Tiger Woods Explains What Caused His Disastrous Ryder Cup Performance
Tiger Woods came into the Ryder Cup as the hottest player on the PGA Tour, but he left France with no wins and probably the worst performance of any player on the American team.
Woods was never the greatest Ryder Cup performer, but his 0-for-the-Ryder-Cup at Le Golf National near Paris was worse than normal. He even lost to Jon Rahm in the singles match, which is traditionally his best event.
So what happened? Woods was asked that this week at his charity event at Pebble Beach, the Tiger Woods Invitational, which raises money for his TGR Foundation.
“It was just a cumulative effect of the entire season,” Woods said during a question-and-answer session with reporters, reported Yahoo Sports. “I was tired because I hadn’t trained for it. I hadn’t trained this entire comeback to play this much golf and on top of that deal with the heat and the fatigue and the loss of weight.”
Tiger Woods confirms what we all already knew about his 0-4 Ryder Cup performance: “I was tired." https://t.co/USRTjgM8JH
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 17, 2018
Just days prior to leaving for France for the Ryder Cup, Woods won his first tournament in five years, the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. It was his 80th career victory and vaulted Woods to second place in the season-long Fed Ex Cup standings, behind winner Justin Rose, who needed a birdie at 18 to stave off Woods. The emotional and physical grind through the Fed Ex Cup playoffs took its toll on the 42-year-old.
“It’s still sinking in, because 80 is a big number,” Woods said. “I’ve won 80 times out there. That’s pretty cool. It hasn’t been easy.
“What validates it for me is the fact that I got a chance to go against Rory (McIlroy) head-to-head in the final group, and also Justin (Rose), who was tied with Rory, a group ahead. He’d just become the No. 1 player in the world. In order to get my first win in five years I had to beat those two guys. That makes it feel even more special.”
Coding with my mentee. Combine coding and a little art of green reading and you get YES!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/UTPRTuN79x
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 17, 2018
Next up for Woods is his exhibition match with Phil Mickelson on Nov. 23 at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.
It’s a pay-per-view event with the winner taking home the $9 million prize. Viewers will have to pay $24.99 to watch it, according to media reporter James Miller.
It’s on @PhilMickelson #TigerVSPhil pic.twitter.com/PZivYPOEf5
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) August 22, 2018
After that he’ll play in his Hero World Challenge, which will be held in the Bahamas in December.
Beyond that, his 2019 schedule is unclear at this point, but it’s safe to assume, after a successful 2018 season, that he’ll be back to playing a pretty full schedule on the PGA Tour.
Woods, who will turn 43 on Dec. 30, will be chasing two golf records when he heads back to the course next season. One, Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major championships, is a longshot, but the other, Sam Snead’s 82 PGA Tour wins, is definitely doable.
Tiger also is itching to play better on behalf of his country in 2019 than he did in 2018. Woods is the captain for the 2019 Presidents Cup team, but he hopes to be more than just the captain — he wants to play, too.
Get excited @Melbourne, Captains @TheBig_Easy and @TigerWoods are coming to town! #PresidentsCup https://t.co/WSdR94teDh pic.twitter.com/NEe8uI0iwz
— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) October 13, 2018
“God I hope so,” Woods said about making the team. “I really hope to be a playing captain, I really do.”
Even if he doesn’t qualify, he is the captain, so he’s definitely got an “in” as far as being one of the captain’s picks.
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