FIA cancels 2008 McLaren hearing

The FIA has announced that the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) has agreed to cancel next year's hearing into the report on McLaren’s 2008 car. The meeting had been scheduled to take place on February 14, 2008.

Last week, McLaren admitted that leaked Ferrari data had been more widely disseminated within the team than they had previously thought and publicly apologised. In the statement, the squad also promised to suspend development of systems on their 2008 machine that might have been inspired by the Italian team’s confidential information.

As a result, FIA President Max Mosley asked members of the WMSC for their consent to cancel the hearing and draw a line under the matter.

Grid girl with the FIA flag. Formula One World Championship, Rd 13, Italian Grand Prix, Race, Monza, Italy, Sunday 9 September 2007.  World © Sutton
by facestar 2007. 12. 20. 10:32

The FIFA World Player Gala: LIVE!

On the evening of Monday 17 December, the FIFA World Player of the Year 2007 will be crowned. At the end of the gala in Zurich, we will discover the names of the two winners who have been selected by the coaches and captains of every national football team around the world. Everyone is curious to find out whether Kaka, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, and Cristiane, Marta or Birgit Prinz have won the ultimate accolade. Be among the first to know by following the event on FIFA.com.

Can there be any greater honour that being voted best player in the world by your contemporaries? Surely not, which is why the FIFA World Player Gala 2007 is one of the most hotly anticipated events of the year. As you would expect, FIFA.com will be on hand again this year to provide the most complete coverage of the proceedings.

The real innovation this year is that you will be able to follow the gala in full and for free on live video, direct from the Zurich Opera House and beginning at 20:00 CET. The broadcast will last for 52 minutes, during which time you will see the stars, the action and highlights from the year, all with a musical soundtrack which builds up to the announcement of the winners. And if this still is not enough, then during the show you can read articles all about the nominees, the winners of the Fair Play award and the FIFA President.

Interviews, red carpet and reactions
Before the curtain is raised, you can get into gala mood by reading portraits of the six nominees and articles about the previous winners, before the press conference with the finalists is shown live on video at 16:00 (CET). The conference is often an emotional event - who can forget Marta's tears of joy three years ago or the warm embrace shared by Samuel Eto'o, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry, who have since become team-mates, in 2005?

Still not sated? Video interviews with the finalists will be broadcast throughout the day and bulletins sent from the "red carpet" right up until the start of the ceremony. Galleries will provide a photographic record of the evening, while the players' reactions will be sent straight from the mixed zone as soon as the announcements have been made.

As if that were not enough, there are screen-savers ready to be downloaded which will be updated after the event. Stay tuned - the show is about to begin!

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:59

Milan and Urawa light up Yokohama

Despite a glowing winter sun, there was a real chill in the air as the fans took their places at Yokohama's International Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The good news was that temperatures were predicted to rise as the last day of action unfolded at the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007.

By the time Urawa Red Diamonds and Etoile Sportive du Sahel emerged to contest the match for third place, the weather had indeed improved slightly. As for the game itself, the home side received warm encouragement from their exuberant supporters as they took on the African champions.

The two sides played out an open encounter that could have swung either way and eventually finished 2-2, and it was the Reds who emerged victorious 4-2 on penalties.

That represented the best ever placing for an Asian team in the competition and, having scored twice, Urawa's Brazilian striker Washington could bid farewell to the Land of the Rising Sun with the feeling that his work was done.

"We're pleased, it's the best result we could have hoped for," he explained after the match. "Of course we dreamed of lifting the trophy in front of our fans, but it makes sense that Milan and Boca made it to the final.

"It makes me happy to say goodbye to Urawa's extraordinary supporters with this brace. That's what I hoped for and I'm very emotional this evening. I'd like to thank everyone and I'll never forget the people of Urawa." His parting homage was worthy of the FIFA Fair Play award itself, which appropriately enough went to the Japanese side.

Milan and Kaka on top of the world
There was not a free seat to be had as the closing ceremony then thrilled the crowd ahead of the main event. At the same time, banners honouring Milan and Boca Juniors were unfurled with pride while those praising Urawa and Etoile were taken down.

The final itself had been billed as a rematch of the 2003 Intercontinental (Toyota) Cup, so it was supremely fitting that the two rivals were locked at a goal apiece at half-time. Four years ago, Matias Donnet had levelled after Jon Dahl Tomasson put the Italians in front, and this time Filippo Inzaghi struck first on 21 minutes, only for Rodrigo Palacio to respond two minutes later.

The comparisons ended there, however, and Milan were simply too strong for the Xeneizesafter the restart. Alessandro Nesta, Kaka and Inzaghi all found the back of the net in the second half to give the Rossoneria 4-2 victory, the heaviest in FIFA Club World Cup final history.

The Japanese night began to fill with the chants of the Milanese tifosi, but for Kaka there was more success to come. Having helped his team lift the trophy, the Brazilian playmaker was awarded the tournament's Golden Ball, beating team-mate Clarence Seedorf and Boca's Palacio to the honour. There could have been no better way to underline Milan's dominance in the competition.

