Okay, sit down. Now it's just us in the room, so let me bring you in on a little secret.
Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer in the world, ain't the best team player out there.
That's not just speculation or something made up in this space to get people's attention. His Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup records clearly paint a picture of a mediocre or below-average team player.
In his five Ryder Cup appearances, the world's No. 1-ranked golfer is 10-13-2. Between four ball, foursomes, and singles matches, he only has a winning record as a singles player.
Because of Tiger's poor showings in Ryder Cup matches, the Europeans have won the cup four out of the five times Tiger has played.
- B/R Ticket Guide
In addition, in five Presidents Cup matches, Eldrick is only 12-11-1. So, as a professional, Tiger Woods is 22-24-3 in team-format tournaments.
When competing for his country, Mark Spitz he ain't.
By comparison, Jack Nicklaus was 17-8-3 as a Ryder Cup team member. Arnold Palmer was 22-8-2. Jack and Arnie combined won a point or a halve in 73 percent of their matches against the Euros.
Tiger has only won points for his country 48 percent of the time in the Ryder Cup and only half the time in the President's Cup. All this from a man who, on average, wins about 1.2 major championships a year.
Even Jay Haas gets a point for his team 50 percent of the time in his Ryder Cup matches (4-6-2). So Jay Haas is as valuable to the U.S. team as Tiger?
Tiger has always measured his success by major victories. Watching him and Phil Mickelson try to co-exist in a Ryder Cup four-ball match proves that Tiger would much rather be preparing for Augusta or St. Andrews than putting and chipping for Team USA.
Watching Tiger compete for his country is about as comfortable as watching a Tom Cruise interview.
While Tiger's knee injury will sound a death knell for the ratings of the Open Championship and the PGA this summer, it may be just the ticket for the U.S. team to take the cup back to this side of the pond for the first time since 1999.
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5 months ago
I don't see how this is possible. Tiger being out of an event NEVER helps the U.S. side.
from 5 months ago
I think in general you may be right. The US, however, has consistently had better PLAYERS than the Europeans but the Euros have a better TEAM. Maybe without Tiger, the U.S. is going to be more of a TEAM than a group of players.
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