Tiger Woods wiped away tears amid emotional scenes as he was cheered the full length of the 18th hole on Friday on what he says “feels like my last time” playing the Old Course in an Open Championship.

No matter that the former world number one was about to miss the halfway cut at the landmark 150th staging of the world’s oldest major, the standing ovation was recognition of his standing in the game.

Woods has won two of his three Claret Jugs at the revered St Andrews venue and skipped last month’s US Open to ensure he would be fit to play his favourite course this week.

The 46-year-old did not say it would be his final Open Championship, but added: “I came to understand what Jack [Nicklaus] and Arnold [Palmer] felt in the past and I felt that way. They understand what golf is all about and what it takes to be an Open champion.

“I have been lucky enough to win here twice – it felt emotional because I don’t know whether I will be able to play when it comes back here.”

The Open usually returns to St Andrews every five years, which would make the next one in 2027, although an official announcement is yet to be made.

Woods finished with a three-over-par 75 for a nine-over total, 22 shots adrift of Cameron Smith, who leads after two rounds.

The Australian world number six carded an eight-under-par 64 as he improved to 13 under.

Smith leads by two from American Cameron Young on a leaderboard stacked with the world’s best.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is on 10 under with Norway’s Viktor Hovland, while two-time major winner Dustin Johnson is at nine under, one ahead of world number one Scottie Scheffler and England’s Tyrrell Hatton.

But while the tournament ploughed on, few will forget the send-off for Woods.

An opening six-over-par 78 in round one left Woods saying he would “need a 66” to make the weekend. That would have been a tall order were the 15-time major winner in good health, but nigh-on impossible given he is still feeling the after-effects of the car crash in February 2021 that almost cost him his right leg.

A smile flashed across his face after a birdie on the third. But all thoughts of that 66 were extinguished by bogeys on the fourth and sixth holes. 

A run of nine pars followed before he tried a flop shot over a greenside bunker on the 16th and only succeeded in sticking his ball in the sand, walking off with a double-bogey six.

Regardless of his performance, Woods was cheered round the links by thousands of fans eager for a glimpse of the man who has had such a huge impact on the game over the past quarter of a century.

He was playing with Matt Fitzpatrick, who triumphed at Brookline in June to win his first major. And the Englishman and playing partner Max Homa paused to let Woods cross the iconic Swilcan Bridge alone and acknowledge the adulation.

“It gave me goosebumps,” said Fitzpatrick. “Just looking around, seeing everyone stood up, and giving him a standing ovation coming down 18. Yeah, it was incredible. It’s something that will live with me forever.”

Woods had to compose himself before playing his final chip over the Valley of Sin, muttering “come on, come on” to himself. He nudged the ball to within four feet but then missed the birdie putt.

Fitzpatrick also missed a birdie putt but he signed for the 66 that Woods had craved, to reach six under at halfway.

Scoring goes low in calm conditions

Just as Woods was finishing up about 15:00 BST, Rory McIlroy was heading down the first, starting his second round on six under par.

He will have seen those that had gone out early carding low scores in drizzly conditions that helped soften up the greens.

Woods called the morning more akin to winter, the afternoon summer. Par for the Old Course.

And as the afternoon turned into evening, McIlroy was at his battling best as the sun shone at its brightest. The momentum of birdies on the fifth and seventh holes were halted by a bogey on the eighth. But a run of three birdies from the 10th lifted him to 10 under, only to give one back on the 15th.

But a superb 20-footer on the 17th saw him sign for a four-under 68. He was joined on 10 under by Hovland, who had a chip-in eagle two on the 15th in a 66.

“I’m picking holes in everything and walking off thinking I could have been a couple better, but I’m in a great position going into the weekend,” said McIlroy.

“It is nice to be in the mix.”

Former world number one Johnson, who has been suspended by the PGA Tour for joining the LIV Golf Series, shot a 67 in the morning gloom to set the initial pace on nine under.

The two-time major winner is one ahead of Scheffler and Hatton after they shot bogey-free rounds of 68 and 66 respectively.

Australia’s Adam Scott, who threw away victory a decade ago at the 2012 Open, carded the lowest round of the morning starters with a bogey-free 65 lifting him into a group on seven under.

