It has been news that Tiger Woods had knee surgery two days after finishing runner-up to Trevor Immelman at the Masters on Sunday may go some way to explaining the world No1′s relatively lackluster performance at Augusta National. Woods had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair damaged cartilage and is expected to be out for four to six weeks. He will probably miss The Players Championship, dubbed by some as the fifth major, at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, next month, but he expects to be fit for the US Open, at Torrey Pines, San Diego, in June.

If there are no complications in his recovery, the enforced layoff will not affect Woods’s sharpness on the course. He plays in fewer tournaments than any of his rivals and yet wins far more. In 2007, he played in only 16 events on the PGA Tour in the United States, winning seven times; in the previous year, he won eight out of 15.

The question, however, is: how much more can one knee take? There is an underlying weakness, which may be the undoing of arguably the best player to have graced the sport

Rumors were flying high about a possible rift between controversial actor Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes on the one side and their seemingly good pals David and Victoria Beckham a few days ago. It was claimed that Cruise is worried that his wife might be setting too much store on the opinions and lifestyle of her good friend Posh Spice – among other things, following the same strict diet as Victoria and losing too much weight because of the 900 calories-a-day plan. However, there were others who noted that the reason for which Cruise was ditching the Beckham clan – which he so warmly welcomed to the States some time ago – was that the soccer player and his wife did not buy into his Scientology proselytizing and were unwilling to join the controversial cult. As things are now, it looks like Cruise is really stepping up his game, and his efforts to keep his wife Katie Holmes away from Victoria Beckham is apparently paying off.

It has been said that Victoria Beckham’s influence on Holmes was apparently one thing that high-powered Tom Cruise could not live with. “Katie sees Victoria as a role model. She copies Victoria’s look and even cut her hair the same way,” another thing that is being buzz, implying that Tom might be unhappy with the way his wife is slightly turning into a taller version of her British friend. Of course, one thing that might also annoy Cruise is that both Victoria and David were reluctant to join the ranks of Tom Cruise’s controversial, celebrity-loving cult of Scientology. As a result, Victoria might be well on the way to losing Holmes as a friend. Stay tuned for more details.