Woods wants to earn Ryder Cup spot
At a press conference Wednesday for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Tiger Woods put doubter’s criticism to rest when he announced that he is confident he can make the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team on his merits and not on his reputation.
“I’m planning on playing my way onto the team,” Woods said. When asked if he would accept a captain’s pick to join the team Woods refused to speculate about such a situation, again reiterating that he wanted to play his way on to the team, to prove he was worthy of the position.
Woods is currently sitting at ninth place in the American Ryder Cup standings while only the top eight players will make it automatically onto the team.
Woods attitude after the British Open at St. Andrews was one of bemusement and irritation, of which he blamed his putting. Woods switched back and forth between his Scotty Cameron putter and a new Nike Method putter over that weekend, the result was sub-average putting which overshadowed and ruined his good driving that week.
Woods attitude at the Wednesday press conference was upbeat and confident. He said he has had some good practice sessions in Orland last week. Putting was a top priority on the golfer’s practice agenda, and Woods said he was able to identify that the main problem with it in the past has been his speed.
“My speed has been off all year,” Woods admitted. “I three-putted quite a few times, which I don’t do normally. I didn’t work on my putting as much as I should have."
Woods also opened up about how his personal life has affected his golf game, and how life after the scandal broke has been difficult.
“I haven’t practiced as much as I used to, nor should I. With the kids, life has changed.”
Woods has won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational seven times before, and has won next week’s PGA Championship four times. He doesn’t know why he has done so well on the Firestone and Whistling Straits courses in the past, only that the venues fit him.
August will be a big competition month for Woods, with two of the most important events and last chances for Ryder Cup points taking place within a two week span. According to Woods the pieces of his game are coming together again and a win at either of these events – even a top five finish – would do wonders for his Ryder Cup bid.
“Winning golf tournaments takes care of a lot of things,” he said. Never has this been truer for a golfer, as Woods is barely holding onto his number one spot on the rankings. Not to mention a win would be good for his self esteem.
The Ryder Cup is taking place at Celtic Manor in Wales this October. At ninth place Woods is 163 points behind eighth place sitter Dustin Johnson and 165 points behind Matt Kuchar in seventh place.
The other six players on the Ryder Cup list appear in order as Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Jeff Overton, Anthony Kim, and Lucas Glover. Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barns and Ben Crane follow Woods and will also be vying for points at the Bridgestone and PGA Championship. The race is on and it’s going to be a close one.
Even though Woods wants to earn his spot rather than being a captain’s pick, team captain Corey Pavin said that he definitely wants Woods on the team no matter what,
“I want him on the team, there's no doubt about it. He's the best player in the world. He's the No. 1 player and he's going to make Team USA better if he's on it."
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