GOLF NOTES: Woods denies connection between neck pain, accident

Published 11:41 pm Monday, May 10, 2010

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Tiger Woods says there is “zero connection” between the neck pain that forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship and his Nov. 27 car accident.

On the same day that his swing coach resigned, Woods said during a news conference that his neck started bothering him two weeks before the Masters, his first competition in five months. He brushed it off as “no big deal” until it kept getting worse.

“I’m at a point now where I just can’t go anymore,” he said.

Woods said he’s been taking anti-inflammatory drugs, but they have not helped. He plans to have an MRI when he returns to Orlando, Fla.

He said his schedule is “up in the air” and could be shaped based on what he sees in the MRI.

Hank Haney, Woods’ swing coach, said in a statement to the Golf Channel that he enjoyed working with Woods but he thinks it’s time for him to step aside as his coach. Haney says it was his decision.

Woods insisted he can deal with the pain, which he feels in the right side of his neck, but cannot deal with the spasms that affect his ability to turn his head.

“For me not to play all 18 holes, that was as angry and as frustrated as I’ve been in a long time,” Woods said of withdrawing from The Players Championship on Sunday. “It is sore.”

In November, Woods was briefly hospitalized after he crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his home, resulting in a sore neck and a cut lip.

LPGA player Blasberg dies

Police and an agent for 25-year-old Erica Blasberg say the LPGA Tour golfer has died.

Henderson police spokesman Keith Paul said Monday that authorities were investigating Blasberg’s Sunday death. It was not immediately clear whether foul play was involved.

Blasberg’s agent, Chase Callahan, confirmed her death but declined to provide details.

Blasberg played her only LPGA Tour event two weeks ago in Mexico and tied for 44th.

She found greater success in college, winning six times in two years at the University of Arizona and playing on the Curtis Cup team in 2004. She turned professional that year.

Her death was first reported by Golfweek magazine.