Tiger on mission to break Cup drought
Tour Championship win has Woods firing on Ryder Cup return
TRyder Cup
iger Woods paused on his walk towards the 18th green at Le Golf National and threw his head back in laughter. These are happy times for Woods, regardless of whatever Bryson DeChambeau said to cause such a reaction yesterday.
Now if he can get that to translate in the Ryder Cup.
For all his amazing feats in golf — 80 victories on the PGA Tour, the most recent on Monday at the Tour Championship after returning following a fourth back surgery that threatened to end his career — Woods has been on only one winning team at the Ryder Cup. That was nearly 20 years ago and required a record comeback on the final day.
His own record is 13-17-3, a product of being on six losing teams.
“Looking back on my entire Ryder Cup career, that’s not something that I have really enjoyed and I’ve really liked seeing,” Woods said. “I’ve played a lot of matches. Of those seven previous Ryder Cups, I’ve sat out one session. . . . My overall Ryder Cup record, not having won as a player since 1999, is something that hopefully we can change. We haven’t won as a US squad here in 25 years on foreign soil. So hopefully, that will change this week, as well.”
Woods used to get defensive about his mark, pointing out that no one could recite the Ryder Cup record of Jack Nicklaus (17-8-3 during an era of US dominance), but that everyone knew Nicklaus had won 18 majors.
One element he faced every two years was trying to be on a team of 12 players even as the golfing world saw it as Tiger Woods and 11 other Americans. He was 21 when he played his first Ryder Cup in 1997 and already was the sport’s biggest star.
Back in the Ryder Cup as a player for the first time in six years, Woods is in the spotlight again.
US captain Jim Furyk has tried to tone down the hype, though it was hard to ignore that Woods’ victory at East Lake was a “boost for everyone, and I think for Tiger in general.”
“The arms up in the air on 18, it looks like that’s going to be a cover on maybe about 100 magazines this week,” Furyk said. “You could tell it was significant for him. I also know how important this event is to all 12 guys and to Tiger, as well. . . . Being a guy with his status and that number of wins, he can flip the page and turn his attention to this week.”
Woods and DeChambeau, one of three Ryder Cup rookies on the US team, have been looked upon as a potential partnership for Le Golf National. Furyk said not to read anything into the way he sent off his players in groups of four for the first official practice round. He said yesterday was more about learning the golf course because only six US players have seen it.
Reader / Roberts; Sidwell / Sandilands; Stewart/Little; Stewart / Webb; Strawbridge / Harris; Timoit / Fitness; Vallance / Rokstad; VanHaaften x 2; Warth / Lornie; Wightman x 2; Hardie x 2; Lineham / Harris. Onerahi — Haslam x 2; Heaton/Rutledge; Herbert x 2; Hooson/Harrington; Hopper/Spratt; Klomp/Shotter; Attwood/ McMurchy; Lyddiard/Brewster; McCarthy/Mumford; McLean/ Rudman; Price/Jones; Reader/ Owen.
Ngunguru — Gurnery/Thompson; Mitchell x 2; Naera/Leader; Smith/Wawatai; Strong/Thurgood; Scott/Murray; Brewster/Bateman; Budge/Bond; Cleaver/ Hollingsworth; Dunn/Swanson; Erceg/Burgin; Halls x2; Hamber/ Wood; Hardy/Prasad.
Hikurangi — Burnetto/Brewster; Edlin/Renes; Muir/Bowick; Scott x 2; Walker/Pierce; Wade/MacKenzie; Todd/Morrison; Bint/Hardy; Nicholson/Neeley; Yovich/Trimmer; Reader/Parker; Henwood/ Guttenbeil; Cooper x 2; Bradley/ Lawrence.
Daylight saving starts this weekend so put your clocks forward one hour on Saturday night.
Congratulations to Diane Strawbridge who reached the semifinal of the Auckland Premier Singles last weekend and to Maree Attwood who played Strawbridge in the quarter-finals. At North Harbour Paul Wightman qualified in the Kostanich Memorial Singles.
Players are reminded that the next Centre events are the Centre Open Fours for which entries are now being accepted. Clubs should also be looking at entries for the Bowls3Five Inter Club which starts in November.
The Centre has announced the Northland Representative teams for Men to play at North Harbour on Sunday, October 7. Three teams will be competing against Bay of Plenty, Auckland and North Harbour. Women’s teams have yet to be announced.
Open Men: Dennis Brewster, Gordon bond, Bryce Mackie, Dean McMurchy, Kevin Robinson, Alistair Trimmer, Sam Nelson, Paul Wightman, Dusty Reader, George Lyddiard (manager).
Development Men: Jason Webb, Daniel Hood, David Hood, Garry Fraser, Kelvin Bint, David Frame, Brian Hagger, Brook Tippett, Keith Stewart. 1-5 Year Men: Les Scott, Dave Smith, Gordon Wright, Ken McLeod, Richard Naera, Paul Shotter, Robbie Hayman, Ron Burgin, John Hooson, Paul Price.
Tournaments next week: Wednesday Hikurangi 2 x 4 x 2 Pairs; Friday Dargaville Mx Triples; Saturday Arapohue Classic Fours; Sunday Onerahi AC Triples.