1. Art and Diseño

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015
S P ORTS
Tiger proves is can still draw a crowd
SCOTTSDALE: By the time Tiger Woods
made the turn in the opening round of
a year that means so much for so many
reasons, he had already stubbed one
chip and bladed another. Things had
gotten so bad that he twice took to
using the putter from well off the green,
lest he mess up his day even more.
He hadn’t given up, though, and neither had the fans, who swarmed loudly
around the Phoenix Open in record
numbers. As he walked the gauntlet
between the nines, they pleaded with
Woods to do something, anything, to
make both his day and theirs a little better.
“You got this, Tiger!” one yelled. “Go
get ‘em on the back nine!” another
shouted out.
Two brilliant shots that brought back
memories of the Tiger of old helped
Woods do just that Thursday. They also
helped him avert the kind of disaster
that might have been felt by the Woods
camp long after the PGA Tour leaves the
Arizona desert.
The 2-over 73 wasn’t exactly what
Woods had in mind when he decided to
begin his year with a trip to a tournament he hasn’t played in 14 years. Not
on an overcast day where there were
low scores to be had on TPC Scottsdale.
But it could have been worse, much
worse. And for that Woods could be
happy, despite a short game that looked
more like it belonged to a tourist playing the course, not the greatest player
of his era.
If he needed something to convince
himself he could still play after injuries
and yet another swing change, he could
hang his hat on playing the last six
holes in 3-under par.
“It’s not the first time I have gone
through this,” Woods said. “It takes time.
It’s just a frustrating thing where I just
need to get through competitive
rounds. I need to get rounds under my
belt and get a feel for it.” It’s also not the
first time Woods has expressed similar
thoughts. Anyone who has followed
Woods in recent years has heard him say
the same kind of things about trusting
his swing, and working his way through
the rust, but it’s now been a long seven
years since he last won a major championship.
And whether Woods will allow himself to believe it or not, his latest problems might be tougher to fix than a
missing tooth. Driving the ball sideways
is one thing, and Woods did hit it wayward a few times Thursday in only his
second competitive tournament in six
months. But resorting to hit chips with a
4-iron because you don’t trust yourself
with a wedge in hand is almost unheard
of in the top echelon of professional
golf. “I’m just having a hard time finding
the bottom,” Woods said. “Because of my
old pattern, I was so steep on it, that I
have a new grind on my wedge and
sometimes it’s hard to trust. This is a
similar grind I used to use back in the
early 2000s, but it’s a different grind.
Some of my shots were into the green
with tight pins, and either I’ll flop it or
bump it, one of the two. I chose to
bump it.” Got that? There will be a quiz
at the Masters, where tentative chippers
don’t last long around tightly mown collection areas and undulating greens.
If this was an unusual place for
Woods to begin his season, it wasn’t
altogether unfamiliar. He was here
under much different circumstances in
2001, where he was coming off three
major championship wins in a row and
getting ready to go for the Tiger Slam in
the Masters.
He opened with a 65 that year, but
that wasn’t the big story. It came in the
second round when a remarkable streak
of shooting par or better over 52
straight rounds came to an end when
Woods struggled to a 73.
Few believed what they saw that day,
and Woods would go on to win the
Masters for his fourth straight major.
He’s now won 14 of them, the last coming at Torrey Pines in 2008.
Contrast that to this year when the
73 marked the fifth consecutive round
on the PGA Tour that Woods hasn’t broken par. It was also the first time he
opened a year with a score over par
since turning pro nearly two decades
ago.
An iron shot to tap-in eagle on the
par-5 13th might give him some hope of
better times ahead. So will the drive to
20 feet on the par-4 17th hole.
But on this day the only thing resembling the Tiger Woods of old were the
huge galleries following him at all times,
on a day when an estimated record
crowd of 118,461 came out to watch his
season debut. If nothing else, Tiger
Woods still knows how to draw a
crowd.—AP
Juve spurn chance
for nine-point lead
GERMANY: Bremen’s Theodor Gebre Selassie (left) and Berlin’s Nico Schulz challenge
for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match. —AP
Di Santos double
lifts Bremen
BERLIN: Argentina striker Franco di Santos
marked his return from injury with both
goals as Werder Bremen climbed out of the
relegation places in yesterday’s 2-0 win
over Hertha Berlin.
