On the range at the 1996 British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Bob Torrance, one of golf's all-time great swing coaches, heard a strange noise.
He turned to see the young American kid everyone was talking about, firing golf balls farther than some people go on holiday, his club almost breaking the sound barrier in the process.
The sound made by Tiger Woods, then an amateur and just out of his teens, stunned the veteran Scot. But it was the way Woods put everything into his swing that inspired one of Torrance's many memorable lines.
"That kid will be in a wheelchair by the time he is 45," said Torrance, who couldn't believe the incredible pressure being put on his athletic physique.
Woods is 10 years short of his 45th birthday. He is not in a wheelchair but his body does seem to be breaking down at an age when most golfers reach their prime.
The former world No 1 said all the right things when he claimed the injury to his left leg, which made him pull out of The Players Championship after nine holes, wasn't serious, and that he was aiming to play the US Open in June.
But the next few months, with the US Open and then the British Open in July, may well tell us whether he will ever get back to his best.
If things do not improve this summer for golf's once-dominant figure, Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major title wins looks secure.
This week, Nicklaus said he had found watching Woods over recent times difficult because "as talented as Tiger is, and as good a player as he is, for him to not be able to play not only takes away from him but takes away from the game. He has a pretty significant injury, obviously, that is bothering him.
"But I always feel like when you're injured and have the talent he has, you'll figure out a way to play and he'll figure out a way to get it back. He's got a lot more golf in him. I promise you, he's not done."
Nicklaus was written off himself at times.
He won the US Masters and PGA Championship in 1975 at age 35. At 45, he famously won the Masters, his last major victory.
However, he never suffered any real injuries throughout his long career.
For Woods right now, finishing 18 holes would be a success. He was driven away from the Players last Thursday in a car that had been parked in a disabled space.
How appropriate.
This week in golf
European Tour
Darren Clarke doesn’t want his next Ryder Cup appearance to be as vice captain to Jose Maria Olazabal, as the Northern Irishman has his sights set on one last starring role. Clarke, below, won his first tournament in almost three years last week at the Iberdrola Open to move to 88th in the world rankings. He wants to get back into the top 50, which would stake a claim to qualify for the Ryder Cup.
PGA Tour
KJ Choi beat David Toms in a play-off to win The Players Championship at Sawgrass. Toms had spent all four days near the top of the leaderboard, but three-putted the first extra hole, a par three, and Choi got down in par.
World rankings
1. Lee Westwood, England
2. Luke Donald, England
3. Martin Kaymer, Germany
4. Phil Mickelson, US
5. Graeme McDowell, N Ireland
Race To Dubai rankings
Name Nat Prize Money
1 Schwartzel RSA €1,587,333
2 Donald ENG €1,453,725
3 Kaymer GER €1,086,206
4 Hansen DEN €799,531
5 Jiménez ESP €717,356
Volvo World Match Play Championships
Where: Andalucia, Spain When: Today-Sunday
Prize money: €3.4 million (Dh18m)
Defending champion: Ross Fisher
Crowne Plaza Invitational
Where: Fort Worth, Texas
When: Today-Sunday
Prize money: US$6.2 million (Dh23m)
Defending champion: Zach Johnson
ncameron@thenational.ae
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
SPECS
Engine: Supercharged 3.5-litre V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 430Nm
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh450,000
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
RESULT
Arsenal 2
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 45+4'
Eddie Ntkeiah 51'
Portsmouth 0
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
Visa changes give families fresh hope
Foreign workers can sponsor family members based solely on their income
Male residents employed in the UAE can sponsor immediate family members, such as wife and children, subject to conditions that include a minimum salary of Dh 4,000 or Dh 3,000 plus accommodation.
Attested original marriage certificate, birth certificate of the child, ejari or rental contract, labour contract, salary certificate must be submitted to the government authorised typing centre to complete the sponsorship process
In Abu Dhabi, a woman can sponsor her husband and children if she holds a residence permit stating she is an engineer, teacher, doctor, nurse or any profession related to the medical sector and her monthly salary is at least Dh 10,000 or Dh 8,000 plus accommodation.
In Dubai, if a woman is not employed in the above categories she can get approval to sponsor her family if her monthly salary is more than Dh 10,000 and with a special permission from the Department of Naturalization and Residency Dubai.
To sponsor parents, a worker should earn Dh20,000 or Dh19,000 a month, plus a two-bedroom accommodation
What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
