Talk » gh start as coach of Valencia You have to learn yo

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods was nine shots out of the lead, not the best position at The Players Championship, especially since he had not even started his round. Perhaps the bigger surprise was the guy who posted the record-tying round Thursday. Roberto Castro had only played the TPC Sawgrass in a practice round. He made a debut he wont soon forget. There was the 9-iron to a foot on the island-green 17th and a 4-iron to about the same tap-in range on the 18th, the hardest hole on the course. He hit a 3-iron to 3 feet for eagle, and twice hit wedge so close he didnt even have to read the putt. When his memorable day was over, Castro had a 9-under 63 and his name in the record book twice. He tied the course record held by Fred Couples and Greg Norman, and his three-shot lead was the largest margin after the opening round at The Players in 21 years. Welcome to Sawgrass. "I hit it close a lot," said Castro, making it sound as easy as it looked. He led over Rory McIlroy, who broke par for the first time in his fourth appearance with five birdies after the turn and conservative play off the tee on the front nine for a bogey-free 66. Zach Johnson also had a 66 while playing in the pristine morning conditions. Woods had to work a little harder in the afternoon. Not only did he spot Castro nine shots, Woods had never broken 70 in the opening round in his 15 previous tries. "It was a day that I felt I had to shoot something in the 60s," Woods said. He ran off four straight birdies around the turn. He was on the cup of his first bogey-free round at The Players until his 8-iron from 200 yards went just over the green and he flubbed his chip. The bogey gave him a 67, a strong effort considering he knew he had a lot of ground to make up before hitting his first shot. "Ive seen that a lot, but not at this golf course," he said. Vijay Singh, playing one day after he sued the PGA Tour for its handling of his doping case, was largely ignored while playing in the group behind Woods. One fan wore felt deer antlers in the bleachers behind the first tee -- Singhs case involved taking deer antler spray -- but only a dozen or so people followed the 50-year-old Fijian on the back nine and it was a quiet day. At one point, Singh let out a hearty laugh walking off the tee with Robert Garrigus and J.J. Henry. His golf wasnt the subject of the laughter. Singh hit into the water on the last hole and made bogey for a 74, leaving him in danger of missing the cut. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., opened with a 1-under 71. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot an even-par 72. So ended a first round filled with plenty of action -- a record-tying score by a player hardly anyone knows, McIlroy breaking par for the first time at Sawgrass, 17 balls in the water around the island-green 17th and 33 rounds in the 60s. Padraig Harrington followed an eagle with a double bogey. Michael Thompson made a hole-in-one. But it all started with Castro, a 27-year-old who felt like he couldnt miss. "I dont think anyone has figured out what the secret is to this place," Castro said. Woods, Webb Simpson and Ryan Palmer each had a 67, the lowest score from the afternoon. McIlroy also played in the morning, in the same group as Masters champion Adam Scott (69) and Steve Stricker (67). The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland had never made the cut or even broken par at The Players, but McIlroy figured it out on a gorgeous morning by dialing it back off the tee and letting his iron play take over. McIlroy never came seriously close to a bogey, and he didnt hit driver once on the front nine. "When you hit the shots, it seems very simple," McIlroy said. "I had a lot of good shots out there, lot of iron shots that were 12, 15 feet away from the pin and I got myself a lot of looks for birdies. I adopted maybe more of a conservative strategy off the tee this year. But once you put your ball in the fairway that means you can be more aggressive into the greens. So it sort of balances itself out." The Stadium Course has rarely looked so vulnerable with barely a trace of wind and some pins in bowls that allowed for good looks at birdie. Half the 72 players in the morning broke par. But the punishment is never far away, as Scott Stallings discovered. He opened with five straight birdies to get everyones attention, but after going out in 31, Stallings gave most of it back with a bogey, double bogey and a triple bogey on the 16th when he hit two balls into the water. He shot 40 on the back for a 71. "It just goes to show about the golf course and really how volatile it is," Stallings said. Castro hasnt discovered that yet. This was a day when everything went right. He made three birdies early in his round on the back until making his tap-in birdies on the 17th and 18th. Then, he hit 3-iron into 3 feet on the par-5 second hole for an eagle and was 7-under through 11 holes. On the fourth, he hit his approach inside 2 feet for another birdie, and then he hit wedge to 18 inches on the sixth. Castro had a birdie putt just outside 12 feet to break the course record, but