D Tuesday, December 8, 2009 METROSPORT 29 Jim Furyk won Tiger Woods own tournament, then insisted golf would welcome the world No.1 back as quickly as possible. Host Woods missed the Chevron World Challenge in California following his recent car crash and subsequent allegations regarding his private life. He is not expected to play again until late January but Furyk, who ended a 28-month victory drought to win on Sunday, said: i think the PGA Tour would like to see him [Woods] come back as soon as possible. He usually starts the year at Torrey Pines [on January 28], i guess, but Tigers going to play 15 to 18 events a year. i think whether that starts at Torrey or it starts in Florida or Augusta [at the masters in April], hes still going to play the 15 to 18 events. But, referring to Woods off-course travails, Furyk added: i think, as a friend, hes got to think of his family and himself first, and when the time is right, hell be back. u GRAEME McDowell has risen to 38th in the world rankings after his second place in he Chevron World Challenge. The Irishman, who replaced Tiger Woods in the tournament, has almost certainly booked his place in next years Masters by virtue of his place in the top 50. Padraig Harrington remains fifth behind European No.1 Lee Westwood, but Rory McIlroy drops out of the top ten. World rankings 1 Tiger Woods 15.46pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 8.68, 3 Steve Stricker 7.00, 4 Lee Westwood 6.85, 5 Padraig Harrington 5.85, 6 Jim Furyk 5.79, 7 Henrik Stenson 5.65, 8 Paul Casey 5.64, 9 Kenny Perry 5.00, 10 Sergio Garcia 4.98. Others: 11 Rory McIlroy, 38 Graeme McDowell Furyk Golf needs Woods Were not lion, cats a big trophy! Paws for thought: Jim Furyk shows off the oversized tiger trophy he won in California on Sunday. However, where to display the mammoth prize could prove a problem. Its a tad bulky for the mantelpiece and a little on the large side for a paperweight. Still, never mind Jim, with a bit of luck youll come second next year. Picture:Reuters golf Rugby HeIneken CuP gAA DubLIN GAA chairman John Costello has called for a bizarre new football championship structure that would do little to help his own county. Costello wants the current provincial boundaries redrawn to allow for four conferences with an equal amount of teams in each. At the moment, 11 teams compete for the Leinster championship and under Costellos plan that would be reduced to a standard eight. but while the new scenario would make it even easier for Dublin to win their province that is by no means a good thing. under Paul Caffrey and Pat Gilroy the blues have claimed the last five Leinster titles in a row but have failed at All-Ireland level. In fact, many believe they would be better off losing in their province to allow them to build momentum through the back-door system. I would argue that we have become hostage to both history and geography for too long, writes Costello in his report to Dublins annual convention. I would support the introduction of four conferences (north, south, east, west) to replace the provinces of ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht with the geographical boundaries being redrawn so that the same number of counties are participating in each of the conferences. Dublin chief wants provinces scrapped ToP midfielder kevin Cassidy has criticised the proposed mark experiment and told the GAA to stop messing with rules. Donegals former AllStar believes plans to once again try experimental rules in the 2010 leagues are a waste of time, although he tentatively agreed with the move to scrap the square ball rule. He famously got away with a square ball goal for Donegal in the 2007 ulster SFC against Armagh. But Cassidy (pictured) rejected the idea that an Aussie rules-style mark will make games more appealing. The people who come up with these rules seem to be people who are watching matches on TV and then suggesting changes, said Cassidy. if the players themselves dont see a need to change i dont think theres any need to change. Changes off the mark Dooher still undecided TWICE All-Ireland winning captain brian Dooher is still assessing his position regarding a potential return to Tyrone action in 2010, according to boss Mickey Harte. Dooher has been plagued by injuries in recent seasons and Harte refused to rule out retirement for the hugely decorated forward. brian is assessing his position and will take whatever time he needs to do that, Harte said. Itll be entirely up to him. Hes an entirely sensible man. Scarlets showdown is real test: Cheika By JOHn dOnnelly Crucial clash: But leinster will be without injured fly-half Jonathan Sexton when they visit llanelli to face the Scarlets this weekend Picture: Sportsfile LeiNSTer resume the defence of their Heineken Cup crown with a round 3 trip to Parc y Scarlets on Saturday with coach michael Cheika warning this is the real business. Just six days after losing to the Dragons in the magners League, the european champi- ons return to Wales to take on the Pool 6 leaders in the first of their critical back-to- back showdowns. December and January are when you re- ally make your pitch for the rest of the sea- son and for us that starts this week, said Cheika. The Scarlets are the leaders of the group and that puts them in a commanding position while having the home leg of the back-to-back games against us first is a massive benefit to them. We are at the stage of the tournament where you stare at the opposition and make sure you dont blink first this group looks as if it will be going down to the wire. obviously the Scarlets are a highly effi- cient attacking outfit, with a very good axis at 8, 9 and 10, and lots of pace out wide and not scared to have a go they are a high scoring attacking team and we will do some homework on them. We are in a situation where we are miss- ing a few guys but also pretty happy with the way we have developed. The Scarlets also lost at the weekend, 16- 17 at home to edinburgh, but are two from two in the Heineken Cup thus far. Leinsters opening round loss to London irish has put a bit of an edge on things, according to Cheika, who added: of course we were unhappy with our defence against the Dragons but we rested a lot of players and i dont think you will see many of [the side that faced the Dragons] on Saturday. However, after this disappointing defeat we are obviously very eager to go and take on the Scarlets on Saturday and we will look at that as another game and, as after any loss, all you can do is get ready for the next challenge. 54,000 Number of tickets already sold for the Heineken Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris on May 22. A further 15,000 tickets will be made available to the finalists after the semi-finals Win or bust for Perpignan PERPIGNAN prop Nicolas Mas says it will be win or bust for the French side when they take on Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday. Following a shock defeat by Italians Treviso in their last game, Mas said: We really made things difficult for ourselves and now we have no choice but to win these back-to-back games against Munster. but Thomond Park is a very difficult place to play. Make no mistake, we know what to expect we are in for an extremely tough challenge. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html