(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Just months after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident, Tiger Woods made his return to competitive golf on Friday.
Woods, who suffered comminuted open fractures to his right tibia and fibia in February, hit the links with his 12-year-old son, Charlie.
The father-son duo finished in second place behind John Daly and his son John Daly II at the PNC Championship, a tournament in Orlando, Florida, that allows former major champions to compete alongside their family members.
“To be out here with my son like this, it’s the best,” he said in an interview with the Golf Channel. “We’re here to have fun.”
Woods played with his son in the tournament for the first time last year, finishing seventh out of 20 pairs.
Woods, 45, told Golf Digest last month that the idea of playing with Charlie has been a motivating factor in his recovery. Charlie is the golfer’s youngest child with his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren; the former couple also share a 14-year-old daughter, Sam.
For Woods, who has won the Masters five times and the PGA Championship four times, seeing his son follow in his footsteps has been a gratifying experience. He’s also been able to impart some of the wisdom he’s picked up from his years as a golfer.
“I went to golf tournaments to watch him play, and I’m looking at some of these scores he’s shooting and I said, ‘How the hell are you shooting such high scores? I gotta go check this out,'” he said. “So I’d watch him play and he’s going along great. He has one bad hole, he loses his temper, his temper carries him over to another shot and another shot and it compounds itself.”
Woods continued: “‘Son, I don’t care how mad you get. Your head could blow off for all I care just as long as you’re 100% committed to the next shot. That’s all that matters. That next shot should be the most important shot in your life. It should be more important than breathing. Once you understand that concept, then I think you’ll get better.’ And as the rounds went on throughout the summer, he’s gotten so much better.”
(CHICAGO) — When Autumn Carver was in her darkest days fighting off complications from COVID-19, which she contracted while pregnant with her third child, she said she still had hope she would make it home to see her kids and husband.
Now, the 35-year-old is savoring every moment of being home with her family after being discharged from the hospital in time for Christmas.
“We have a lot to be thankful for, for Christmas and celebrating the birth of Jesus and us being together,” she told Good Morning America. “It’s not so much about the presents and all that jazz, we’ll just be happy to be able to be all together for Christmas.”
Carver, of Indiana, was hospitalized in August with COVID-19 and gave birth on Aug. 27 in an emergency C-section while 33 weeks pregnant.
Her son, Huxley, was born healthy, but Carver would not meet him for the first nearly two months of his life.
Shortly after giving birth, Carver was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, machine, which removes carbon dioxide from the blood and sends back blood with oxygen to the body, allowing the heart and lungs time to rest and heal.
She spent around two months on the machine, and was only taken off of it in late October, when she was also finally able to meet her son for the first time.
“That day was precious,” she said, recalling the day she met Huxley.
Several weeks later, on Dec. 1, Carver left Northwestern Medicine in Chicago and returned home for the first time in 100 days.
It was the first time she was able to see her older daughters, ages 5 and 4, since being hospitalized, and it was the first time ever the Carvers were together as a family of five.
“It’s been awesome, better than expected,” said Carver, adding that her daughters were “shocked” to have her home. “The kiddos are still young enough that they’re resilient, but it’s taking them some time still to adjust,” she said.
Carver’s husband, Zach, spent nearly all the past 100 days of her hospitalization by her side while both sets of grandparents took care of their three children.
“Having my whole family under one roof for the first time was, I don’t have words to put on that,” he said. “Happy and joyful, they don’t compare to what I really feel. We’re just all so happy to be together, especially right before Christmas.”
The Carvers said they are especially grateful for every day that Autumn Carver is at home because of all the near-death moments she faced during her battle with COVID-19.
Carver’s husband said he was told multiple times over the 100-day journey that his wife may not make it. Just weeks ago, the couple said they were preparing for Carver to undergo a lung transplant.
“We would just pray together and use that to stay motivated,” said Carver. “We would look forward and we were just taking one day at a time.”
When Carver was discharged on Dec. 1, she was able to walk out of the hospital on her own and did not need oxygen support.
“I think using the word ‘miraculous’ is a very appropriate word,” said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine, who treated Carver. “She’s not going to get her lung function back to where it was before COVID hit her, but she’ll be able to lead a normal life.”
Carver’s lung capacity is currently at 40% due to the damage done by COVID, according to Bharat.
“Even though her recovery has been miraculous, she’s still 40% and that’s significant,” he said. “It’s a reminder that this virus can affect anybody, whether you’re young or healthy, and you cannot take this lightly.”
Carver had no preexisting conditions and was doing CrossFit workouts right up until she started feeling COVID-19 symptoms. She said she hopes to be strong enough to workout again at some point, but her focus is getting strong again for herself and her family.
