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Tag: Ryder Cup

  • Tiger Woods Withdraws from Ryder Cup Consideration

    This year could not have been much worse for Tiger Woods. Woods started the year ranked No. 1 in the world, yet due to poor performances over the past eight months he has since dropped to No. 11. Woods has also had one of his worst years financially, only earning approximately $100,000 for his finishes at tournaments. Woods’s best finish on the year was 25th place at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral shortly before his back surgery in March. In his four tournaments since his surgery, Woods has failed to make the cut twice, withdrew early from another, and finished 69th at the British Open to mark his worst-ever finish at a major competition.

    Perhaps it was due to all of these reasons that Woods decided to rescind his name from consideration for the 2014 United States Ryder Cup team. This will mark only the second time Woods has not been on the Ryder Cup team since his career began, with the other being in 2008.

    In a statement released on his personal website, Woods cited his perpetual back issues as the reason for his deferment:

    I’ve been told by my doctors and trainer that my back muscles need to be rehabilitated and healed. They’ve advised me not to play or practice now. I was fortunate that my recent back injury was not related to my surgery and was muscular only.

    I have already spoken to Tom [Watson] about the Ryder Cup, and while I greatly appreciate his thinking about me for a possible captain’s pick, I took myself out of consideration. The U.S. team and the Ryder Cup mean too much to me not to be able to give it my best. I’ll be cheering for the U.S. team. I think we have an outstanding squad going into the matches.

    I plan to return to competition at my World Challenge tournament at Isleworth in Orlando, Florida, Dec. 1-7. It’s an event that’s important to me and my foundation, and it will be exciting to be playing again.

    The decision by Woods to remove himself from the pool of potential captain’s picks brings a huge sigh of relief to Ryder Cup captain, Tom Watson. Being the captain of the team means Watson gets the responsibility of choosing the last three Americans to make the team from those who did not qualify automatically. Unfortunately, Woods’s poor performances throughout the year left him on the outside-looking-in to the Ryder Cup team, leaving Watson with the ultimate quandary: Leave Woods off the team due to his back issues, or invite him to the team because he is arguably the best golfer in the world?

    Fortunately, Woods answered the question for Watson.

    Woods’s decision to not play golf again until December also comes with a hefty price. According to multiple sources, Woods will be missing out on a potential $8 million due to missed corporate appearances over the next four months.

    The absence of Woods could spell success for Team USA, however. Since 1999, the American Ryder Cup team has only beaten the Europeans one time, in 2008. The irony? The last time Woods missed the cut for the Ryder Cup team was also 2008.

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  • Tiger Woods Struggles at PGA Championship

    Tiger Woods Struggles at PGA Championship

    Tiger Woods is still golf’s main attraction. Despite the drama over the past few years – whether it be marital or physical issues – Tiger still draws the largest crowd in all of golf. Wednesday’s practice round at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky was the perfect example of the cult of Tiger.

    Woods arrived at Valhalla at 1:16 pm EST Wednesday, less than 24 hours before his 8:35 am Thursday tee-time. By 2:09 pm, Woods was already on the green, gearing up to practice on the front nine with Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington.

    If one was to measure the energy of the crowd and the intensity of the media, however, this simple practice round would instead appear to be reminiscent of Tiger’s 2000 PGA Championship win at Valhalla, which ended in an electrifying playoff with Bob May.

    And, while Tiger professed that he felt great warming up on Wednesday, stating that he was “pain free” and that his “range of motion was good”, his performance in the first round on Thursday was… bad, to say the least.

    When one drops an F-bomb on only the second hole, one knows that the day is not going to bode well.

    Tiger started the day by bogeying two of his first five holes, with both bogeys coming after he missed the green on two par-3s. While Woods was able to save a birdie on his 7th hole (officially the 16th – Woods started play on the back-9) by holing-out a wedge from over 100 feet away, the turn ruined any chance of Woods salvaging the round.

    Mainly due to lack of accuracy off the tee, Woods bogeyed back-to-back holes after the turn, driving his tee from the 1st into a native area while his tee-shot from the 2nd resulted in a drop and his fourth bogey on the day.

    Woods would finish the first round with a 3-over 74, putting him in danger of missing the cut unless a drastic turnaround occurs on Friday. And, if Woods hopes to play in the Ryder Cup or in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, it will have to be the most drastic turnaround of his career.

    Speaking on his likelihood to choose Woods for the Ryder Cup, Tom Watson stated:

    He (Woods) said to me he really wants to make the (US) team in the worst way… This Ryder Cup is a big thing. It’s a big, big, big event, and these players really want to make the team and bring that Cup back to the United States… Obviously he’s not in great health right now and he hasn’t played very well. So the question is, will I pick him? Well, I can’t tell until things happen in the next three or four weeks. It’s speculation what’s going to happen.

    Currently, Woods ranks 217th in FedEx Cup Standings. If he wishes to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Woods has to climb all the way to 125th – a climb that would essentially require Woods to win the PGA Championship.

    With the odds of that happening decreasing every time Tiger takes a swing, his only hope now is intervention from any of the Norse gods who happen to inhabit Valhalla.

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