Tiger Woods' Ryder Cup Performance Proves Icon Still Hasn't Returned to Top Form

Tiger Woods was the Europeans' best player in the 2012 Ryder Cup.

Whether it was his drives into the crowd, his wedges missing the greens or his putts going wide, Woods was dismal this weekend when the Americans needed him most.

He was so bad, in fact, that U.S. captain David Love III chose to bench Woods during the Saturday morning session, as evident in this ESPN tweet.

"

For the 1st time in his career, TigerWoods will be on the bench at the #RyderCup (played every match since making his debut in 1997).

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 29, 2012"

Woods struggled from the opening hole on Friday, shanking his first drive far left into the crowd, and  things never looked up from there.

By the time the tournament was finished, Woods was 0-3 with a halved hole, scoring just a half point out of a possible four for Team USA.

Despite struggling, Woods was counted on to gain a point for the Americans in singles play. Although he was awful in match play, Woods was 4-1-1 in head-to-head competition heading into Sunday's Ryder Cup singles.

Now, I should give Woods credit, since he did play better on Friday afternoon but received absolutely no help from Steve Stricker, but that was Tiger's only promising round.

Woods and Stricker followed up Friday afternoon with another loss in Saturday afternoon four-balls. Love III even made Stricker and Woods the last two singles positions, most likely hoping that the Americans would have the cup already in hand.

For someone who was once atop the golf world, it's surreal to think that Woods' own captain didn't have the faith in him to get the job done when the cup was on the line.

Never in my life did I think I would see the great Tiger Woods concede to anyone, but I guess at this point in his career, that's all he could do.

With his poor performance at the Ryder Cup, Woods proved that he still has a long way to go before contending for the No. 1 spot. 

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