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:55

Team International captain Annika Sorenstam (SWE) retained her status as the top all-time Lexus Cup points leader when she claimed a dominating 4&3 victory in singles action over Team Asia's Candie Kung (TWN) on Sunday. Kung took the lead from Sorenstam earlier in the week with a 3&2 win in her foursome match over, coincidentally, Sorenstam and Scotland's Catriona Matthew. Kung and partner Ayako Uehara (JAP) halved their four-ball match the following day, while Sorenstam and Matthew fell 1 down in their match against Team Asia captain Se Ri Pak (KOR) and In-Kyung Kim (KOR). Entering Sunday's first singles match with nearly identical Lexus Cup records, Sorenstam finished off her third year as Team International captain with a win, giving her an all-time Lexus Cup record of 6-2-1 (6 ½ points overall), and Kung a record of 5-2-2 (6 points overall).

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:52

Amy Hung, the Survivor Celebration campaign and the Marathon of Miracles (MOM) Foundation have joined forces to help defeat breast cancer. Hung, an LPGA Tour member since 2004, has become the spokeswoman for the Survivor Celebration campaign and the MOM Foundation in an effort to urge more women to get regular breast exams. The 27-year-old will also promote a new product from Daphne's Headcovers—a Survivor Celebration Sponsor—and the Pink Scorecard Days program, which helps to raise money for breast cancer support during normal rounds of golf.

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:49

It has been a trend for LPGA Tour rookies to go undefeated in Lexus Cup competition (Paula Creamer, 2005; Seon Hwa Lee 2006), and 2007 was no exception. In-Kyung Kim (KOR) capped off a perfect stretch in match play with a 2&1 win over Team International's Stacy Prammansudh on Sunday. Earlier in the week, Kim teamed with Team Asia captain Se Ri Pak (KOR), and the duo won both their foursome match against Morgan Pressel (USA) and Stacy Prammanasudh (USA), 2&1, and their four-ball match against Team International captain Annika Sorenstam (SWE) and Catriona Matthew (SCO), 1 up.

Also concluding her rookie season on Tour was Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Angela Park (BRA),

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:48
Handa Cup To Benefit Charity In Honor of Legends Tour Member
By Lisa D. Mickey

Click here to learn more about Bobbi Salmon.>>
It crossed her mind that she was a hypochondriac. After all, Legends Tour player Bobbi Salmon couldn't understand the rashes, fatigue or the odd muscle pains she was suddenly experiencing. And she wondered about all of the “crazy symptoms” that had suddenly cropped up, affecting her ability to spend hours each day on the teaching tee with students or even to be able to play the game she loves.

Even after a physician finally diagnosed that she had scleroderma in 2003, the 24-year veteran of women's professional golf was still in the dark.

“I had never heard of it,” said Salmon, a longtime LPGA Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) and PGA of America member who has competed on the Legends Tour. “I thought I could just take a pill and get rid of it.”

Unfortunately, the autoimmune disease affects some 300,000 Americans. In the same family as lupus, the condition causes the body to produce too much collagen, which hardens the skin. Systemically, the disease can affect the human organs. If it reaches the lungs and causes them to harden, breathing may become difficult or impossible. At this time, there is no known cure.

“This disease is really kind of getting to me now and my hands bother me a lot,” said Salmon, who moved back home to Durham, N.C., after having earned honors in 2001 as one of Golf For Women Magazine's Top 50 Teachers while serving as the Director of Instruction at Errol Estates Country Club in Apopka, Fla. “I can't stand out there for three to four hours a day teaching anymore.”

Moving away from teaching has been a difficult transition for the always-active Salmon, who has added competing in Legends Tour events to her extensive playing resume. Salmon has won the LPGA T&CP's Southeast Section Championship twice and the Southeast Team Championship numerous times. She has competed in four Women's British Opens, two U.S. Women's Opens and two McDonald's LPGA Championships.

But these days, she swallows 15 different medications each night and has taken an oral chemo drug for a year that helps slow the symptomatic tightness and hardening of her skin. As the disease has progressed, Salmon also has lost up to 30 percent of her lung function.

Rather than simply surrendering to the ravages of the disease, Salmon has, instead, vowed to help raise funds for scleroderma research. Along with 30-some other LPGA teaching professionals across the nation, she has helped raise $70,000 for the Scleroderma Foundation and scleroderma research through golf clinics, playing lessons and tournaments. They called that effort the Scleroderma Teaching Project.

“I think that's when I realized how many wonderful friends I have,” she said. “Everybody wanted to help in some way.”

Salmon wasn't always a golfer, however. A former collegiate volleyball and softball player at Appalachian State University (N.C.), she even recalls thinking what a “ridiculous game” golf was when she worked at a golf course as a college student. But at age 24, she taught herself to play and a year later, qualified for the 1985 U.S. Women's Open.

