Ryder Cup 2010: Pavin may gamble on Woods for US team

LONDON - No one expects skipper Cory Pavin to leave out Tiger Woods on the grounds that America will be a better Ryder Cup team without their number one striker.

Though in 2008, America were unquestionably a better ‘team’ without Woods and the Europeans noticed a different energy, yet experts say America values individual achievement above almost all else.

According to the Telegraph, men such as Woods, at least on the golf course, are surely people to aspire to.

Pavin would do well to heed the warnings of great golfers like Jack Nicklaus, who declared that you would have to be “brain dead” to omit Woods.

Although 12th in the US rankings, Woods has not even made a golfing case for inclusion this year.

Prior to the conclusion of last night’s Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, he had had no top-three finishes, he had played only 10 times, and had not had a top-10 finish for more than two months. He has just got divorced and changed coaches.

Oh, and he does not like the Ryder Cup. You would have to be more brain dead to pick him.

Woods has not won and yet, despite all the negatives, Pavin sounds like he wants him in the team.

One journalist even said that Pavin had told him he would pick Woods, a claim that provoked much waving of man bags.

The Europeans certainly do not mind Woods being in the team. Rory McIlroy said after the PGA Championship: “I would love to face him. Unless his game rapidly improves, I think anyone on the European team would fancy their chances against him.”

Pavin counters: “The perception is that having Tiger in the team can cause problems internally. The perception is just wrong. I watched him in 2006 and walked every step of the way with him the first two days of the matches. I looked into his eyes and I could see how much he wanted to win. I’m sure he wants to be part of a winning team.” (ANI)