GOLF
Woods shaping up
Tiger Woods is too busy in the gym to find a new swing coach, or even swing a golf club. Woods said Monday his strength has returned from “busting my butt in the gym pretty hard” and he is on schedule to resume competition in December. But he still hasn’t hit a golf ball since he missed the cut at the PGA Championship on Aug. 8, and still doesn’t know when he will. “We’re pretty much past the strength phase now, and I’ve got my strength where I want to have it,” Woods said at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windamere, Fla., where he lived for the first 15 years of his pro career. “Now I just need to get my fast twitch going and get my speed back, and that’s going to take a little bit of time. That’s part of our second phase of training. And that’s coming up now.” Woods had his fifth surgery in 20 years — this time on his back — and failed to win a PGA Tour event for the third time in the last five years. A nagging back injury became progressively worse until Woods chose to have back surgery March 31, forcing him to miss the Masters for the first time and the U.S. Open during a three-month recovery. When he returned, Woods missed the cut twice, had his worst 72-hole finish in a major and withdrew from a World Golf Championship when he jarred his back hopping off a steep slope into the bunker in the final round at Firestone. He didn’t qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs for the second time, both injury related. And he took himself out of consideration as a Ryder Cup pick/ He said his conditioning program is similar to when he returned from reconstructive knee surgery after winning the 2008 U.S. Open, his last major title. Woods fired Sean Foley two weeks after the PGA Championship. He already has had three swing coaches — and four different swings — during his pro career. “Am I looking for a new coach? As of right now, no, I’m not,” Woods said. “Right now I’m just trying to get physically better, stronger, faster, more explosive. … I’m in no hurry to look for one right now. As I said, I’m just focused on what I’m doing.” Woods lost in a playoff last year to Zach Johnson. That was his last top-10 finish.
TENNIS
Final: Swiss vs. French
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka each have Grand Slam singles titles, and Olympic gold together in doubles. Now they’ve got the chance to win Switzerland’s first Davis Cup. Roger Federer carried Switzerland to its first Davis Cup final in 22 years, beating Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the opening reverse singles Sunday for a winning 3-1 lead over Italy and into a Nov. 21-23 decider against France, which beat the defending champion Czech Republic 4-1. Switzerland reached the final only once before, losing to the U.S. in 1992. Federer, who has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, was intrigued to see if the French will use home-team advantage to opt for clay or hard courts, potentially in Lille. The French are setting their sights on a first Davis Cup title since 2001. France booked its place in the final on Saturday. Also on the weekend, the U.S., Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada and Croatia won playoffs to qualify for the 2015 World Group. The World Group playoff losers — Colombia, Israel, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and Uzbekistan — will be relegated to zone group competitions in 2015.
CYCLING
Uniforms unacceptable
Flesh-colored uniforms worn by a Colombian women’s cycling team were “unacceptable,” according to the International Cycling Union president. The uniform, with a flesh-colored section between stomach and thighs, was worn by IDRD-Bogota Humana-San Mateo-Solgar riders at the Tour of Tuscany in Italy over the weekend. UCI President Brian Cookson wrote on his Twitter account that “it is unacceptable by any standard of decency.” Cycling’s governing body said Monday it investigated the issue.
OLF
LR’s Baker advances to round of 32
Little Rock’s Bobby Baker defeated Kenneth Bakst of Riverhead, N.Y. 1 up to advance to the second round at the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport, Calif.
Baker birdied the 389-yard, par-4, 14th hole while Bakst parred the hole to give Baker a two-hole lead. After both players parred the 15th and 16th holes, Bakst birdied No. 17 while Baker made par. Both men made pars on the final hole, which allowed Baker to win the match.
Baker will meet Ron Carter of Monticello, Ind. today in the second round. Carter defeated Richard Marlowe 3 and 2, making birdies on three of his last five holes to win the match. Qualifying medalist Alan Fadel beat Stephen Fox 1 up on Monday in the first round of the U.S. Senior Amateur.
Fadel, 59, a financial adviser from Toledo, Ohio, won on the par-5 18th at Big Canyon after Fox, from Huntington, W. Va., tied it on the par-4 17th. Defending champion Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga., advanced with a 4-and-3 victory over Steven Poulson of North Salt Lake, Utah.
In the second round, Fadel will face Rick Cloninger of Fort Mill, S.C.; Jackson will meet Randal Lewis of Alma, Michigan; and Hanzel will face Emile Vaughan of Pike Road, Alabama. Lewis, the 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, beat 75-year-old Mice Rice, the 2005 Senior Amateur winner, 2 and 1.
- At the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in Deal, N.J. at the Hollywood Golf Club, two-time defending champion Ellen Port advanced to the second round beating Kimberly Briele 6 and 4. Port, 52, from St. Louis, was the qualifying medalist. She has a record four U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles and captained the winning U.S. Curtis Cup team in June. Port won four of the last five holes on the front nine and took Nos. 12, 13 and 14 with pars to finish off her 80th USGA match-play victory. Port will face Martha Leach of Hebron, Ky., in the second round. Leach beat Claudia Pilot of Lake Shore, Minn., 3 and 2. Port beat Leach in the 2011 Women’s Mid-Amateur final.