It was the first and quite probably last time that a reigning world No.1 needed to be picked rather than qualifying automatically for the biennial showdown and the 34-year-old was grateful for being handed the chance to make a mark in an event in which he has never appeared to be comfortable.
“It’s great to be a part of this team,” he said after Pavin made the announcement at the New York Stock Exchange. “I’m honoured to be selected and head over to Wales to represent the United States in the Ryder Cup. I’ve been to Wales previously in the Walker Cup and looking forward to going back and having a great time with the team and hopefully bring the cup back.”
That last time at Royal Porthcawl, where Woods did gain revenge against Wolstenholme in the second session of singles, Great Britain & Ireland were the victors with a team that included Padraig Harrington, like Woods a wild-card selection for this year, and Scots Stephen Gallacher and Gordon Sherry.
It will be a sixth Ryder Cup appearance for Woods, who has tasted victory in this event just the once, in 1999 at Brookline, and he is set to be reunited with Steve Stricker, with whom he forged a successful partnership in last year’s Presidents Cup match.
That is important because, despite Woods’ protestations yesterday that he enjoys the Ryder Cup, he has always appeared ill at ease and there is a theory that his overbearing presence has had more of an adverse effect on his own team than it has on the opposition.
In 20 fourball and foursomes outings in the five Ryder Cups in which Woods has played, he has had no fewer than 11 partners and has produced just seven wins and one halved match.
Indeed, if he is beaten in four of his five games at Celtic Manor on October 1 to 3 he will take over from Ray Floyd as his side’s biggest loser since the event started in 1927. Floyd lost 16 of his 31 games between 1969 and 1993 and Woods has lost 13 out of 25 since his 1997 debut at Valderrama.
There has been much debate about whether the US side is stronger without Woods. Two years ago at Valhalla, Kentucky, where Woods was absent while recovering from knee surgery, Paul Azinger’s side routed Nick Faldo’s Europeans, who were going for their fourth win in a row, 16.5-11.5.
Since the sex scandal surrounding Woods and his subsequent divorce, he has rarely shown the form of 2009 when he won seven times, but he is still the world No.1 and Pavin said recent solid showings had made his decision easier.
Pavin said he had called him on Monday night and asked if he would like to be on the team. “He said ‘absolutely’, and said ‘whatever you would like me to do, I will do, just tell me what you would like,’ which is exactly what a captain likes to hear from any player.”
Pavin’s other three wild-cards were Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, and, surprisingly, 21-year-old Rickie Fowler, a rarity in that he will be making his debut as a pick. Rookies usually have to play their way into the team, but Fowler already has a pedigree in that he won seven points out of a possible eight for the US in the last two Walker Cups he has played at Royal County Down and Merion.
Pavin said he had a “gut instinct” about Fowler, a PGA Tour rookie who has made 16 of 24 cuts including five top-10 finishes, this season. That feeling may have something to do with the way the US harnessed the energy of six rookies at Valhalla. Fowler is the fifth rookie on the US team this time after Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar.
The four automatic qualifiers with Ryder Cup experience are Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk and Stricker.
Fowler, with an unkempt riot of hair not unlike Rory McIlroy’s, is likely to have been chosen as the fourth pick over Anthony Kim, who has yet to regain full form following a thumb injury, or Lucas Glover, who has not hit the heights this season of 2009’s US Open win.
That choice is more than balanced by major winners Cink, who will be playing in his fifth Ryder Cup and the third as a pick, and Johnson, his second.
Pavin, who hardly faced the same kind of awkward decisions that confronted his counterpart Colin Montgomerie, said: “I think these four players compliment the eight very well. That was the goal. It was difficult, but we were done at a fairly early hour last night.”
Montgomerie, who has six rookies in his side, last night welcomed the news that Woods was in the US team. “The Ryder Cup is a better event with him in it,” he said.
Shortly after the announcement bookmakers had the US at 6-4 to win the Ryder Cup, with Europe favourites at 11-8 on.
