‘Europe will be scared of Tiger’
EUROPE’S Ryder Cup players will struggle to sleep if they are drawn against Tiger Woods, according to Colin Montgomerie. Despite having to rely on a wild card to be picked for the USA team, Woods has astounded critics with the quality of his play during his comeback from a fourth major back surgery. His 14 majors and experience of playing in seven Ryder Cups — albeit with just one US win — means Woods is the one man Thomas Bjorn’s players will most want to avoid when the pairings are revealed at the opening ceremony on Thursday. ‘Fancy going to bed knowing you’re playing next day against, with all respect, whoever it might be... or Tiger,’ said Montgomerie (below), who was captain for Europe’s memorable Ryder Cup win at Celtic Manor in 2012. ‘If I’ve gone to bed knowing I’m playing Tiger, I tell you what, I haven’t slept as well as if I’d known I was playing anyone else on the American team.’ Montgomerie also believes US captain Jim Furyk should ignore history and consider a bold partnership of Woods and his old rival Phil Mickelson. The all-star pair have an unhappy record together in the Ryder Cup, with Montgomerie and Pádraig Harrington teaming up to beat them in the four-balls in 2004, before Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke took them down in the foursomes the same day in a symbolic double blow for Europe. The antipathy then — between the men who now have 19 majors between them — was all too obvious, but since Woods’s latest return they have been much more friendly, even playing a practice round together at Augusta before the Masters. They will also duel controversially for $9million in a Las Vegas exhibition in November. ‘They’re closer now than they’ve ever been,’ said Montgomerie. ‘If they played together now they’d be much better than in 2004,150 tournaments won between them, my god. Come on, put your arm around each other and get on with it. ‘I don’t think Palmer and Nicklaus were great friends when they were competing but look how friendly they became as they got older. Let’s hope Phil and Tiger can be that way. It’d be super to see.’