“I won the qualifier in a playoff and had no idea what I had done,” she said, laughing. “I was too stupid to know it was hard.”

But Salmon qualified for the Women's Open again in 1992, then went on to compete professionally in Asia, Europe and in the early days on the FUTURES Golf Tour – now named the Duramed FUTURES Tour.

“I was never a great ball striker, but I leaned how to get it around the golf course,” she said.

Her dream was to make it to the LPGA Tour, but that never happened. Salmon settled into teaching golf and joined the LPGA's T&CP division in the early 1990s, honing her game mostly against other teaching professionals and club pros. Once she turned age 45, she competed in a qualifier for the Legends Tour and earned a spot on the Tour, where she has played since 2001.

“I never made it to the big tour, but it was just amazing to be out there on the Legends Tour playing with people like Pat Bradley and Joanne Carner – and then to sometimes beat them was like, Wow!” said Salmon. “But those players have all ‘been there and done that' in golf. They didn't know me, but they accepted me and invited me to spend time with them.”

And when those same Hall of Fame players learned of Salmon's current health challenge, they also wanted to do something to help. They decided to donate all proceeds from ticket sales at this year's Handa Cup to the foundations serving patients and research for scleroderma.

“Scleroderma is a disease that doesn't get enough recognition,” said Legends Tour president Jane Blalock. “It was particularly important that we support her since one of our own Legends suffers from scleroderma and dedicates her time and resources to awareness and research of this disease.”

Salmon says she still hopes to hold a celebrity pro-am with fellow members of the Legends Tour to raise money and awareness for scleroderma. And even though the same number of Americans suffer from scleroderma that suffer from multiple sclerosis, the awareness level doesn't even compare.

Salmon has “good days and bad days” with her current state of health, but she is pleased that her fellow Legends Tour competitors can help the public understand more about the disease that has affected her so dramatically.

“Even with the Scleroderma Teaching Project [fund raiser] that we ran all over the country, so many people have wanted to know about the disease,” she said. “They want to touch my skin and ask me questions. Some days, I get really frustrated by how this disease makes me feel, but the education that comes from talking about it really excites me.”

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:46

The LPGA was never at a loss for story lines in 2007; Lorena Ochoa dominated many of them. But the season also found the LPGA acquiring the Duramed FUTURES Tour, and launching a new logo and online merchandising store. Historical moments included the hosting of the RICOH Women's British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews—the historic ‘birthplace' of golf—and seeing the induction of Se Ri Pak into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame.

Ochoa tops on Tour | Pettersen wins once, five times | Major Championship winners all first-timers
Se Ri Pak inducted into Halls of Fame

Se Ri Pak inducted into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame

When Se Ri Pak's final putt dropped on the 18th hole of the first round of the 2007 McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, Pak officially qualified for entrance into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame, one of the most difficult in all of sports in which to gain entry. As a rookie in 1998, Pak took the Tour by storm, becoming the only rookie since Juli Inkster (1984) to win two major championships in her rookie year. Pak earned the requisite 27 points needed to qualify for the Hall of Fame with her victory at the 2004 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill. She met the 10-year LPGA Tour membership requirement at her 10th event in 2007—the McDonald's LPGA Championship, which was her very first victory on Tour in 1998.

Among her successes and achievements, Pak has been a leader and mentor for the 45 Korean LPGA Tour members in 2007. Pak joined Annika Sorenstam and Mickey Wright—now Hall of Fame peers—as the only players in Tour history to win the same event five times when she captured the 2007 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger.

Pak was honored at the annual induction ceremony at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., on Nov. 12.

Major Championship winners all first-timers

Morgan Pressel jumps in the water with her caddie Jon Yarbrough and her grandmother Evelyn Krickstein.

Ochoa's victory in Scotland capped off a season in which all four of the LPGA major championships were the first major victory for the winners. It was the first time since 1995 when Nanci Bowen (Nabisco Dinah Shore), Kelly Robbins (McDonald's LPGA Championship), Annika Sorenstam (U.S. Women's Open) and Jenny Lidback (du Maurier Ltd. Classic) were all first-time major championship winners.In April, second-year Tour member Morgan Pressel carded a final-round, bogey-free 3-under-par 69 and edged out Catriona Matthew, Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lincicome by one stroke to become the season's second Rolex First-Time Winner. Pressel finished prior to the final group and waited on the driving range anticipating a playoff. Instead, she won outright and she, her caddy and her grandmother, Evelyn Krickstein, made the traditional jump into Poppie's Pond to celebrate the win. Pettersen rallied from the disappointing finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and won the McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola by one stroke over 35-time Tour winner Karrie Webb. This marked the second of five wins for Pettersen in 2007.For Cristie Kerr, she had trophies—nine from her 11 years on the LPGA Tour, including three from 2006—but none from a major championship. After two rounds at the U.S. Women's Open she was 1-over-par, but then shot up the leaderboard with a third-round 5-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead into the final round. Kerr carded a final-round 1-under-par 70 for a two-stroke win over Lorena Ochoa and rookie Angela Park to win her first major championship at the U.S. Women's Open.

