Tiger Woods exit can help Americans

August 20, 2014

Tiger Woods has ruled himself out of the Ryder Cup next month, in a move that might in fact help the Americans get on with team selection purely on golfing form. Woods has been troubled by injury and poor form ever since he returned from a back surgery earlier this season. A couple of missed cuts and a poor finish and a withdrawal aren’t the kind of results you would associate with Tiger, but that is all he has to show for his enthusiastic return from injury. Tom Watson might be relieved that he no longer has to deal with the dilemma of choosing to play with Woods irrespective of indifferent form in recent months. In the end, while Woods is a big name to reckon with, he may have given the team a positive boost in stating his inability to play the Ryder Cup.

A missed at the PGA Championship, where he looked ill at ease and doctor’s advise, seems to have prompted Woods to take the decision. “When your name is called you have to be able to go out there and get a point and I just didn’t feel like I could be ready enough to get a point,” said Woods, in an interview to Sky Sports News. “With that being said it was time to shut it down, get stronger, get more explosive again and get back for next year.” Woods in now expected to return to action in the first week of December for the World Challenge at Isleworth, a charity event managed by his own foundation.

Meanwhile, team America, already underdogs against the formidable European team can focus their energies on the upcoming Ryder Cup. The USA team will need to muster a tight knit unit if they are to pose a strong challenge next month in Scotland. The weather, the PGA Centenary Course and a raucous crowd will work against the Americans – so they will need some real team work to upset the apple cart.

In the absence of Woods and Dustin Johnson, who is on a “leave of absence,” Watson will rely upon the experience and wisdom of Phil Mickelson. Leftie saved the captain one of his three cards, by finishing runner-up at Valhalla. It will be the 10th straight Ryder Cup for Mickelson, who played his first when Jordan Spieth was barely two years old. Now, that is considerable experience.

Bubba Watson picked himself pretty much when he won the Masters, only for the third time in his careeer, but he will feel assured from topping the chart . Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker, Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Spieth, Patrick Reed and Zach Johnson complete the nine who select themselves on merit.

The Ryder Cup begins on September 26th, and Watson will unveil his three picks sometime in early September. The FedEx Cup playoff events at The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship might present a last opportunity to the men who are seeking a window to impress their captain.

Report by Anand Datla

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