Golf
TIGER WOODS, OTHERS RAISE US$20 MILLION FOR CHARITY
Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning held off a late challenge to beat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady 1-up in a charity golf match in Florida on Sunday (May 24) that raised US$20 million (S$28.5 million) for Covid-19 relief efforts.
Woods, a 15-time Major champion, and two-time Super Bowl winner Manning jumped out to a three-hole lead on the front nine at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound.
While Woods’ booming drives and Manning’s solid putting saw the pair dominate the early holes, five-time Major winner Mickelson and Brady won the 11th and 14th to shave the lead to one.
However, they were unable to force extra holes after Woods delivered a dagger putt on the 18th as darkness descended on his home course.
The shot of the day came from Brady on the seventh when he holed out from the fairway just after National Basketball Association great Charles Barkley, working as a commentator, had been giving the quarterback a hard time for his ice cold start.
“Shut your mouth, Chuck,” Brady said with a smile.
But Brady, who joined Tampa Bay in March after 20 years with New England, had little time to revel in the moment.
After giving a short speech where he told his wife and kids he loved them, the six-time Super Bowl winner then split the seat of his pants while retrieving the ball from the cup.
Woods, who lost to Mickelson in a US$9 million winner-take-all challenge in 2018, congratulated Manning and Brady for their performance in the team matchplay event, dubbed The Match: Champions for Charity.
“We all came together and were able to raise US$20 million for those that have been so severely affected,” Woods said.
“I take my hat off to Tom and Peyton. This is our arena, this is what we do for a living. I couldn’t imagine going on the field and do what they do,” he added with a laugh.
The competition comes 21/2 weeks before the PGA Tour plans to resume its season on June 11 at Colonial.
Woods last competed in February and then withdrew from a number of tournaments with a back injury before the PGA Tour decided to cancel a slew of events because of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
He has said he is healthy and will be ready to go when the Tour resumes.
Mickelson finished third in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February and missed the cut in his next two starts.
Manning, who played for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, retired in 2016 as the National Football League’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns and yards and is the only five-time winner of the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
–Reuters
In the same year the FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a Thai golfer named after world soccer’s governing body will make his major championship debut at the Masters.
Fifa Laopakdee’s father, a devoted soccer fan, named his son after FIFA when he was born and that name will be on the tee sheet when the year’s first major gets underway this week at Augusta National.
“My dad is a huge soccer fan, and he was choosing between Fifa from FIFA World Cup and Uefa from UEFA Champions League,” Laopakdee said Monday. “So luckily it ends up with at Fifa.”
Laopakdee earned his Masters invitation by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai last October, becoming the first Thai player to claim the title.
He entered the final round six strokes off the lead, birdied the 17th and 18th holes to force a playoff, then birdied all three playoff holes to win — securing spots in this year’s Masters and British Open.
Laopakdee arrived at Augusta National this week as the first amateur representing Thailand to compete in the Masters, and was greeted by a locker in the club’s new Player Services Building wedged between those of five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods and two-time major winner Bryson DeChambeau.
“To be walking into the locker room today, and my locker is between Tiger and Bryson. That’s a lot to soak in,” he said. “I definitely took a picture of that.”
-Reuters
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Tiger Woods was surprised that he was being handcuffed after crashing his SUV last week in Florida, per body camera footage released Thursday.
“I’m being arrested?” Woods asked of Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar, who conducted a sobriety test on him.
“I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Levenar told the 15-time major champion.
The footage also shows deputies removing two pills from Woods’ pocket.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer removed the pills, which are a painkiller. Authorities later confirmed that Woods had hydrocodone.
Woods contends that he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on Jupiter Island, Fla.
The bodycam footage also shows Woods informing a police officer that he was on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump shortly after his crash.
“Thank you so much. All right. You got it. Bye,” Woods said as he walked over to an officer who had beckoned him back to the crash scene, informing them that “I was just talking to the president.”
Woods is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of the President’s oldest child, Donald Trump Jr.
On Thursday night, President Trump announced during a Fox News interview that Woods would not be playing in this year’s Masters, something that Woods had not yet announced publicly.
When asked about Woods’ crash, Trump said Woods was a “very close friend, saying, “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. There was an accident, and that’s all I know. He’s an amazing person, amazing man, but some difficulty.”
Trump previously told Reuters that Woods seeking treatment was “a good thing” and he believed the golfer was “going to be terrific.”
The release of the bodycam footage comes one day after Woods was granted a request by a Florida judge to leave the United States to enter a comprehensive inpatient treatment facility as he faces misdemeanor driving under the influence charges.
Martin County Court Judge Darren Steele granted the motion to travel submitted by Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, who cited the 50-year-old golf superstar’s need for an “intensive, highly individualized and medically integrated program” away from media and public scrutiny.
Woods released a public statement on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty in a Florida court to charges of misdemeanor driving under the influence with property damage.
The arrest affidavit stated a breathalyzer test showed no signs of alcohol, but that Woods refused a urinalysis test for other drugs.
The affidavit stated Woods was “sweating profusely,” his movements were “lethargic and slow,” his eyes were “bloodshot and glassy,” his pupils were “extremely dilated” and that during the field sobriety exercises, Woods was “limping and stumbling to the right.”
-Reuters
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The inaugural edition of the Nigeria Maritime Golf Challenge will tee off on Thursday at the prestigious Ikoyi Club 1938 Golf Course, bringing together 81 golfers from across the country in celebration of World Maritime Day.
Organised by QUBES LLC, the one-day tournament is designed to commemorate the annual global observance on September 25 under the theme “Our Ocean, Our Obligation, Our Opportunity.”
Chief Executive Officer of QUBES LLC, Lanre Bayewu, told journalists ahead of the event that the competition aims to showcase Nigeria’s maritime industry through sport while fostering greater networking opportunities within the sector.
“The tournament structure accommodates golfers of various skill levels and ensures broad participation from both maritime industry professionals and the wider golfing community,” Bayewu said.
The championship will feature seven competitive categories, including Longest Drive, Nearest Pin (male and female), Female Winners, Veterans, General Category Winner Net, Maritime Category Winner, and Overall Best Gross. Winners will go home with trophies and cash prizes.
Top executives and senior management of Nigeria’s leading maritime agencies, including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, are expected to attend as special guests.
According to Bayewu, the event represents a strategic initiative to project the Nigerian maritime industry onto both global and sporting stages, while also strengthening professional relationships across the community.
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