To close out the year was Ochoa. It was as if she had saved her first major win for the 2007 RICOH Women's British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews; a week already steeped in history and tradition, a perfect place to make more history. Despite windy and cool conditions and rounds suspended due to darkness, Ochoa went wire-to-wire for the win, which was the 13th of her career.

Pettersen wins once, five times

Not since Nancy Lopez won nine times during her rookie year in 1978 has a Rolex First-Time Winner won five events in the same season. Suzann Pettersen, of Norway, however, overcame two disappointing runner-up finishes at the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola and Kraft Nabisco Championship early in the year to find her breakthrough victory via a three-hole, sudden-death playoff against Jee Young Lee at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill. One month later, she captured her first LPGA career major championship title at the McDonald's LPGA Championship. Pettersen had a fruitful October as she won three of four LPGA Tour events she entered. She defeated Rolex Rankings' top player Lorena Ochoa in a playoff at the Longs Drugs Challenge. She also won two events in the Tour's three-week Asia swing: the Hana Bank • KOLON Championship and Honda LPGA Thailand 2007 in back-to-back weeks. With an incredible career-best $1,802,400, she ended the year second to Ochoa on the LPGA Official Money List.

Ochoa tops on Tour

“Lorena Ochoa” and “number one” have become synonymous over the past year. She set out in 2007 to make her name one that made competitors think twice about their chances at victory that week. And they do. In April, she took over the number one position in the Rolex Rankings—a position that had previously only been held by Annika Sorenstam since the Rolex Rankings were released in February 2006. Eight wins were added to Ochoa's resume, which included her first major championship victory at the RICOH Women's British Open—the first women's professional golf tournament hosted at St. Andrew's legendary Old Course. That win pushed Ochoa over the $2 million mark in season earnings. She was also the first Mexican-born player to win a major championship on the LPGA Tour, which was the first of three consecutive victories on Tour. Ochoa also notched 13 additional top-10 finishes in just 25 starts, which led to her second consecutive Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy awards. In becoming the first player to earn $3 million and $4 million in a season, Ochoa also became the fastest to earn $10 million in 4 years, 8 months and 5 days (124 events), shattering Annika Sorenstam's previous benchmark of 8 years, 5 months and 3 days (183 events). Ochoa also led the Tour in the following statistical categories: birdies (383); rounds under par (66/89, 74.2 percent); rounds in the 60s (44/89, 49.4 percent); top-10 finishes (21/25, 84 percent); greens in regulation (73.1 percent); scoring average (69.6854); and putts per GIR (1.76).

In the area of philanthropy, Ochoa was just as busy—and determined to make a difference. She not only opened golf academies in her native country of Mexico, but also schools for elementary-aged children through the Lorena Ochoa Foundation, which provide students with a proper education and meals. After Ochoa's million-dollar victory at the ADT Championship, she pledged $100,000 to the flood victims of Tabasco, Mexico.

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:45
Kuroda brings toughness to Dodgers

Newly signed right-hander's grit draws GM's praise
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
Hiroki Kuroda was presented in a press conference on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. (Jon SooHoo/Dodgers)
 
LOS ANGELES -- Now that the Dodgers have Hiroki Kuroda, what exactly do they have?
"As the game gets tougher," said general manager Ned Colletti, "he gets stronger. He turns it up a notch."
Club evaluators believe the 32-year-old right-hander from Japan, who was introduced at a Sunday news conference at Dodger Stadium, will fit somewhere in the middle of the starting rotation. And like new center fielder Andruw Jones, Kuroda fills a hole without costing the Dodgers the kind of young talent that, say, the Diamondbacks gave up to acquire Dan Haren.

"We had an objective of making the team better but not trading our young players who possess so much promise," said owner Frank McCourt. "I want to commend Ned and his staff for achieving that objective. Everywhere I go, people say stick with the young talent."

Nobody is expecting Kuroda to be another Haren, even with a three-year, $35.3 million contract. With Brad Penny, Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley returning, the Dodgers will be pleased if Kuroda is a solid fourth starter. The fifth starter will come from a group that includes Jason Schmidt and Esteban Loaiza, both looking to resurrect careers derailed by injuries.

While fans clamor for a new third baseman like Scott Rolen, management is believed more interested in deepening the bullpen and bench, while letting Nomar Garciaparra and Andy LaRoche compete for third base in the spring.

Colletti signed Kuroda without seeing him pitch in person. He left that to the scouting experts. Logan White, the assistant general manager who made his name through talent evaluation, saw enough tape of Kuroda and watched him in person enough to give the thumbs up.

"I put my reputation on the guy," said White. "He's legit."

