Rejuvenated Tiger out to improve poor Ryder Cup record
Tiger Woods has only finished on the winning team in one of his seven Ryder Cup playing appearances and is not happy with that record.
Having returned to the winner's circle in style at the Tour Championship, Tiger Woods is determined to improve his poor record at the Ryder Cup. Despite being golf's dominant force for more than a decade, 14-time major champion Woods - who claimed his first PGA Tour title in more than five years last week - has only been on the victorious side in one of his seven appearances as a playing member of the United States team.
Woods out to gain elusive Ryder Cup glory
The USA's last two successes over Europe came in 2008 and 2016 when Woods was absent through injury, although he did serve as a vice-captain for the latter triumph. Asked if his lack of Ryder Cup wins bothers him, Woods told a news conference. "Yeah. Looking back on my entire Ryder Cup career, it certainly is not something that I have really enjoyed and I've really liked seeing. I've played a lot of the matches. Of those seven previous Ryder Cups, I've sat out one session, and that was the last [foursomes] session at Medinah. Otherwise, I've played every single match. We haven't done well.
"I was a vice-captain in 2016, but it's different being a player", he continued. "It was neat to be part of the team, to be a part of helping the guys in any way I possibly could to make them feel comfortable, to get them into the right circumstances to allow them to play their best golf. But my overall Ryder Cup record, not having won as a player since 1999 is something that hopefully we can change."
25 years of hurt
The USA's last victory in Europe came way back in 1993, four years before Woods' debut at Valderrama. "We haven't won as a US squad here on foreign soil in 25 years, so hopefully that will change this week, as well," he concluded.