No win yet, but Woods approaches Paris having achieved plenty
BE truthful, writes Nick Rodger. Did you ever think you’d see Tiger Woods playing in the Ryder Cup this year? You did? C’mon now, stop fibbing.
It wasn’t that long ago that Woods was delivering downbeat assessments about his wretched, wincing immobility as he plumbed the depths of physical despair with that bothersome back of his. The Ryder Cup, and merely playing golf itself, were as far away as the outer rings of Saturn.
That he has earned a wild card for next week’s match in Paris, and tees-off today as one of just 30 players who have qualified for the end-of-season Tour Championship, remains a miraculous feat.
“I have missed playing in it (the Ryder Cup) and missed competing in it,” said Woods, whose last outing as a player for Team America was in 2012.
“I’ve been a part of these teams now for the better part of 20 years. To have earned the confidence of my team-mates and my captain to have been selected is something that gives me a lot of excitement going into the cup.
“It’s great as well to have accomplished one of the goals I set out at the beginning of the year, to be part of the Tour Championship. It’s not going to rank up there as one of my top seasons because I didn’t win eight or nine times in a season, I didn’t win two to three majors in a year.
“But to have accomplished what I’ve accomplished and to have gotten through what I’ve gotten through to get back to this point is something I’m very proud of.”
In 2012, Woods and his US teammates were on the receiving end of Europe’s rousing Miracle of Medinah as the visitors stormed back on the final day. That defeat was painful for more reasons than just the result.
“I wasn’t feeling physically well that Ryder Cup and it’s where my back started bugging me,” he said.