missed it. After his eagle on the second hole -- his 11th of the round -- Castro was reminded of a game he plays to try to birdie every other hole. "When I eagled, I was like, Oh, now Im 7 (under) through 11, so thats keeping ahead of that 50 per cent mark. But this is a different golf course," he said. "The golf course is much harder than most of the other times Ive kind of taken that attitude." Couples shot his 63 in 1992 in the third round. Norman opened with a 63 in 1994 when he went on to shatter the tournament record at 24-under 264. Along with joining them in the record book, Castro matched the record set by Billy Ray Brown in 1992 with his three-shot lead after one round. Castro is not well known even in golf circles. His mother grew up in Peru and moved to America as a teenager along with her sister, Jenny Lidback, who played the LPGA Tour. He toiled in the minor leagues for five years after getting his industrial engineering degree at Georgia Tech. Woods wasnt pleased with how he struck the ball, only with where he missed it. Despite missing six greens, he was left with straightforward shots to save par. The only blemish came at the end, when his 56-degree wedge came up heavy into the grain and failed to reach the putting surface. Johan Camargo Jersey . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Alex Jackson Jersey . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. http://www.custombravesjersey.com/custom-grant-dayton-jersey-large-1187z.html . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. Alejandro Pena Jersey . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Custom Babe Ruth Jersey . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker.Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insists beleaguered Valencia head coach Gary Neville has to keep faith in his methods to survive in his post. The former Manchester United defender has endured a poor start to his managerial career, and he watched on helplessly when Valencia were thrashed 7-0 by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night.Appointed to much fanfare in early December, Neville signed a deal until the end of the season. But a large section of Valencia supporters have now turned on the 40-year-old, whose brother Phil acts as his assistant.Wenger reckons Neville, who had carved out a career as a respected pundit on Sky Sports, would be wrong to start panicking. At some stage, if you have a good team, they always find their way. I think Valencia will get out of it. Arsene Wenger When asked what advice he would give Neville, the Frenchman said: Keep faith in what he is doing.He has not lost his knowledge overnight. Thats what it is about. But not all our faith depends only on us.Neville was often outspoken about Wenger and his Arsenal side during his time as a pundit on Sky Sports but, although the Gunners boss refused to be drawn into those previous criticisms, he feels Nevilles standing in the game served him well in landing a big-name club, like Pep Guardiola with Barcelona before him. Lionel Messi scores for Barcelona in the 7-0 rout of Valencia I believe that most of the time, the reputation of a big player gets you a big club early, Wenger said.You gain a few years. You do not start at Fleetwood. When you are Guardiola, you start straight at Barcelona.When you are not a big name, you have first to battle. That is a disadvantage because you do not start as high. But, on the other hand, you learn your job.I started with youth teams. I started at the age of 33, which is something people forget. That was at the top level. There was no fitness coach, no keeper coach and it was just me and the team. Speaking on Fridays Fantasy Football Club, Nigel Clough gave his opinion on Gary Nevilles tough start as coach of Valencia You have to learn your job.dddddddddddd I had to hit the ball at the keeper to make him work. There is no better way but things have changed. You now have a team around the team.That inexperience leaves Neville in a position where he cannot call upon a wealth of prior knowledge and Wenger feels that could make turning things around more difficult for the eight-time Premier League winner.I believe the experience plays a big part when you dont start well, Wenger said.When you have a difficult start, first of all, you have no credibility through your history because you havent shown you can do it before. Guillem Balague feels Gary Neville has lost the players and the fans after Valencias latest defeat So it becomes more difficult when you have a bad start. At some stage, if you have a good team, they always find their way. I think Valencia will get out of it.What I believe is that if I look at the evolution from when I started, you needed to be a football man. You needed to make all the decisions purely based on your judgement and your assessment. The evolution has meant that in the future the manager will not necessarily need to be a football specialist because you can be surrounded by a team and his problem will be more about selection of the data that he gets and to apply that to the team. Also See: Sky Live: Bournemouth v Arsenal Wenger: Pep in for a shock Balague: Valencia contact Rafa Balagues Neville verdict ' ' '