The ex-Chelsea and Wigan forward, who
missed the final few league games of 2014
with a knee injury, produced two clinical
strikes either side of half-time to give
Werder the three points which lifted them
from 16th to 12th.
Defeat at Bremen drops Hertha to 15th
and just above the relegation zone, but
things remain tight at the foot of the table
with just three points separating the bottom six teams.
On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund
slipped back to the bottom for the first
time since November despite picking up a
point in their goalless draw at fellow
Champions League side Bayer Leverkusen’s
BayArena. “That was an important point. I
am happy, we’re within striking distance (of
mid-table),” said Dortmund coach Jurgen
Klopp, whose side are enduring their worst
start to a league season in 30 years. “I can’t
preach that we are in a relegation battle
and demand champagne football.”
Schalke 04’s star striker Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar will miss Tuesday’s Bundesliga
clash at leaders Bayern Munich after being
sent off in their 1-0 league win over
Hanover 96.
‘The Hunter’, who has claimed seven
league goals this season, was shown a
straight red for hacking down Hanover’s
Manuel Schmiedebach five minutes from
time.
The Royal Blues went ahead at the
Veltins Arena when midfielder Marco
Hoeger slotted his shot past Hanover’s
Germany goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler
with 32 minutes gone.
The win lifted Di Matteo’s Schalke, who
face holders Real Madrid in the last 16 of
the Champions League next month, up to
fourth in the table.
Pep Guardiola’s Bayern had their lead
cut to eight points on Friday when they suffered a shock 4-1 hammering at secondplaced VfL Wolfsburg as the Bundesliga
resumed after the winter break.
Borussia Moenchengladbach went third
in the league on Saturday after Patrick
Herrmann netted their second-half goal in
a 1-0 win over VfB Stuttgart, who dropped
to second from bottom.
Herrmann drilled home Branimir
Hrgota’s swirling cross 20 minutes from
time to move Lucien Favre’s side up behind
leaders Bayern and VfL Wolfsburg.
Freiburg’s 4-1 win over Frankfurt featured a second-half hat-trick from exBayern striker Nils Petersen, who came off
the bench to grab the points for Freiburg
which lifted them to 14th and put
Dortmund bottom. Cologne pulled away
from the relegation zone and up to tenth
with a 2-0 win at strugglers Hamburg, who
dropped into the bottom three.
Cologne picked up their fifth away win,
to match Bayern’s tally on the road as midfielder Marcel Risse scored both secondhalf goals.
Mid-table Mainz are 11th after romping
to a 5-0 win over Paderborn as midfielder
Yunus Malli scored twice and set up their
third.—AFP
German League Results/Standings
Werder Bremen 2 (Di Santio 43, 69) Hertha Berlin 0.
Playing later
Augsburg v Hoffenheim
Played Saturday
Schalke 1 (Hoeger 32) Hanover 96 0; Mainz 05 5 (Malli 6, 46, de Blasis 69, Allagui 82, Geis 87-pen)
Paderborn 0; Freiburg 4 (Darida 62-pen, Petersen 64, 70, 88) Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Russ 1); VfB Stuttgart 0
Bor. Moenchengladbach 1 (Herrmann 71); Hamburg 0 Cologne 2 (Risse 62, 78); Bayer Leverkusen 0
Borussia Dortmund 0.
