• 'I think I'm headed in the right direction,' says Woods
• Small steps the key to improvement, argues golfer

Tiger Woods has insisted he is close to putting himself in contention on a weekly basis, even if recent results suggest otherwise, saying: "I think I'm headed in the right direction."

"I'm going to try and continue to improve in incremental steps in every facet of my game and try to make every facet of my game more efficient," he said.

Woods was speaking at the Congressional Country Club, where he was promoting the AT&T National which takes place from June 28 to 1 July.

The player has had one PGA Tour victory this year but his game has hit a slump recently with a missed cut in Charlotte as well as fortieth-place finishes at The Masters and the Players Championship.

"I've just played three events – I won a tournament [four] tournaments ago," he said. "If I get more efficient at what I'm doing, then I'm going to win golf tournaments." Woods won at Congressional in 2009 before the event moved to suburban Philadelphia to make way for last year's US Open, where injury prevented him from participating in Rory McIlroy's big win.

"Unfortunately, I was in a position where I couldn't play and it was tough because I missed out on a golf course I know, that I've won on and that I love," Woods said. "Those factors made it difficult to sit back and watch. What Rory did was extraordinary. He played some beautiful golf."

McIlroy dominated at Congressional, finishing at 16 under. He is not among the early commitments for the AT&T National, but in addition to Woods, past tournament champions Nick Watney, Justin Rose and KJ Choi will play in the $6.5 m (£4.1m) event.

Par on Congressional's Blue Course will be 71 playing across 7,535 yards. Woods has finishes of tied for 16th (1997 US Open), tied for sixth (2008 AT&T National) and the win three years ago.

"The difficulty is that it's a big ballpark," Woods said. "If you get to where there's a little moisture in the fairways and [tee shots] aren't running and aren't chasing, this course gets really long ... It's a fantastic tee-to-green golf course. You have to drive the ball well and once you get onto the greens, there's a lot of pitch and movement, usually back to front.

"Playing here this year, I would like to see it difficult, there's no doubt," he added.

The latest news and best bets in our daily horse racing blog, plus your chance to win tickets to the Oaks at Epsom

Tuesday's best bets, by Will Hayler

Having been actively touting Parish Hall after his Dewhurst Stakes victory last season, it looks very much to me as if Jim Bolger is still officially 'open to offers' and unofficially 'very keen to sell' the same colt before his reappearance in this weekend's Irish 2000 Guineas.

The likes of Teofilo and New Approach have previously been sold by the Bolgers to join Sheikh Mohammed's team – indeed it was the Sheikh who helpfully steered Bolger towards winning the Derby with New Approach after informing him that's where the colt should be running.

But for some reason, despite Bolger telling the Racing Post that Parish Hall is "as good a colt as I've had", nobody seems to be taking the bait this time. Interesting.

It's not an easy day for plucking out tasty betting opportunities, despite a reasonably appealing card at Nottingham.

Descaro (3.15) didn't get home having travelled strongly in a marathon handicap at Pontefract last time, but the combination of the drop back down in trip with the re-application of the visor he wore when last successful could produce an improved result.

Raffinn (5.15) is moving up in distance having shaped quite pleasingly on his handicap debut at Wolverhampton last time out. He represents the Sylvester Kirk yard, which remains in unusually good form at present – another winner on Monday supplemented two more last week.

Of Handsome Ransom's (6.00) nine brothers and sisters to have so far made it to the track, seven are already winners and several have performed at a high level. Trained like most of the rest by John Gosden, this good-looking colt shaped nicely enough on his reappearance without appearing to be too wound up for his return and that experience can prove all important at Kempton against a couple of debutante fillies with potential.

Tipping competition, day two

No doubles on day one, so the lead is shared by waltersobchak, orso, WalthamstowLad and glavintoby, the four who found Ramona Chase (12-1). Close behind are the three who had Lady Kashaan (10-1), followed by

the Dean's Grange (7-1) dozen.

Today, we'd like your tips, please, for these races: 3.45 Nottingham, 5.00 Brighton, 6.30 Kempton.

This week's prize is a pair of tickets to Epsom on Investec Oaks Day, Friday 1 June, next week. Those who don't manage to win this excellent prize can get further information and book tickets by visiting Epsom's website or call Epsom Downs Racecourse on 0844 579 3004.

As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominatedraces, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -3.

In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.

For terms and conditions click here.

Good luck!