“We just totally have a renewed outlook on life,” said Carver. “As much as nobody wants to get up in the middle of the night [with kids], it’s easier for us to just count it as a blessing.”
Speaking of how it’s changed them as parents, she added, “We just take the time and sit down and do whatever they want us to do because we missed that so much for so long.”
Carver said her experience has also changed how she lives her own life daily, noting that she gives more hugs to the people she loves and tells them she loves them.
“I tell our girls every morning to be kind and to make somebody smile,” she said. “Our world could use a lot more kindness and forgiveness and joy.”
(NEW YORK) — With a rise in COVID-19 cases across the nation alongside spread of the new omicron variant, several major events this week have been rescheduled or canceled.
New York and Washington, D.C., on Friday and Wednesday, respectively, reported the most COVID-19 cases in a single day, breaking their pandemic records.
The NBA announced Sunday it has postponed five upcoming games “because of players and staff members entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols.”
Postponed games include three on Sunday, Denver Nuggets at Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers. Monday’s game between the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors along with Tuesday’s Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets matchup were also postponed.
The NFL on Friday rescheduled three games, including moving Saturday’s contest between the Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Raiders to Monday at 5 p.m. ET.
All members of the organization who recently tested positive were vaccinated, according to a statement from Cleveland Browns Senior Vice President of Communications Peter John-Baptiste.
Sunday’s games between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles and between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks were postponed to Tuesday.
In a statement, the NFL said they made these schedule changes “based on medical advice” after “seeing a new, highly transmissible form of the virus.”
This trend is observable in other sports as well, as the NHL earlier announced it was rescheduling all games for the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers through at least the Christmas weekend amid a COVID-19 outbreak.
The organization pointed to rising positive cases within the last two days and the continued spread of COVID-19 as a concern.
The Calgary Flames, which has already had six games postponed, will now not play through Dec. 23.
On Saturday, the NHL also announced that the Boston Bruins’ and Nashville Predators’ games will be postponed through at least Dec. 26 due to rising COVID-19 cases. The move impacts four Bruins games and three Predators games.
Additionally, Saturday night’s Toronto-Vancouver game and Sunday’s Arizona-Vancouver and Toronto-Seattle games have been postponed after “a number” of Toronto and Vancouver players entered COVID-19 protocols over the past two days, the league said.
On Sunday, the NHL announced that all games between U.S. and Canadian teams scheduled for Dec. 20 to Dec. 23 will be postponed and rescheduled.
Several college basketball games this weekend were also canceled, including No. 18 Tennessee vs. Memphis, Iona vs. No. 16 Seton Hall, No. 4 UCLA vs. North Carolina, No. 23 Colorado State vs. Tulsa and No. 15 Ohio State vs. No. 21 Kentucky. No. 2 Duke actually had two games canceled after it tried to schedule matchups against Cleveland State and then Loyola (Maryland), but each fell through due to virus concerns. Seton Hall, enjoying one of its best seasons in decades, has already forfeited its conference opener against rival St. John’s on Monday as well due to a shortage of healthy players.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 20, 9:16 am
Dr. Jha on omicron surge, holiday travel, his prediction for next year
The omicron surge is so dangerous due to a combination of higher transmissibility and the variant’s ability to make vaccinated people mildly sick from the disease, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said on “Good Morning America” Monday.
While there are still a lot of unknowns about omicron’s severity, Jha said cases with this latest variant’s surge are “doubling in numbers about every two to three days.”
“That’s unlike anything we’ve seen,” he said.
Jha said, “I do think lots of people are going to get [omicron].”
“It’s an incredibly contagious variant. I think people should understand that the goal cannot be to avoid infection at all cost — that’s an unrealistic goal,” he said. “The goal should be: prevent deaths and severe illness, which vaccines will do, [and] keep our hospitals from getting crushed, which again, vaccinations and testing can help with. This is very contagious. Lots of Americans will end up getting it. Let’s just make sure that they don’t get very sick from it. “
For people traveling over the holidays, Jha said airplanes are pretty safe, but he recommended wearing a high-quality mask because airports don’t always have great ventilation.
Looking forward, Jha said, “I think we’re going to be in much better shape next year.”
Dec 20, 5:15 am
Moderna says booster increases omicron neutralizing antibodies
Moderna on Monday said its current vaccine booster increased neutralizing antibodies against omicron within a month of getting the shot.
“The dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant is concerning to all. However, these data showing that the currently authorized Moderna COVID-19 booster can boost neutralizing antibody levels 37-fold higher than pre-boost levels are reassuring,” Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, told ABC News. “To respond to this highly transmissible variant, Moderna will continue to rapidly advance an Omicron-specific booster candidate into clinical testing in case it becomes necessary in the future. We will also continue to generate and share data across our booster strategies with public health authorities to help them make evidence-based decisions on the best vaccination strategies against SARS-CoV-2.”