Here's White's scouting report:

"He has a very good delivery, an easy arm motion. He throws from a three-quarters angle. He runs his fastball anywhere from 89-95 miles per hour and stays around 93. He has a slider/cutter at 89 that has a lot of sharp, crisp bite. His out pitch is what he calls a forkball that has real diving, late action at the right-handed hitter.

"He's a strike thrower, and he's very athletic, a Gold Glove-like fielder. The biggest thing, for me, is that with runners on base, he buckles down. He really is a warrior."

That's the word the Dodgers liked to use when they brought Hideo Nomo to the Major Leagues in 1995, blazing the trail for dozens of Japanese professionals like Kuroda to follow.

Kuroda in 11 seasons with Hiroshima went 103-89 with a 3.69 ERA. For comparison purposes, Nomo was 78-46 with a 3.14 ERA when he came to the Dodgers; Kazuhisa Ishii was 78-46 with a 3.38 ERA when he arrived; and Takashi Saito was 87-80 with a 3.81 ERA.

Kuroda was an All-Star the past three seasons and went 12-8 with a 3.56 ERA in 2007.

International victories are a big deal for a franchise that is willing to disrupt the upcoming Spring Training with a goodwill trip to China. So the Dodgers held a gala Stadium Club introduction of Kuroda to media from near and far, on a Sunday afternoon.

The turnout included the Dodgers' top brass and Kuroda's sizeable entourage from both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Kuroda explained that he accepted the Dodgers' deal over clubs like Seattle, Arizona and Kansas City, even though the Dodgers offer was for less money.

"It is unbelievable. An unthinkable contract," he said. "To value me that highly is the result of Japanese players that have come here and succeeded. I'm very thankful for that."

Kuroda listed decisive factors as the "well-developed" Japanese community in Southern California and the mild weather, "which is the best to pitch in from a performance standpoint."

Weather, apparently, is no small issue for a 32-year-old who had bone chips removed from his elbow last winter by Angels doctor Lewis Yocum. Kuroda also made it clear that he welcomed the Dodgers' family approach that included a recent casual meeting in Japan with Saito assisting club officials in the recruiting effort.

Ultimately, Kuroda chose the Dodgers over the Mariners, in part through the guidance of Shigatoshi Hasegawa, who pitched in both markets with the Angels and Mariners. Kuroda said he believed he would be more comfortable pitching for the Dodgers than any other club.

It was initially believed that the Mariners had the inside track on Kuroda, but McCourt praised the Dodgers' Asian operations department for pulling off the coup, mentioning the work of director Acey Kohrogi, manager Curtis Yung, Japan-based scout Keiichi Kojima, cross-checker Paul Fryer and traveling secretary Scott Akasaki.

Kuroda said he will move his wife and two young daughters to Los Angeles and will step up efforts to learn English.

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:39

That's All, Folks

That's All, Folks

Jim Furyk pulled to within two shots at one point in the final round of the Target World Challenge on Sunday, but Tiger Woods turned on the jets and rocketed away to a seven-shot victory. That concludes the competition calendar for 2007, and the 2008 season will begin Jan. 3 at the PGA Tour's Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii.

Tiger Woods closed out 2007 looking as dominant as ever. (Laberge/Getty Images)



THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) -- Ten weeks later, nothing has changed with Tiger Woods and the rest of golf.

Woods won the final golf tournament of the year Sunday, closing with a 4-under 68 to match the tournament record at the Target World Challenge and set a record for the largest margin of victory, by seven shots over Masters champion Zach Johnson.

Woods had not played since Sept. 30 at the Presidents Cup, but he didn't show much rust in winning his tournament for the fourth time and becoming the first player to win in consecutive years.

"Doesn't help us, does it?" Colin Montgomerie said of Woods' long break. "If he took a bloody year off, it would help. Never mind 10 weeks."

Johnson closed with a 68, but the only challenge came from Jim Furyk.

Furyk got within two shots after nine holes, but the tournament changed abruptly on the 10th. Woods holed a 12-foot birdie putt, and Furyk three-putted for bogey from 4 feet on a downhill putt.

"Jimmy put a ton of heat on me the front nine," Woods said. "The whole tournament switched on the 10th. That was a big two-shot swing there."

Woods finished at 22-under 266, tying the tournament record first set by Davis Love III in 2000. He earned $1.35 million, which he will donate to his Tiger Woods Foundation. Johnson, shut out at his first LG Skins Game last month, earned $840,000 for second. Furyk closed with a 71 and finished third, earning $570,000.

For the second straight day, Furyk made Woods sweat, even if it was only a drop.

Woods was six shots clear until a two-shot swing on the seventh hole, when Furyk made birdie and Woods three-putted for his first bogey. Furyk birdied the next hole, and Woods dropped a shot on the ninth when he failed to save par from a bunker.

Suddenly, the lead was two shots going to the back nine, and Furyk immediately applied pressure with a wedge that he hit with no spin to about 4 feet above the flag. Woods hit wedge that spun back 12 feet below the cup, and that made all the difference.