German league table after yesterday afternoon’s match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals
against, points):
Bayern Munich
Wolfsburg
Moenchengladbach
Schalke
Bayer Leverkusen
Augsburg
Hoffenheim
Hanover
Eintracht
Cologne
Mainz
Werder Bremen
Paderborn
Freiburg
Hertha Berlin
Hamburg
Stuttgart
Dortmund
18
18
18
18
18
17
17
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
14
11
8
9
7
9
7
7
6
6
4
5
4
3
5
4
4
4
3
4
6
3
8
0
5
3
5
4
9
5
7
9
3
5
5
4
1
3
4
6
3
8
5
8
7
8
5
8
7
6
10
9
9
10
42
37
26
29
28
22
29
21
35
19
24
28
21
21
24
9
20
18
8
18
16
21
20
21
25
27
38
23
23
39
31
26
37
21
33
26
45
37
30
30
29
27
26
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
18
17
17
16
MILAN: Juventus spurned the chance to go nine
points clear of title challengers Roma in a scoreless draw away to Udinese yesterday, as Napoli
crept closer to second place in Serie A.
On a day of several surprises in Italy’s top
flight, Juve failed to capitalise after Roma’s
fourth consecutive draw on Saturday as Udinese
held on to end a six-game losing streak to the
Turin giants to leave them seven points in front
of Roma.
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri lamented his side’s poor first-half display, but admitted
they were ultimately lucky to escape with a
point.
“In the first half we played badly, gave possession away far too often and they put up a wall
in defence and tried to hit us on the counterattack,” he told Sky Sport.
“There was improvement in the second half
but it wasn’t easy because Udinese were playing
with a lot of intensity. It was a fair result because
we also risked losing this game.”
Rafael Benitez’s Napoli held on for a precious
2-1 win at Chievo to finish the weekend as the
only top-five side to take all three points, tightening their grip on third place to now sit just
four behind Roma, who were held 1-1 by Empoli
on Saturday.
Both Sampdoria and Lazio saw their respective bids for a third-place finish dented by
respective defeats to Torino and Cesena. Samuel
Eto’o’s debut for Sampdoria, the Cameroonian
replacing Eder on 71 minutes, ended in a chastening 5-1 defeat away to Torino, with former
Juventus striker Fabio Quagliarella notably hitting a hat-trick to send Giampiero Ventura’s side
up to ninth in the table.
Humbled Sampdoria coach Sinisa Mihajlovic
told Sky Sport: “I want to say sorry to the fans, I
hold my hands up for this terrible performance
today. I’m the one who is responsible.
“But the players should be taking a long hard
look at themselves. It was embarrassing but... I
would always prefer to lose 5-1 once than five
games 1-0. “I can only take my hat off to Ventura
and to his team. They were superior on all
fronts.”
Samp’s slip proved costly, especially in the
light of Napoli’s 2-1 away win over Chievo which
tightened their grip on the last Champions
League qualifying position.
Manolo Gabbiadini helped give the visitors
an 18th minute lead when his shot came off the
head of Bostjan Cesar in comical fashion to finish
in the back of the net.
After Miguel Britos scored an own goal for
Napoli to level the score seven minutes later,
Gabbiadini-signed from Sampdoria two months
ago-rescued the points with a 62nd minute winner.
“It’s our third win in a row, the team is growing in confidence,” said Benitez. “But we have to
keep on focusing on just one game at a time and
then see where it takes us.”
Lazio travelled to struggling Cesena looking
for a second consecutive win after last week’s 21 defeat of Milan, but Andre Defrel put the hosts
in front on the hour and Danilo Cataldi’s own
goal doubled the score in the 77th minute.
Miroslav Klose reduced arrears for Lazio three
minutes from time but Cesena held on to end a
previous four-game losing streak to the
Biancocelesti.
Elsewhere, Paulo Dybala and Andrea Belotti
struck one apiece in either half to secure a 2-1
home win over Verona, who hit an early opener
through Panagiotis Tachtsidis, to move up to
seventh place, nine points off third.
Atalanta moved five points clear of Chievo in
the relegation zone thanks to a 2-1 home win
over Gianfranco Zola’s on-form Cagliari, with
Mauricio Pinillo hitting an injury-time winner.
Earlier, Inter Milan’s Champions League qualification hopes were kept in check by a 3-1 defeat
away to Sassuolo when both sides finished with
10 men.