Moderna’s current booster approved by the Food and Drug Administration is a 50-microgram dose. A 100-microgram dose would increase neutralizing antibodies by 83 times, the company said on Monday.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 20, 5:15 am
Moderna says booster increases omicron neutralizing antibodies
Moderna on Monday said its current vaccine booster increased neutralizing antibodies against omicron within a month of getting the shot.
“The dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant is concerning to all. However, these data showing that the currently authorized Moderna COVID-19 booster can boost neutralizing antibody levels 37-fold higher than pre-boost levels are reassuring,” Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, told ABC News. “To respond to this highly transmissible variant, Moderna will continue to rapidly advance an Omicron-specific booster candidate into clinical testing in case it becomes necessary in the future. We will also continue to generate and share data across our booster strategies with public health authorities to help them make evidence-based decisions on the best vaccination strategies against SARS-CoV-2.”
Moderna’s current booster approved by the Food and Drug Administration is a 50-microgram dose. A 100-microgram dose would increase neutralizing antibodies by 83 times, the company said on Monday.
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — A jury of eight men and four women will begin to deliberate on Monday in the criminal fraud case against fallen Silicon Valley CEO Elizabeth Holmes.
The jurors will be tasked with weighing the 11 fraud charges leveled against Holmes following weeks of witness testimony from insiders who worked at the blood-testing startup, and patients and investors who prosecutors say were defrauded by the Theranos founder once lauded as the next Steve Jobs.
Holmes, 37, is charged with nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She could face decades in prison if convicted.
Holmes’ fate was handed to the jury on Friday, after defense attorneys concluded their closing arguments and prosecutors wrapped up their rebuttal.
In the last minutes of his closing remarks, Holmes’ lawyer, Kevin Downey, doubled down on his team’s central defense: that their client did not intend to defraud the alleged victims — something prosecutors must show to secure a conviction.
Even as the company was thrust into turmoil, Downey said, Holmes stayed on as the company’s leader and never cashed out a single share of her Theranos stock, once worth billions.
“You know that at the first sign of trouble, crooks cash out, criminals cover up, and rats leave a fleeing ship,” he said, his voice rising to a crescendo. “She didn’t do any of those.”
“She stayed the whole time and she went down with that ship when it went down,” he added. “You don’t need more from me to know what her intent was.”
But in his rebuttal argument, prosecutor John Bostic reframed Holmes’ propensity for hard work and company success as a motive for the alleged crimes.
“The defense holds that out as a reason to doubt Ms. Holmes’ intent to defraud in this case,” he said. “But in fact that was her motive.”
“She committed these crimes because she was desperate for the company to succeed,” he added.
Theranos was the brainchild of Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 19 to pour herself into building a diagnostics company which she vowed would revolutionize health care. And just a few years later, when she was 26, prosecutors contend, she knowingly made false statements to investors and others to get money.
The “rosy” picture of her startup, which promised its technology could run a full range of blood tests from a tiny sample, among other claims, was never real, Bostic said.
“It never existed,” he told the jury at the top of his rebuttal, adding that this version of Theranos did exist in the minds of the investors and patients who believed Holmes.
But Downey said that some of the allegedly false statements Holmes made about her company to investors arose from information she obtained from her Theranos team.
Her perception of the number of tests that could be run by her marquee miniature analyzer — which she dubbed the “Edison” or “miniLab” — was provided by scientists and engineers, according to Downey, and the hefty financial projections Theranos had shared with investors were prepared by Holmes’ ex-boyfriend and company COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani.
It was also not until the fall of 2015 that she began to hear about the issues that beset her lab, and would be later uncovered in a federal audit, he added.
But in their two days of closing arguments, the defense did not utter a word about the bombshell abuse allegations Holmes had brought against Balwani during her seven-day stint on the stand — claims that Balwani has firmly denied.
The government, on the other hand, offered the jury a framework to judge Holmes’ accusations against her former boyfriend.
