“Golf-Woods unsure when he will play again” plus 3 more

Golf-Woods unsure when he will play again
BP 'may stem oil with golf balls'
WATCH: Oil Fix: Golf Balls and Shredded Tires
Golf show recognizes Evesham pro

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Golf-Woods unsure when he will play again

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:05 PM PDT

NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) - Tiger Woods is unsure when he will play golf again after a painful neck injury forced him to quit the Players Championship in Florida on Sunday.

The world number one said he would undergo scans this week to determine the full extent of the problem.

"A lot is up in the air still, which I don't like," Woods told a news conference in Pennsylvania on Monday.

"I still need to go home and get a picture of this and see what's going on."

The American said he had been troubled by neck pain since returning from self-imposed exile at last month's U.S. Masters but added it was not related to the car crash outside his home last year that led to revelations about his infidelities.

"Zero connection. Absolutely zero," said Woods. "My neck started to bother me when I really started to practice a lot."

Woods finished tied fourth on his return from a five-month absence at Augusta National but has struggled since, missing the cut at the Quail Hollow Championship in North Carolina before pulling out during his final round at Sawgrass on Sunday.

"I can deal with the pain but once it locked up I couldn't move back or through. I couldn't actually turn, going back, and I couldn't turn coming through," he said.

"For me not to play all 18 holes, that was as angry and as frustrated as I've been in a long time.

MORE TREATMENT

"I'm going to start getting more treatment. I'll have an MRI scan on it and see exactly what's going on, why it's behaving the way it's behaving."

Woods said he had planned to make his next appearance at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio next month, an event he won last year, then head to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open but his plans were now dependent on the test results.

"It actually started bugging me two weeks before the Masters and it was just on and off. I thought it was just sore and no big deal," he said.

"But as I kept playing, kept practising, it never got better. It actually was getting worse and now I'm at a point where I just can't go on any more."

It is the latest setback for Woods who has struggled with his knees in recent seasons and is still facing intense scrutiny over his extra-marital affairs.

"There's a lot of things going on in my life and I'm just trying to get everything in a harmonious spot and that's not easy to do," said the 14-times major winner.

"I'm also trying to make life changes as well and trying to do that under the microscope of everyone asking me and watching everything I do doesn't make it easy."

(Reporting by Julian Linden, editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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BP 'may stem oil with golf balls'

Posted: 10 May 2010 04:15 AM PDT

BP officials desperate to stem a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are considering stuffing the well with golf balls and tyres, it was revealed.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the so-called "junk shot" of debris was one option after previous attempts to stem the flow failed.

A growing slick from the BP-leased rig is threatening an environmental disaster along US coasts.

Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day are flowing into the sea.

Mr Suttles said it may be possible to stem the flow by blocking the well's failed blowout preventer.

"We have some pipe work on the blowout preventer, and if we can open certain valves on that we could inject basically just rubber and other type of material into [it] to plug it up, not much different to the way you might plug up a toilet," he said.

Admiral Thad Allen of the US Coast Guard said it could plug the main leak.

"They're going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tyres, golf balls and things like that, and under very high pressure shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak," he told CBS television.

However, experts have warned that any further damage to the blowout preventer - a huge valve system meant to turn the oil off - could see it shooting out at 12 times the current rate.

In other developments, a BP official told the Associated Press news agency on Monday that the company had received US government approval to continuously pump dispersant chemicals underwater.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said engineers began pumping dispersant on the site on Monday morning.

Thousands of gallons of dispersant have been dropped over oil on the surface, but have not been tried at such depths before.

Scientists and fishermen have expressed concern that the chemicals could kill marine life.

BP revealed on Monday that the oil spill had cost the company $350m (£233m) so far.

It did not speculate on the final bill, which many analysts expect to run into tens of billions of dollars.

Efforts thwarted

The Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sank following an explosion last month.

The resulting slick has so far thwarted all efforts by BP and US officials to bring it under control.

A 98-tonne concrete-and-steel funnel lowered 5,000ft (1,500m) to the seabed had been BP's best hope to contain the main leak while it tried to stop it altogether by drilling relief wells nearby.

But a build-up of gas hydrates - crystalline water-based solids resembling ice - inside the funnel blocked the exit at the top, and it had to be put aside on Saturday.

Mr Suttles said other options being discussed were to make a smaller containment dome or to tap into the broken riser pipe and take the oil directly to the surface.

Presidential review

The broken pipe is almost a mile (1.6 km) down on the ocean floor with little visibility for engineers using remotely controlled vehicles.

Although the Deepwater Horizon was operated by Transocean, BP is responsible for the clean-up.

The slick has so far covered about 2,000 sq miles (5,200 sq km).

US President Barack Obama is due to meet senior officials at the White House on Monday to review BP's efforts.

A sheen from the edge of the slick is surrounding island nature reserves off Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast.

The low-lying region contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is an important migratory stop for many species of rare birds.

Louisiana's fishing industry has ground to a halt in certain areas due to health concerns about polluted fish.

Booms and bundles of absorbent material have been laid along shorelines to try to protect them.

Teams are also filling sandbags which the Louisiana National Guard will airlift on Monday to five spots along a threatened stretch of coastline.

The first two oiled birds rescued from the spill have been cleaned and were due to be released back into the wild later in the day.

The birds - a gannet and a pelican - were to be freed at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.

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WATCH: Oil Fix: Golf Balls and Shredded Tires

Posted: 10 May 2010 05:51 AM PDT

KKK Flier Appears in School Locker

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Golf show recognizes Evesham pro

Posted: 10 May 2010 01:28 PM PDT

Frank Hesson, the director of instruction at Indian Spring Country Club in Evesham for the past four years, found himself in Florida on Monday -- live on the Golf Channel.

It was an experience he won't soon forget.

As part of PGA Free Lesson Month, which has been held every May for the past 12 years, Hesson gave 137 free lessons in 2009. He was recognized on the network show "The Golf Fix" with Michael Breed for giving the most among the 5,200 PGA professionals who participated.

"It was an experience of a lifetime. To be on national television is quite a thrill," said Hesson, who grew up in Marlton and is a 1993 Cherokee High School graduate.

"It was neat to talk to Michael Breed, a Top 100 instructor. He's someone I aspire to be like. It was good to feel his energy."

The program is designed to reach new golfers and help existing golfers improve their game with free, 10-minute lessons by participating PGA and LPGA professionals across the country.

Since the PGA of America and Golf Digest jointly launched the campaign in 1998, more than 1,131,000 free lessons have been given. Last year, nearly 5,241 PGA/LPGA professionals nationwide gave more than 80,075 free lessons to consumers.

"As a PGA Professional, these free lessons give us tons of credibility," Hesson said. "We are able to help someone in a short time span, for free, and cure their slice or fix a problem quickly."

Hesson, 36, and a 16-year golf professional, said he was on air for about three to four minutes, part of the time being part of the "Two-Minute Drill" segment. He went into the production meeting held several hours before the show, too.

"It was great, really cool to see how the Golf Channel works, to see where it's at and to be part of the show," Hesson said.

Breed even gave Hesson a good catch phrase to start using -- Come get a lesson from Hesson.

"He wondered why I never used it," Hesson said.

"My phone blew up. My e-mails blew up. Now everyone wants a lesson from Hesson. He said it was a perfect match and my phone has been ringing off the hook. Hopefully we can beat the numbers from last year and make it an annual thing to get back down there."

Reach Kevin Minnick at kminnick@courierpostonline.com

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