Woods itching to go to France as a player

– Tiger Woods (right) is aiming to cement his claim to a place in the United States Ryder Cup team as he prepares for this week’s Northern Trust Open in New Jersey.

The former world No 1 said this week securing a place in Jim Furyk’s Ryder Cup squad had been one of his goals at the start of his comeback season after nearly two years out with injury.

Woods heads into this week’s opening leg of the lucrative FedEx Cup Play-Off Series after a thrilling diplay at the PGA Championship, where he came up just short to finish second.

Woods is ranked 11th on the US Ryder Cup points table, but must wait until September 5 to learn whether he has earned one of captain Furyk’s wildcard selections.

Either way, Woods is assured to travel to France as one of Furyk’s vice-captains.

The 14-time Major winner however is determined to travel as a player.

“I want to be picked and I want to be part of the team,” said Woods.

“The interesting role here is that I’m a vice captain, so we’re talking about myself in the third person a lot. So, that’s one of the more interesting conversations we were having.

“We were having a lot of fun with it, but yeah I’m one of the guys on the short list and sometimes I’ve got to pull myself out of there and talk about myself in the third person, which is a little odd.”

Asked if he dreamed of playing on the US team he replied: “Yes, I do. I started at the very beginning of the year, I told Jim I wanted to be a part of the team, not just as a vice captain but as a player. I’m very close to making that happen.

“It’s been a long year and one that was one of my goals was to make that team, because to be part of that team, you’ve got to be one of the 12 best players and I’m kind of trending towards that.”

Though foremost on Woods’ mind is committing himself to all four ‘Play-off’ events including being among the leading 30 and thus qualify for the FedEx Cup deciding Tour Championship that commences on September 20th in Atlanta.

“I’m playing the first three right now and that should get me into Atlanta and on the back side is obviously The Ryder Cup,” said Woods who is currently ranked 20th on the FedEx Cup standings.