“In the absence of any evidence linking that experience to the charged conduct, you should put it out of your mind,” Bostic said.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Sacramento 121, San Antonio 114
Detroit 100, Miami 90
Portland 105, Memphis 100
Phoenix 137, Charlotte 106
Chicago 115, LA Lakers 110
Minnesota 111, Dallas 105
New Orleans at Philadelphia (Postponed)
Cleveland at Atlanta (Postponed)
Denver at Brooklyn 7:30 p.m. (Postponed)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Vegas 4 N-Y Islanders 3 (SO)
Winnipeg 4, St. Louis 2
Pittsburgh 3, New Jersey 2
Los Angeles 3, Washington 2
Boston at Ottawa (Postponed)
Nashville at Carolina (Postponed)
Toronto at Seattle (Postponed)
Arizona at Vancouver (Postponed)
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Buffalo 31, Carolina 14
Dallas 21, NY Giants 6
Detroit 30, Arizona 12
Houston 30, Jacksonville 16
Miami 31, NY Jets 24
Pittsburgh 19, Tennessee 13
Cincinnati 15, Denver 10
San Francisco 31, Atlanta 13
Green Bay 31, Baltimore 30
New Orleans 9, Tampa Bay 0
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Iowa St. 77, SE Louisiana 54
Texas 60, Stanford 53
Steve Perry age 8, courtesy Steve Perry; Steve Perry 2021; Myriam Santos
This Christmas has brought us the gift of Steve Perry‘s first holiday album, The Season. He says the songs on it will transport you emotionally to past Christmases — because that’s exactly what happened to him while he was recording it.
Perry tells ABC Audio that while recording “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” for the album, he suddenly had a vision of being in his grandmother’s house during the holidays.
“As I was singing it, I [could] see…her yellow kitchen tile. I could see her in the kitchen,” Perry recalls. “…I’m looking through the door jamb where I used to hang the mistletoe…into the living room, to this massive tree she used to put up.”
After shaking off the vision, Perry says, “I went, ‘Wow, that was pretty weird.’ I emotionally was right there, standing in front of that door, looking at that tree.” He credits the spooky experience to “the power” of these “timeless” holiday songs.
The other thing that transports Perry to past Christmases is cooking the dishes his grandmother and mother used to make.
“Deviled eggs have to be there for Christmas. But the most important thing is the stuffing,” he shares. “The stuffing was my grandmother’s recipe and I make it from memory, just watching her, because I never wrote it down. And I’ll tell you, the stuffing is the secret to make it feel like holidays to me.”
And while he’ll skip roasting a turkey in favor of turkey burgers, Perry explains, “Cooking is one of the things I love to do during the holidays, because it’s kind of like music, y’know? It’s another way to connect.”
“I mean, I can get pretty verklempt cooking,” he says, using the Yiddish expression for “overcome with emotion.” “Because it just throws me back to watching them cook for me.”
Most artists wait until they’ve established themselves before releasing a Christmas record, but *NSYNC did it with their second album. Today, 1998’s Home for Christmas is considered a Christmas pop classic, though Lance Bass still thinks it’s odd that they made it so early in their career.
“It was so strange,” he laughs. “I was just talking about that with AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys, ’cause they just did a Christmas album that’s coming out next year. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh…I can’t believe after only knowing each other for two years, we…came out with a Christmas album!'”
Lance says he’s pleasantly surprised that the album has stood the test of time. “We do not think it would be accepted as well as it has [been],” he notes. “Because…in 1998, we were just stupid little teenagers in a boy band that no one really knew yet.”
“I listen to it every time the holidays come around,” he says, laughing. “The songs are good! The songs ring true! The songs are fun…and now it’s becoming some sort of a classic.”
Joey adds, “It’s weird to know that there’s a possibility when I’m gone or when all of us are gone…they’re still gonna be playing that album…[and] that song.”
Lance, meanwhile, is preparing for his “magical” first Christmas as a dad to newborn twins Alexander and Violet, and he can’t wait to share his favorite holiday traditions with them.
“I always loved finding our Christmas tree together and…decorat[ing] it together and looking at all the memories as you put every little ornament on,” he says. “And so I’m excited to…go down memory lane every year and decorate the tree with the kids.”
Jack White‘s “Taking Me Back” is taking him to new heights on the Billboard charts.
The latest single from the White Stripes/Raconteurs/Dead Weather rocker has hit the top 10 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, a feat he’d never previously accomplished as a solo artist, or with any of his bands.
Prior to “Taking Me Back,” White’s highest-charting solo single on the Mainstream Rock tally was “Lazaretto,” the title track off his 2014 album, which reached number 25. Overall, White’s Mainstream Rock previous peak was the 2007 White Stripes single “Icky Thump,” which made it to number 11.
“Taking Me Back” also gives White a solo high on the Alternative Airplay chart, where it sits at number five, besting the number-nine peak of “Lazaretto.” Outside of his solo career, White hit number one on Alternative Airplay three times: with “Icky Thump” and fellow Stripes classic “Seven Nation Army,” and with The Raconteurs’ “Steady as She Goes.”
“Taking Me Back” will appear on White’s upcoming solo album Fear of the Dawn, due out April 8. A second record, titled Entering Heaven Alive, will arrive July 22, and includes an acoustic version of “Taking Me Back.”
White will launch a U.S. tour in support of both records next year, beginning in April.