Woods calmly made the birdie putt, while Furyk's putt slid by the cup and rolled 4 feet by. He slapped at the face of his putter, then missed the par putt for a shocking two-shot swing.

Woods' lead was back to four, and he kept that margin until the par-3 15th.

Furyk was three shots behind Saturday until hitting 6-iron into the water. The final round was no different. Furyk found the water again for double bogey, and he was back to where he started, six shots behind.

The only question then was the margin of victory, and whether Rory Sabbatini made it safely to Hawaii.

Sabbatini, who was in last place going into the final round, withdrew from the 16-man field Sunday morning. He told the PGA TOUR he was pulling out for "personal reasons," but his agent later said it was due to shin splints.

A locker room attendant said Sabbatini told him Saturday night he was leaving for Maui, and tournament officials were still looking for his courtesy car late Sunday afternoon.

The South African still received $170,000 for last place, but perhaps lost some respect along the way.

"I think I could have toughed it out one more round," Mark Calcavecchia said. "I don't think the fans missed him."

Told that Sabbatini's agent said the reason was shin splints, Fred Couples wasn't buying.

"Of course, he did," Couples said. "And Roger Clemens' agent said he didn't do steroids."

It certainly had no bearing on the tournament. Woods hasn't been seen at a golf tournament in 10 weeks, and it was as though he never left. His swing wasn't as polished as it was the first two rounds, but it was no different from his summer surge when it counted.

"I took four weeks off and struggled," Paul Casey said after finishing 21 shots behind. "We have a saying in England that he was Rolls-Roycing it. You fire up the car and it purrs perfectly. I'm very envious."

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:33

Saturn's Rings as Old as Solar System, Study Says

Page 2 of 2

"Because the rings have more mass than was previously thought, they can still be bright and icy even after four billion years," he said yesterday at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Rather than being a temporary feature that we just happen to live during the right time to see, he added, the rings might be like a long-standing city, with individual people coming and going while the overall structure remains.

Saturn ring moonlet, ice, and dust image

Building Moonlets

Another recent study, led by planetary scientist Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, may lend additional support to Esposito's theory.

Porco and her team found that it's possible for even fairly large moons—tens of miles across—to take shape around small, relatively dense ice kernels that have enough gravity to overcome the forces that would otherwise rip them apart.

(Read the full story: "Saturn's 'Flying Saucer' Moons Made Mainly of Ring Dust" [December 6, 2007].)

But Porco isn't so sure that her work supports Esposito's, even though some of the ring features may well be recent.

"The idea that maybe the ring particles exchange contents with one another has been around a long time," she said.

But the problem with indefinite recycling of ring-building materials, she pointed out, is that not all of the dust will remain in the rings.

"Some of that [dust] gets charged and gets zipped out of the system [by magnetic forces]," she said. "Eventually all the particles are going to be eroded down to nothing."

But she noted that some of the existing moons within the Saturn system are big enough to create a lot of debris if hit by an asteroid.

"If you smashed up [the moonlet] Prometheus tomorrow, you'd get a ring," she said. "So of course these kinds of things might be going on."

Her theory of moonlet growth suggests that a mantle of softer, fluffy material surrounds the hard, dense "seed" at the center of the moon. The core could be a shard from the original collision, while the mantle would absorb the energy of incoming meteorites like a soft, thick bank of snow.

"That may help protect the core," she said. "Maybe the cores could have survived multiple break-ups and accreted [new] material."

But for billions of years? "I'm on the fence," she said. "Maybe the central, thickest part of the B ring [one of the brightest] might be very old, but I doubt that the other parts of the ring are ancient."

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:09

Saturn's Rings as Old as Solar System, Study Says

Richard A. Lovett in San Francisco, California
for National Geographic News
December 13, 2007

Saturn's rings may be nearly as old as the solar system, a new study says, contradicting prior calculations that they clock in at only a few hundred million years.

That's because ring particles may have been repeatedly recycled during the previous four billion years, said study author Larry Esposito of the University of Colorado at Boulder—a finding that hints that the rings could last for many more eons.

Saturn ring moonlet, ice, and dust image

Traditionally, experts have believed that Saturn's rings are the remnants of one or more small moons that broke up when they were hit by asteroids or comets.

According to the theory, additional collisions among the debris formed the fine ring particles we see today. But that couldn't have happened all that long ago, because otherwise continued meteorite bombardment would have hammered all of the particles to dust too fine to form visible rings.

Furthermore, the rings are full of features that appear to be quite young. (Related: "Moonlet Study Sheds Light on Origins of Saturn's Rings" [October 24, 2007].)

"Before, we thought that Saturn's rings had been recently created because we see many recently created features," Esposito said.

Too Young and Too Old

But scientists are obtaining ever-more-detailed observations of Saturn from NASA's orbiting Cassini spacecraft.

