Woods shoulders blame for successive US defeats as captain prepares to pitch him in again

Golf Correspondent

Wednesday 26 September 2012

As admissions go, it was not quite as earth shattering as those he made about the "transgressions" in his private life a couple of years ago.

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Nick Rodger

Nevertheless, Tiger Woods once again felt the need to come clean last night as he mulled over his Ryder Cup career. It's well known that the former world No.1's record in this transatlantic tussle is far from dazzling. Trying to transform the successes he has enjoyed on his own into team glory has been a major problem for this multiple major winner.

Since his debut in 1997, the 36-year-old has been on only one winning team, at Brookline in 1999. Collectively, it's been a poor return and on the individual front, over the course of his six cup appearances , things have not been much better. Like other stalwarts of the US side over the past 15 years, like Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson, Woods still has a losing record overall, having played 29, won 13, lost 14 and halved two. When he was in his pomp, racking up majors wins in gay abandon and trampling the opposition into the turf, Europe's golfers were still coming out on top in the Ryder Cup during that period. The US has lost four of the last five. How do you explain that away Tiger? "Well I am responsible for that because I didn't earn the points that I was put out there for," said Woods, as he shouldered the blame for his country's failings."I believe I was out there for five sessions each time and didn't go 5-0 on our side. I needed to get my points for my team and I didn't do that. Jim, Phil and myself have been put out a lot during those years and if we're not earning points, then it's hard to win Ryder Cups that way. Hopefully, I can do that this week and, hopefully, the other guys can do the same and we can get rolling."Woods has had numerous partners down the years – this is still the golf we are talking about – and he seems to have struck up a decent relationship with the veteran, Steve Stricker, with whom he picked up two points from three fourballs and foursomes matches in 2010."I think Steve can handle everything that's going on around Tiger," admitted Davis Love III, the US captain. "But Tiger is still pretty easy. It's a case of asking him if he wants to play three, four or five matches and there's a lot of guys that want to play with him. If Tiger says he's feeling great and he's wanting to play as much as possible then obviously you've got to let him go. He's the best player we've ever had."It's been 13 years since Woods, whose resurgence has included three wins on the PGA Tour this season, tasted Ryder Cup glory. Trailing 10-6 heading into the final-day singles at Brookline, Woods was part of a concentrated, and controversial, charge by Team US that brought about a spectacular turnaround. "I've never been part of anything like that," said Woods, who beat Scotsman Andrew Coltart 3 and 2 in the singles on that raucous day in Massachusetts. "And I'd never seen a comeback like that in a team atmosphere. We were not just winning those matches but we were winning them by such huge margins. We were just blowing those matches out which added to the atmosphere. It was birdie, after birdie, after birdie and we were just rolling. To be part of that rush is something that I will never, ever forget."

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Woods shoulders blame for successive US defeats as captain prepares to pitch him in again

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