Woods a weapon without taking swing: Montgomerie
CH A S K A , MI N N. • It’s an impossible task, but Tiger Woods, one week from returning to competitive golf after more than a year away, is trying to keep a low profile at the Ryder Cup.
He is one of Davis Love III’s vice- captains on Team USA, but he isn’t doing interviews. If he even were to hit balls on the practice range, he might be a bigger story than any of the 24 players who are preparing to begin the matches on Friday.
But Love has called Woods and Phil Mickelson key members of the team — “They have a huge amount of success for a reason: because they know what they are doing,” he said — and 2010 European captain Col i n Montgomerie t hinks Woods will be a valuable psychological weapon for the U. S. without ever hitting a shot.
“It will be difficult for our rookies when he’s standing there. You know Tiger is there, you know he is well up for it, the crowd will be there chanting Tiger’s name,” said Montgomerie.
“If I had someone of that stature for my first game —
if Jack Nicklaus had been standing there on the first tee, or Arnold Palmer — my God, you would feel it. And Tiger will be used as much as possible to be that way. It was a bit of a coup to get Tiger involved.” NOT THE FULL MONTY: Montgomerie won t he Champions Tour Pacific Links Championship at Bear Mountain on Vancouver Island on Sunday evening, but Golf Channel, which did not interrupt his playoff with Scott McCarron until well after many other outlets had already broken the news of Arnold Palmer’s death, eventually cut away to carry full- on coverage of the passing of its co- founder. So Monty’s victory was not televised live.
PICTURE THIS: Asked if he could paint a picture of what it’s like to stand on the first tee for the first time in a Ryder Cup match, Jordan Spieth laughed.
“Paint a picture? I actually asked for a picture painted of that, and I have it in my kitchen/ living room. It’s the main piece of artwork in my house, and it’s right after I struck my first tee shot at Gleneagles ( in 2014),” he said.