However, when the sun came out mid-afternoon and the wind died away, Smith took advantage with five birdies in his opening eight holes. The world number six, who won the PGA Tour’s flagship Players Championship at Sawgrass in March, then holed a 64-foot eagle putt on the par-five 14th to move further clear.

“I feel like I’ve been in this spot a lot over the past couple of years, and things just haven’t quite gone my way yet,” said Smith, who is yet to win a major but has had four top-10 finishes in the past five Masters.

“I’ve just got to be really patient over the weekend. The golf course is going to get a lot harder and a lot faster. So just be patient and make good putts.”

Young, who led overnight on eight under, was among those out in the later wave, and he birdied the last to complete a three-under 69 and finish on 11 under.

England’s Barclay Brown is the leading amateur after following his opening 68 with a 70 for a six-under todal, three ahead of Italy’s Filippo Celli.

The cut mark came at level par, meaning defending champion Collin Morikawa, who ended on one over after a 73 is among those heading home early.

Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum says the reigning champions are unbothered about facing the hosts Morocco – even if the Atlas Lionesses will be roared on by a partisan crowd.

Nigeria also booked their WAFCON semi-final place on Thursday, with a gritty 1-0 victory over neighbours Cameroon to reach their ninth successive World Cup.

The Falcons lost their opening game against South Africa but bounced back to beat Botswana, Burundi and Cameroon to reach the last four.

“I have a lot of respect for Morocco,” Waldrum said in a post-match conference. I think they’re one of the best sides here in the tournament.

“I think their goals have pretty much all come off a set pieces of some sort. We know they’re very capable and very dangerous in those situations.

“Fans here in Morocco have been fantastic coming out supporting their team so we fully expect it to be a full stadium. I don’t think that’s a concern.

“Our players have played in big stages. And when you’re looking at some of our players that play abroad, most of them are playing in clubs that are playing in front of good crowds.

“Obviously you want the fans on your side. We know that’s not going to happen, but I think our players will respond fine with it.”

Team Nigeria started the 2022 World Athletics Championships taking place in Oregon, United States on a fairly impressive note on Friday afternoon.

Three years after the spectacle in Doha, Qatar, the world’s best athletes are in the United States to compete for honours in Athletics’ biggest event outside the Olympic Games.

Team Nigeria had a busy opening day with representation in the men’s Shot Put and women’s Hammer Throw, as well as the mixed 4x400m and the men’s 100m heats.

But the country’s first attempt at a podium finish suffered a setback. It was nonetheless commendable as the Mixed Relay team made it to the final of the event where they finished in the sixth position.

The quartet of Samson Nathaniel, Imaobong Nse Uko, Dubem Amene, and Patience Okon-George posted a time of 3:16.21to finish in the sixth position.

Team Dominican Republic won with a world-leading time of 3:09.82 ahead of Team Netherlands and USA. USA led the race until the last 30m when they were overtaken and the Netherlands almost pipped the Dominican Republic on the line in what was the USA’s Allyson Felix’s last race before retirement.

To make it to the final, the same Nigerian quartet ran a season’s best time of 3:14.59, placing fifth in their heat which saw them progress as one of the two fastest times outside of the automatic qualifying zones.

There was something to cheer about for Nigeria in the men’s 100m event where two of the country’s three entrants qualified for the semi-finals.

Though he didn’t have a smooth outing while he was in Nigeria for the National trials held in Benin City, Raymond Ekevwo had it fairly good in his first race in Oregon.

The reigning African Games champion finished third in the first heat, won by Marvin Bracy (10.05s), with a time of 10.17s, taking an automatic qualifying spot.

It was even better for Nigeria’s current fastest man, Favour Ashe, who had a blistering performance in his own heat; returning a time of 10.00s.

Though he finished in fourth place, and narrowly missed out on automatic qualification, his fast time ensured he secured a berth in the semifinals nonetheless.

Unfortunately, Udodi Onwuzurike, Nigeria’s third entrant in the 100m, could only manage a sixth place finish in Heat 6 with a time of 10.26s. This was not enough for him to pull through like his other compatriots.

Having now missed out on the 100m, Onwuzurike who is the reigning 200m World U-20 Champion will switch focus to the 200m and the 4x100m relay events.

Away from the tracks, two Nigerians – Chukwuebuka Enekwechi and Dotun Ogundeji – were in action in the men’s Shot Put event.

While the former progressed into the final having landed a 20.87m throw, the latter with his best throw of 18.35m could not make it out of the second qualifying pool.