Standings after day one

waltersobchak +10

orso +10

WalthamstowLad +10

glavintoby +10

23skidoo +8

ToffeeDan1 +8

NRJITFC +8

goofs +5

fatdeano +5

Yossarian24 +5

factormax +5

Fixxxer +5

Lindsey6677 +5

twig28 +5

JimmyDeuce +5

BearRides +5

iainqos +5

Mulldog +5

mmmdanish +5

SmokingGun1 -3

jaygee1 -3

redlobster91 -3

slackdad38 -3

nadhr79 -3

carl31 -3

noodlearms -3

diegoisgod -3

paragoncup -3

VolleVlug -3

Thewrongtree -3

Copshaw -3

john987 -3

GForce1 -3

William36 -3

JahLion -3

Harrytheactor -3

wiggy12 -3

Blitzwing -3

chipsolderer -3

sandiuk -3

TL127 -3

londonpatrick -3

stee33 -3

tanias -3

chiefhk -3

scandalous -3

Lameduck -3

melonk -3

suckzinclee -3

Ormrod76 -3

FinsburyPark -3

TheSheikh -3

ElMatador1 -3

zizkov123 -3

Moscow08 -3

chesneywold -3

Foxwoods -3

Harrytheactor -3

genesismama57 -3

Shrewdette -3

brendandanger -3

Mai11 -3

moidadem -3

Talos77 -3

millreef -3

chris1623 -3

unfaircomment -3

Templegate -3

sangfroid -3

Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.

And post your tips or racing-related comments below.

Forget the Premier League for a moment and celebrate these extraordinary goals, from Iñigo Martínez's 50-yard belter to Eren Derdiyok's acrobatics. And then let us know your favourites

Just to prove that there is life outside the Premier League – and away from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for good measure – here are 10 stunning goals from this season that you might not have seen, with their origins in Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland, Israel, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Finland.

There are no favourites here, or rather 10 equal favourites. While the goals are numbered, they are in no particular order: I just needed to make sure I chose the right number. Enjoy.

1) Tal Ben Haim, Maccabi Petah Tikva 2 Ironi Rishon Lezion 2, January

Not that one. This is emphatically not the large, lumbering Israeli defender Tal Ben Haim, but rather the young, speedy Israeli forward Tal Ben Haim. The fact that there is another footballing Tal Ben Haim represents such an unlikely coincidence that Uefa have had to label him "Tal Ben Haim II", for the avoidance of confusion. And here he proved just how emphatically not-the-other-Tal-Ben-Haim he is by running at great pace from one end of the field to the other before producing a finish of most estimable nonchalance to send the ball looping over the goalkeeeper. Ben Haim thus wins the peg-it-down-the-pitch award ahead of Juan Gillermo Cuadrado of Lecce, whose remarkably similar goal against Siena in February was also quite something. Picks up ball well inside his own half? Check. Takes the ball past pretty much an entire team? Check. A couple of ostentatious nutmegs on the edge of the penalty area? Check. Nonchalant finish at the end of it? Check. Having to deal with any kind of tackle worthy of the name? Er, nope.

2) Lex Immers, Den Haag 2 Utrecht 2, November

As the ball connected with Lex Immers' toe 25 yards from goal there was, at a conservative estimate, an 83% chance that it was about to scud into a perfectly innocent woman in Row 48, in all likelihood breaking her jaw. Instead it rocketed into the top corner of the net so fast that Utrecht's veteran goalkeeper Rob van Dijk scarcely had time to arch his 42-year-old eyebrow, let alone attempt a save. "A goal like that you only score once in your career, and I scored mine today," Immers said afterwards. "Could it be goal of the year? Let's hope so." It's not far off. And of course it does help that Immers shares a first name with a superhero villain.

3) Miroslav Stoch, Fenerbahce 6 Genclerbirligi 1, March

A corner is pulled back to someone lurking on the edge of the area, who volleys it into the back of the net. It's a modern classic, and a goal type that Turkey knows all about since Hamit Altintop's effort in their Euro 2012 qualifying victory over Kazakhstan in September 2010 earned him the Fifa Puskas Award for the best goal in the entire world that year. They saw another stonking riff on the theme this season, courtesy of the young Slovakian winger Miroslav Stoch. Hannover's Jan Schlaudraff effort against Hamburg in November deserves a mention, while we're here.

4) Ismael Aissati, Ajax 1 PSV 0, March

Since we're on the subject of goals scored from corners, this is pretty sweet.

5) Iñigo Martínez, Real Betis 2 Real Sociedad 3, November

Iñigo Martínez is a young centre-back who turned 21 only last week and scored just three goals this season. One was a header thumped into the back of the net from five yards after a free kick – the kind of goal, in other words, that centre-backs are supposed to score. The other two were scored from a combined distance of over 100 yards, as first he equalised against Athletic Bilbao in October, and then, one minute into stoppage time and with the game poised at 2-2, he repeated the feat against Real Betis at the end of November. The goals are stunning, struck with his left boot at such force that they don't just sail over the goalkeeper's head and plop over the line, as own-half-goals are prone to doing, but fly into the top corner of the net at such velocity that even had the keeper been on the line – and on neither occasion were they terribly far away – they might still have failed to keep it out. The next best long-distance wonderstrike from a centre-back this season? Alexander Milosevic for AIK v GIF Sundsvall in April.

6) Yiannis Fetfatzidis, Atromitos 0 Olympiakos 2, April

Lots of players chip goalkeepers, but this one was special. Fetfatzikis – rather sensibly known as Fetfa – was standing 17 yards from goal when the ball left his foot, with the goalkeeper roughly on the penalty spot. The challenge here is to get the ball up and down; Fetfa got it up, and up, and up, and down. There could have been three keepers standing on top of each other, on stilts, and they still would have been grasping at thin air. The height the lad got on that chip was, frankly, astonishing. "All football players want to score such difficult and beautiful goals," Fetfa deadpanned afterwards, "but what really matters in the end is for our team to claim victory." A noble sentiment, but clearly a load of old rot.

