The Ryder Cup begins Friday with Tiger Woods feeling like he has to be invincible. Or unbeatable. Either would do for the former No. 1 player in the world.
In his six appearances in the extremely emotional competition against Europe, Woods has celebrated only once – at the end of the improbable U.S. comeback that featured Justin Leonard’s bomb putt on No. 17 to clinch the victory in 1999. Other than that and 2008, Woods has watched with dismay as the Europeans lived it up at America’s expense.
“Certainly I am responsible for that, because I didn’t earn the points that I was put out there for,” Woods said. “I believe I was out there, what, in five sessions each time, and I didn’t go 5‑0 on our side. So I certainly am a part of that, and that’s part of being a team. I needed to go get my points for my team, and I didn’t do that.
“Hopefully I can do that this week, and hopefully the other guys can do the same and we can get this thing rolling.”
That was admirable of Woods to accept responsibility, but that’s hard to do in a team game like the Ryder Cup. And so, his 13-14-2 mark in these biennial games is deceiving.
“I think it’s tough to win, first of all,” the U.S. captain said. “Tiger can play great and his partner not play well, or the other team play extremely well. I think there’s probably a lot of times in a lot of match‑play tournaments where it’s just a matter of who you’re up against. …
“I kind of throw the Jim Furyk or the Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods record of wins and losses out. You just ask them, what do you like better, alternate‑shot or best‑ball, or who do you want to play with? There’s a reason why these guys keep making teams, and I don’t look a whole lot at the record.”
Woods does understand, however, that he can be a big part of the United State’s success. He craves feeling as he did in Brookline when the U.S. last won.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like that,” Woods, who contributed three points to the U.S. cause that week, said. “Never seen a comeback like that in golf, in a team atmosphere.”
There are many theories why Woods hasn’t dominated at the Ryder Cup — except in Singles, where he is 4-1-1 — like he has in winning 14 majors.
For instance, Woods, like Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, who also clock in with losing marks, simply has played more matches than others. He’s had 12 different partners during that time, as well, and with five U.S. losses, maybe the team simply wasn’t at its peak.
Furyk, who has partnered Woods to two wins and two losses, understands why Woods is held to such a high standard.
“I think with as dominant as he was through most of those years, I think anyone would be a little surprised to see a .500 (record),” Furyk said. “But also … no one has an extremely good record on our team, would be my guess, and that would be because we haven’t won a lot of these matches.
“If we all had a 75 percent winning percentage, we would be 5‑2 rather than 2‑5 (over the last seven matches).“
Furyk said he’d be more interested in knowing what Woods’ record in Singles is. Told it was 4-1-1, Furyk smiled. “So, yeah, that’s probably the rest of our fault then; how’s that? There’s my theory,” he said.