Frustrated Inter coach Roberto Mancini told
ITALY: Juventus’ Martin Caceres (right) and Udinese’s Cyril Thereau, challenge for the ball during the Serie A soccer match at the Friuli Stadium in Udine. —AP
Inter Channel: “It’s clear we’re making stupid
errors. “We let them score two great goals, but
we could have avoided at least the first one. We
have to knuckle down. I’m sorry for the lads and
the fans but we’ll do everything to get out of
this.” Milan, who sit 12th, can move several
places up the table with a home win in Sunday’s
late game against basement side Parma.—AFP
Italian League Results/Standings
Sassuolo 3 (Zaza 17, Sansone 29, Berardi 90+3-pen) Inter Milan 1 (Icardi 83); Atalanta 2 (Biava 18, Pinilla 90+4)
Cagliari 1 (Dessena 44) ; Cesena 2 (Defrel 60, Cataldi 77-og) Lazio 1 (Klose 87); Chievo 1 (Britos 25) Napoli 2 (Cesar 18og, Gabbiadini 62); Palermo 2 (Dybala 18, Belotti 79) Verona 1 (Tachtsidis 8); Torino 5 (Quagliarella 16, 29-pen, 65,
Amauri 75, Peres 90+3) Sampdoria 1 (Obiang 77); Udinese 0 Juventus 0.
Playing later
Milan v Parma
Played Saturday
Genoa 1 (Tatarusanu 14-og) Fiorentina 1 (Rodriguez 54); Roma 1 (Maicon 57) Empoli 1 (Maccarone 39-pen).
Italian Serie A table after yesterday’s early game (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Juventus
Roma
Napoli
Lazio
Sampdoria
Fiorentina
Palermo
Genoa
Torino
Sassuolo
Udinese
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
15
12
11
10
8
8
7
7
7
6
7
5
7
6
4
10
8
9
8
7
10
7
1
2
4
7
3
5
5
6
7
5
7
44
34
38
37
27
29
34
29
22
27
25
9
16
26
25
23
20
33
26
22
29
27
50
43
39
34
34
32
30
29
28
28
28
AC Milan
20
6
8
6 28 25 26
Inter Milan
21
6
8
7 30 29 26
Verona
21
6
6
9 23 34 24
Atalanta
21
5
8
8 17 26 23
Empoli
21
3
11
7 19 26 20
Cagliari
21
4
7 10 28 40 19
Chievo
21
4
6 11 15 26 18
Cesena
21
3
6 12 21 41 15
Parma
20
3
1 16 19 43 9
Note: Parma deducted one point for failing to pay player salaries.
Blend of good, bad in Chelsea’s Costa
LONDON: When football historians tell the story
of the hurricane that battered England in the
form of Chelsea forward Diego Costa, they might
pinpoint this week as the moment when admiration started to sour into disdain.
By stamping on the ankle of Liverpool’s Emre
Can, Costa took ownership of the Premier
League’s unofficial title of No. 1 Bad Boy that Luis
Suarez vacated when he started afresh with
Barcelona this season. As Suarez showed in
three-plus years of thick and thin at Liverpool,
when he was both adored and pilloried, often
rightly so, a bad reputation can become a heavy
load to bear, for both a player and his team. Life
both on and off the pitch will change - by how
much will depend partly on his behavior going
forward - for Costa when he returns in two
weeks from the three-match ban handed down
Friday that will keep the Premier League top
scorer from one of the pivotal games this season: Chelsea against title rival Manchester City
on Saturday.
Having seen how the Brazil-born, street-hardened striker pulled the wool over the eyes of
their colleague Michael Oliver, who missed the
stamp that cameras caught, referees will be even
more acutely aware that Costa needs watching.
More than ever, the scrutiny will be not on
the beauty of his football, but on his ugly tricks
and brittle temperament, too. To try to make his
self-destructive impulses boil again, opposing
fans and players can be counted on to give
Costa an even more torrid time.
The “elephant man” chants directed at Costa
by Liverpool fans could give way to spikier
taunts. Opposing players will be encouraged
and prepared to give as rough as they get from
the uncompromising, crafty and physical Spain
international.—AP