He has won 14 majors and more than 70 tournaments around
the world. He is the first golfer to earn more than $100 million, and
held top spot on the Official World Golf Ranking longer than many
players have careers on the PGA Tour.
Yet one thing Tiger Woods doesn't have is a winning record
at the Ryder Cup. He sports a mediocre 13-14-2 mark and has only won
the celebrated mug once in his illustrious career.
That's right, Tiger is one for six against the Europeans, and on Tuesday, he took full blame for his play.
"Well, 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 for five sessions each time and didn't go 5-0
for our side. So I certainly am a part of that and that's part of being a
team. I needed to go and get points for my team and didn't do it.
Hopefully I can do that this week, hopefully the other guys do the same
and we can get this thing rolling."
Of course over most of that period of time, Woods has been
the best player in the game and his opponents no doubt get up anytime
they have a chance to face him. There are never any easy matches in the
Ryder Cup but the chance to knock off Woods has fueled more than one
team. Winning a point is a great achievement; winning one when Woods is
on the other team is almost worth two, at least in the Euro team room.
"It's a huge game for an underdog to play a Tiger Woods,
and they get up for it," said Graeme McDowell."They are not expected to
win. When expectation levels drop, game tends to improve. A guy who
plays Tiger Woods, or a player of that calibre, doesn't expect to win so
he lets it all go and he plays out of his skin and gets the upset."
It's worth noting that Woods record in singles play is
much better than the team portion of the competition. Alone, he's 4-1-1.
It's no secret that it's been tough to find a partner for him over the
years. He's played with 11 different golfers over the years although
just two in his last two Cups - Steve Stricker three times in 2010 and
Furyk four times in 2006. Look for Stricker to partner up this week.
"Yeah, 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,"
said Furyk, who along with Phil Mickelson and Woods, are the Old Guard
on the U.S. team. "But also that has a lot to do with 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."
That may be a big chicken and egg thing, but the point is
well made. And, as competitive as Woods is, losing again and again is
not easy to swallow.
What may spur him on this week is the fact he no longer is
No. 1, that he is facing idle chatter that his game is waning and that
his time at the top is running out. Nothing would be sweeter for Woods
than to secure four or even five points and win the cup.
