Tiger Loses Again at Ryder Cup
Tiger Wood won't exist at Whistling Straits this week, for obvious reasons. Phil Mickelson will, but for the first time since 1995 won't hit a shot in the Ryder Loving cup.
The storyline in the Ryder Cup hasn't changed, merely the marquee players accept — at least when information technology comes to the beleaguered U.South. squad. Woods is still mending from a car accident, while Mickelson volition end a streak of 12 straight Ryder Cups as a histrion to be a not-playing assistant helm for a team tasked with wrestling the cup back from Europe.
That may prove a bit of a thwarting for the tens of thousands who will swarm the rugged course on the edge of Lake Michigan to scream for the dwelling house squad. The mere sight of Woods or Mickelson near a tee box is ordinarily crusade for wild celebration, especially as the 24-hour interval grows long and the alcohol flows.
Look a little closer, though, and it may not be such a bad affair for a U.S. squad trying badly to regain the cup on abode soil. Considering as talented equally Forest and Mickelson are, they've been — for the about role — flops when information technology comes to the Ryder Loving cup.
No, they're not entirely responsible for the Americans losing nine of the concluding 12 Ryder Cups and four of the concluding five. Simply as the leaders of many of those teams, they didn't contribute much to them, either.
The losses over the years have been stunning enough, coming to European teams that on newspaper were never as talented as any American team topped by Forest and Mickelson. Equally as stunning is the tape of the 2 best American golfers of the last quarter century.
While Mickelson holds the Ryder Cup record for most matches played (47), he also holds the record for nearly matches lost (22). Mickelson'south winning percentage is just 46% (7 ties), and his devotion to the team concept has been questioned on several occasions over the years.
Wood, meanwhile, last won a Ryder Loving cup friction match in 2010. He's played in 8 of them, and the last fourth dimension he was on a winning team was when he was dominating everything in golf in 1999.
In his last Ryder Loving cup while reasonably good for you, Woods went 0-3-i in 2012. He probable finished his Ryder Cup career with an 0-4 mark in France in 2018, where Europe romped to a win that was surprising if merely because not much resistance was put upwardly on the other side.
Merely how bad is his overall record? A journeyman named J.B. Holmes has been on more than winning Ryder Cup teams than Woods, whose Ryder Cup career will be remembered more for missed opportunities than great performances.
Why couldn't Woods and Mickelson win big in the Ryder Loving cup when they've won large everywhere else? That'south a question that vexed Ryder Cup captains over the years who spent long restless nights trying to figure out how to match their talents to various teammates in the team matches.
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They lost with teammates both good and bad. They lost in best ball and lost in alternate shot. They fifty-fifty lost in singles, virtually disastrously when Mickelson was beaten on the concluding 24-hour interval at The Belfry by Phillip Price, then No. 119 in the earth, as the U.Due south. lost by a signal.
And those in golf remember well the disastrous pairing of the two in 2008 when they melted down nigh before they reached first tee. The idea, co-ordinate to captain Hal Sutton, was to steamroll the Euros with the game's top 2 players, simply it didn't take long for the plan to become horribly awry.
Wood and Mickelson lost their starting time best ball match, then more than famously were beaten in alternate shot when Mickelson sliced a shot then far left that Woods briefly covered his eyes and concluded up taking an unplayable in a 1-upwards loss.
Now both are out of the lineup — Mickelson for the kickoff fourth dimension since his Ryder Cup debut a quarter century ago — and the U.South. brings a young but extremely talented team to Whistling Straits instead. While Woods remains home in Florida, Mickelson will be an banana captain, tooling around in a golf cart and cheering his countrymen on.
The torch has been passed, and it won't be returned. Mickelson is fifty, and aside from his improbable win in the PGA Title earlier this yr, past his competitive prime, while Woods was injured so badly in his car crash that he may never hit a shot that counts again.
Hard to believe it was 22 years ago that Woods and Mickelson were on the winning team at Brookline in a U.South. final mean solar day comeback so stirring that both probably saw lots of Ryder Cup celebrity in their future.
"I never knew how proficient it feels to win the Ryder Cup," Woods said subsequently.
Incredibly, he hasn't had the feeling since.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg
MORE RYDER Loving cup COVERAGE FROM MORNING READ
- The quick guide to the Ryder Cup, including teams, schedule and how to watch
- Three holes that could make up one's mind the Ryder Loving cup
- Watch: Why Whistling Straits is 'all that'
- 11 reasons the Ryder Loving cup is the near compelling thing in golf game
- All 36 courses that have hosted the Ryder Cup, ranked from best to worst
- Who should be favored in the Ryder Loving cup?
- The astonishing story of Skip Alexander, the golfer with the bloody easily
- Bryson DeChambeau brings his game, and baggage, to Whistling Straits
- Sergio Garcia is nigh to play in Ryder Cups across iv decades
Source: https://www.si.com/golf/news/theres-no-tiger-no-phil-and-thats-no-problem-for-americas-ryder-chances
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