"The Cassini results are extending what we know about Saturn's rings in a particularly interesting way," Esposito said. "We see many even more youthful structures, not consistent with a single event that created the rings, say, in the age of the dinosaurs."

Rather, he said, "clumps," "propellers," "spokes," and other features come and go rapidly as tidal forces or collisions break them apart, while gravitational attraction causes new ones to form.

"We're seeing the rings as continuously recycling," he added. "Because of this, we can accommodate not only the dynamic, youthful processes that we see, but also the persistence of the rings. They're probably as old as the solar system and probably will last billions of years into the future."

There also appears to be about three times as much mass hiding in ring clumps than was previously suspected, Esposito said.

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:07

"Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax

 Page 2 of 2

The story went on to say the discovery was made by a "National Geographic Team (India Division) with support from the Indian Army since the area comes under jurisdiction of the Army."

The account added that the team also found tablets with inscriptions that suggest the giant belonged to a race of superhumans that are mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic poem from about 200 B.C.

Picture of a

"They were very tall, big and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it," the report said, repeating claims that initially appeared in 2004.

Voice editor P. Deivamuthu admitted to National Geographic News that his publication was taken in by the fake reports.

The monthly, which is based in Mumbai (Bombay), published a retraction after readers alerted Deivamuthu to the hoax, he said.

"We are against spreading lies and canards," Deivamuthu added. "Moreover, our readers are a highly intellectual class and will not brook any nonsense."

Arabian Giant

Variations of the giant photo hoax include alleged discovery of a 60- to 80-foot long (18- to 24-meter) human skeleton in Saudi Arabia. In one popular take, which likewise first surfaced in 2004, an oil-exploration team is said to have made the find.

Here the skeleton is held up as evidence of giants mentioned in Islamic, rather than Hindu, scriptures.

The Debunkers

Web sites dedicated to debunking urban legends and "netlore" picked up on the various giant hoaxes soon after they first appeared.

California-based Snopes.com, for example, noted that the skeleton image had been lifted from Worth1000, which hosts photo-manipulation competitions.

Titled "Giants," the skeleton-and-shoveler picture had won third place in a 2002 contest called "Archaeological Anomalies 2."

The image's creator—an illustrator from Canada who goes by the screen name IronKite—told National Geographic News via email that he had had nothing to do with the subsequent hoax.

He added that he wants to remain anonymous because some forums that debated whether the giant was genuine or not "were turning their entire argument into a religious one." It was argued, for instance, that the Saudi Arabian find was entirely consistent with the teachings of the Koran.

"This was about the same time that death threats and cash bounties were being issued against cartoonists and other industry professionals for doing things like depicting the Prophet Mohammed," IronKite wrote.

How the Image Was Made

IronKite started with an aerial photo of a mastodon excavation in Hyde Park, New York, in 2000. He then digitally superimposed a human skeleton over the beast's remains.

The later addition of a digging man presented the biggest technical challenge.

"If you look, he's holding a yellow-handled shovel, but there's nothing on the end," IronKite said.

"Originally, the spade end was there. But [it] looked like it was occupying the exact same space as the skeleton's temple, making the whole thing look fake.

"Now it looks like he's just holding a stick, and people don't notice. It's funny."

IronKite also altered the color of the man's clothing to create a "uniform tie-in" with the white-shirted observer peering down from the wooden platform.

The two figures work to exaggerate the scale of the skeleton, he added.

(Related: "Shark 'Photo of the Year' Is E-Mail Hoax" [March 8, 2005].)

IronKite said he's tickled that the picture—which took only about an hour and a half to create—has generated so much Internet attention.

"I laugh myself silly when some guy claims to know someone who was there, or even goes so far as to claim that he or she was there when they found the skeleton and took the picture," IronKite said.

"Sometimes people seem so desperate to believe in something that they lie to themselves, or exaggerate in order to make their own argument stronger."

Wanting to Believe

David Mikkelson of Snopes.com said such hoaxes succeed when they seem to confirm something people are already inclined to believe, such as a prejudice, political viewpoint, or religious belief.

A hoax also needs to be presented "in a framework that has the appearance of credibility," he said in an email.

The "ancient giant" has both elements, according to Mikkelson.

"It appeals to both a religious and a secular vision of the world as different and more fantastic than mere science would lead us to believe," he said.

"Proof," Mikkelson added, "comes in the form of a fairly convincing image."

For anyone who may have knowingly propagated the myth, Mikkelson added, the motivation "probably wasn't any different than the motivation for engaging in a game of ringing someone's doorbell and running away—because it's an easy way to have a laugh at someone else's expense."

Alex Boese, "curator" of the virtual Museum of Hoaxes, said fake giants have a long history going back to the at least the 1700s.

The recent hoax is reminiscent of the once famous Cardiff Giant myth, involving a ten-foot-tall (three-meter) stone figure dug up in 1869 in Cardiff, New York, Boese said.

Many people believed the figure was a petrified man and claimed he was one of the giants mentioned in the Bible's Book of Genesis: "There were giants in the Earth in those days."