7) Eren Derdiyok, Wolfsburg 3 Leverkusen 2, March

As it happened, the Bundesliga goal of the season and the best goal in Ligue 1 were pretty similar, involving a player setting the ball up for himself before converting acrobatically, like a one-man beach volleyball team only without a beach, and with overhead kicks. Younès Belhanda's effort for Montpellier against Marseille in April was only just less amazing than Derdiyok's, and made more memorable by presence of a pair of French commentators channelling Kenneth Williams. In their defence, there are occasions when saying "oooooooh!" a lot is simply the right thing to do.

8) Joel Pohjanpalo, HJK Helsinki 3 Mariehamn 1, April

Undisputed hat-trick of the season, for these reasons: it ticks the one-with-the-left-one-with-the-right-and-a-header box; it was scored by a 17-year-old making his full debut on the first day of a new season; and between the header with which he equalised and the low drive from 20 yards with which he completed his hat-trick and ended the contest in the 74th minute, just 162 seconds had elapsed. Just a few weeks earlier he had been on trial at Liverpool; fortunately it seems he left before their coaching methods could have too much of an influence.

9) Dalibor Veselinovic, Kortrijk 1 Gent 3, March

There were some brilliant bicycle kicks this season, but this won out on the basis that while many of the others make you say "wow", this one makes your mouth gape wide and your brain give up entirely. "Such a goal you might score once in your life," Veselinovic said. "It was a goal like Ronaldinho would score. I saw all the pictures and it is incredibly beautiful." And he's not wrong. Next best low countries overhead of the season: Maya Yoshida, in VVV Venlo's 3-3 draw against PSV Eindhoven in September. A couple of other brilliant contenders from Italy: Stefano Mauri for Lazio against Napoli in April; and David Di Michele for Lecce against Parma in December. Any of them could have made the list, frankly.

10) José Shaffer, Beira-Mar 0 Uniao de Leiria 1, September

Perhaps the most emphatic finish of our 10. The kind of goal which should be reported in capital letters, preferably using the words "blunderbuss" and "exocet", and followed by an indecent number of exclamation marks. The ball is laid back into his path and Shaffer judges his run-up perfectly before unleashing an unstoppable drive across goal and into the far top corner of the net, the ball moving at all times with hideously violent intent. Nice hit, mate. Though it's from a couple of yards closer to goal, and the goalkeeper doesn't so much dive to save it but kneel to worship it, Maicon's recent strike for Internazionale against Milan should also be mentioned here, mainly because it looks uncannily like a mirror image of Shaffer's.

• Batista and China's Shanghai Shenhua in negotiation
• Didier Drogba also remains a target for Chinese club

The former Argentina coach Sergio Batista is close to signing a contract with big-spending Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, who are on the lookout to replace the former incumbent Jean Tigana.

A successful swoop for Batista would come in the wake of 2006 World Cup-winning Italian coach, Marcello Lippi, taking charge of rivals Guangzhou Evergrande last week.

"[The contract] has not been signed so far. The two sides [Batista and the Shenhua Club] are still in negotiation," Ma Yue, the club's spokesperson, said.

Batista coached Argentina to Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Games before replacing Diego Maradona as the coach of the national side. He was sacked after only a year following Argentina's failure to end an 18-year wait for a major title at the 2011 Copa America.

Shanghai fired the Frenchman Tigana in April after a poor start to the season, replacing him with interim coach Jean-Florent Ibenge.

The French striker Nicolas Anelka, who joined Shanghai from Chelsea in January, will continue to combine playing as well as helping to coach the side, while Anelka's former striker partner, Didier Drogba, is still a possible target.

• Saints to employ wing as a replacement for Chris Ashton
• Shepherd to join club at end of the Super Rugby season

Northampton Saints have signed Australia international Cameron Shepherd as a direct replacement for the departing England wing Chris Ashton.

Shepherd, who has won nine caps for the Wallabies, can also play full-back and will offer Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder an additional goal-kicking option.

The 28-year-old is currently the leading points scorer for the Perth side, Western Force, and will move to Franklin's Gardens at the end of the Super Rugby season.

"Cameron is a very talented player who has shown regularly that he has the ability and temperament to compete at the highest level," said Mallinder.

"He has a positive impact for his team's attacking capability but is also sold defensively and under the high ball. His versatility and quality will give us added depth in the back three positions. We're looking forward to welcoming him to Franklin's Gardens and believe that he will contribute a good deal to the squad."

Shepherd said: "It's an exciting opportunity for me. Jim has got the team playing a great brand of rugby which I believe suits my style of play and to which I think I've got a lot to offer.

"It is definitely going to be a new challenge for me. The Premiership is a tough competition and there are a lot of teams which like to play exciting rugby, especially the Saints.

"You can see that with the quality of player that there is at the club, players like Ben Foden and George Pisi, who are established internationals."

Ashton is leaving Premiership semi-finalists Northampton to join Saracens.