The African Champion in the women’s Hammer Throw, Sade Olatoye, made history as Nigeria’s first-ever participant in this event at the World Championships.

But her dream of making the final in her first historic outing was not achieved as she finished 13th in her qualification group with a mark of 64.82m.

The tournament continues on Saturday.

The 2021/22 Nigeria Professional Football League season will reach a climax on Sunday with matches at 10 different centres.

Stanley Eguma’s Rivers United have already claimed the title, while Plateau United have second position in the bag.

The two clubs will represent Nigeria in the CAF Champions League next season.

The race for third position which guarantees a place in the CAF Confederation Cup and relegation battle will be the major talking points.

Two clubs: Remo Stars and Kwara United are in the hunt for third position.

Remo Stars, who will host Niger Tornadoes in Ikenne are third on the log with 59 points from 37 matches.

Fourth-placed Kwara United, who are a point adrift face a tricky away trip to Heartland.

The Naze Millionaires are in deep relegation and must win the tie to have any chance of staying afloat.

Church club, MFM and four-time champions, Kano Pillars are already relegated from the Nigeria Professional Football League and two other clubs will join in the Nigeria National League (NNL).

Heartland, Dakkada, Abia Warriors, Katsina United and Shooting Stars fans all have a tough weekend ahead of them as their respective clubs go to battle on Sunday.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has commended Nigeria for the significant improvement seen in its fight against doping. Unlike the sad episode at the Tokyo Olympics where 10 out of the 23 registered Nigerian athletes got barred from competing, all 25 of the country’s athletes in Oregon have been given a clean bill of health to compete.

The barred athletes in Tokyo had failed to do the required number of Out-of-Competition tests which the AIU made compulsory for Category A federations like Nigeria which are deemed to have the highest doping risk and are considered a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.

“Thanks to significant improvements in most of their domestic testing programmes, those countries categorised as being the highest doping risk to the sport do not have any athletes declared not eligible for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 for failing to meet minimum testing requirements as set out under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules (Anti- Doping Rules),” the AIU statement read in part.

Under the framework of Rule 15 governing National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations, which came into force in January 2019, National Federations are accountable for ensuring appropriate anti-doping measures are in place in their respective jurisdictions.

Among other things, the Rule sets out minimum requirements for testing on the national teams of ‘Category A’ federations.

“The key requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than 3 weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event.

“Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games. For the year 2022, the seven identified ‘Category A’ National Federations are Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and Ukraine.

“While Nigeria did a paltry 26 tests in 2021, it has already conducted 157 this term, and the quantum improvement has been hailed even though it is admitted that even more can still be done to totally get rid of cheats in the sports.

“It is accepted now in our sport that National Federations must play their part in supporting anti-doping efforts,” said David Howman, Chair of the AIU Board.

The statement continued: “Therefore, it is very pleasing to see the significant improvements in most ‘Category A’ countries thanks to this rule.

“I particularly commend the Nigerian team. It is amazing what can be achieved when the domestic authorities start taking anti-doping seriously. While there have clearly been positive steps across the board, there is still many improvements that can be made in the application of this rule and we will continue to work with Category A Federations to do so,” he added.

In total, 156 athletes from six Category A countries were entered for the World Championships with Ethiopia leading the line with 46 athletes followed by Kenya with 41 while Nigeria has 25. Morocco, Ukraine, and Bahrain have 16, 22, and six athletes, respectively, in Oregon.

Emmanuel Dennis scored once as Watford defeated Wycombe Wanderers 4-1 in a pre-season friendly at their London Colney training ground on Saturday afternoon.

Dennis scored Watford’s third goal in the 52nd minute.

The striker fired home from close range after Joao Pedro’s shot was parried into his path.

Senegal forward, Ismaila Sarr, put the Hornets ahead from the penalty spot in the second minute.

Sarr added the second four minutes after the break.

Ryan Tafazolli reduced the deficit for Wycombe Wanderers a few minutes later.

Substitute Yasser Asprilla added the fourth for Watford on the dot of 90 minutes following a cut-back from the right.

Dennis’ international teammates; Samuel Kalu, Maduka Okoye and William Troost-Ekong were all in action for Watford in the game.

Former Flying Eagles midfielder, Tom Dele-Bashiru was also paraded for 15 minutes by Watford.