Likewise, Boese said, the recent giant hoax "taps into people's desire for mystery and their desire to see concrete confirmation of religious legends."

National Geographic News photo editor Sebastian John contributed to this report.

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by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:04

"Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax

December 14, 2007

The National Geographic Society has not discovered ancient giant humans, despite rampant reports and pictures.

Picture of a

The hoax began with a doctored photo and later found a receptive online audience—thanks perhaps to the image's unintended religious connotations.

A digitally altered photograph created in 2002 shows a reclining giant surrounded by a wooden platform—with a shovel-wielding archaeologist thrown in for scale.

(Photo Gallery: "Giant Skeletons" Fuel Web Hoax)

By 2004 the "discovery" was being blogged and emailed all over the world—"Giant Skeleton Unearthed!"—and it's been enjoying a revival in 2007.

The photo fakery might be obvious to most people. But the tall tale refuses to lie down even five years later, if a continuing flow of emails to National Geographic News are any indication. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

The messages come from around the globe—Portugal, India, El Salvador, Malaysia, Africa, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya. But they all ask the same question: Is it true?

Perpetuating the Myth

Helping to fuel the story's recent resurgence are a smattering of media outlets that have reported the find as fact.

An often cited March 2007 article in India's Hindu Voice monthly, for example, claimed that a National Geographic Society team, in collaboration with the Indian Army, had dug up a giant human skeleton in India.

"Recent exploration activity in the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size," the report read.

by facestar 2007. 12. 17. 12:02

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- As much as a foot of snow fell from the Plains across the Midwest on Saturday as the second big winter storm in a week came through on its way to New England.

art.kansas.wx.irpt.jpg

St. John, Kansas, was hit by ice on Thursday, as Suzanne Gervais' photo shows, and was hit with snow Saturday.

Winter storm warnings and watches extended from Missouri across parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, the National Weather Service said.

As much as 15 inches of snow was forecast in sections of southern Michigan, with 10 inches possible in Detroit.

Tens of thousands of people still lacked electricity after the first storm slammed Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri earlier in the week. That storm was blamed for at least 38 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents.

Snow started falling early in the afternoon in Pittsburgh, accumulating to about an inch before tapering off by late afternoon. Rain and freezing rain were expected later. Video Watch what's in store for the East Coast »

"We'll have little bit of everything before the night is over," said Bill Drzal, a Weather Service meteorologist in Pittsburgh.

Areas to the north and east of the city could see as much as 12 inches through Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service.

In Chicago, more than 200 flights were canceled because of the weather Saturday at O'Hare International Airport, and other flights were delayed 30 minutes to an hour, said Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman Gregg Cunningham. The problem was limited visibility in the falling snow, said United Airlines spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.

Residents across New England packed stores to stock up before getting slammed. Video Watch the 'winter wonderland' in Boston »

The winter weather earlier in the week caught many people unawares, stranding commuters and school buses as it made some of the nation's busiest highways impassable. Photo See photos of the Northeastern storm »

Concern about the approaching storm also led the University of Connecticut to cancel Sunday's winter commencement ceremony. About 850 undergraduates had expected to receive diplomas Sunday, but school spokesman Richard Veilleux said officials were concerned about the safety of the students and their families and other guests on slippery roads. Video Watch the snowy scene in Manchester, Connecticut »

Freezing rain was the culprit in the Plains earlier in the week, coating streets, windshields, tree limbs and power lines with ice as thick as an inch in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Oklahoma, hardest hit by the earlier storm, got only cold, light rain early Saturday, turning to snow during the morning. One to 3 inches of snow was forecast.

Neighboring Kansas, however, had as much as a foot of snow Saturday morning, and the Highway Patrol reported Interstate 70 in central Kansas was snowpacked.

"We've had no fatalities or pileups, but we have numerous slideoffs," said Mary Beth Anderson, a patrol dispatcher. "I don't think there are a lot of travelers, just the ones who have to get out and go to work."

More than 2,300 people were in Kansas shelters Saturday because of the power failures and the fresh snow, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the state Adjutant General's Department.

"We just opened the National Guard Armory in Russell because of the amount of people needing shelter," Watson said. "I think they're mostly travelers because of the highway conditions there."

At the height of the last storm, a million customers in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri were blacked out. See how winter storms form »

By Saturday morning, Oklahoma utilities said about 181,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity. Some 62,000 were still blacked out in Kansas, and Missouri utilities reported about 27,000 customers still off line.

Officials in Oklahoma had worried the new snow could hamper power restoration efforts, but it turned out not to be a problem.

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"The first several days, crews were working on emergency restoration and getting the backbone of the structure up -- the main feeders and transmission lines," said Stan Whiteford, a spokesman for Public Service Co. of Oklahoma.

"Now they're really getting into the neighborhoods. The customers are coming on in bigger chunks." E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

by facestar 2007. 12. 16. 20:10
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