for sex 20 times.

The magazine posted an online recording purported to be Woods leaving a voicemail for Grubbs urging her not to identify herself when calling him because he worried his wife was becoming suspicious.

“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart,” Woods said on his website, but added he did not want to elaborate on his shortcomings in public.

“Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions,” he said, attempting to draw a line under a scandal that has dented his squeaky clean image.