Ryder Cup Blog - There's No "I" In Team
By Ann Liguori
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Let the Games begin. I just arrived in Wales and the sun was shining on my drive to the hotel in Cardiff.
On the way over, I read the Daily Mail (I was not driving) and the first story I read about the Ryder Cup was how Tiger has arrived by himself. They showed all the other players in a photograph arriving as a group with their wives and/or girlfriends and they had a circle around Tiger's face and an article about how he is wifeless this time around. They showed a beautiful photograph of Tiger and Elin at the last Ryder Cup and both were beaming with big smiles. My, how things have changed for Tiger in two years, both on and off the course! (Phil Mickelson came solo as well.)
More on the course and Wales and the teams tomorrow, as I arrived here late in the day, but some of the players from both the US Team and the European Team spoke today in the press room.
Tiger was among those who answered media questions today. In the press conference, Tiger was his usual self – he remained stoic and did not reveal anything, other than he is pleased with the progress of his game and he worked with his coach Sean Foley in Orlando a few times before flying over here. There were the usual amount of inquiries about subjects he would never discuss. I've copied and pasted some of the questions and his answers.
Q. Two parts to this question, if you'll indulge me. Is this an emotionally more difficult week for you because of the prominent role that the wives tend to play at The Ryder Cup?
TIGER WOODS: I think it's a great week. We are all looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to and it's just been a great week.
Q. Have you sensed any change in the players the wives' relationships towards you? Have they been supportive or have you sensed a cooling in that relationship?
TIGER WOODS: No, we are here as a team. We're here to win The Ryder Cup.
Q. Okay, and then just secondly, the other one about, do you think it's a bit unfair going back to the quote you made at the time at American Express, you've been walking around people walk around with this idea that you don't care about The Ryder Cup; do you think that's a bit unfair, and judging obviously your teammates say that you do, but do you feel that you've been a little bit hard done by that?
TIGER WOODS: Well, what really matters is my team. That's what I'm here with and then after that, I can't control that. That's not what it's all about. It's about us coming together as a team and being a team. And what happens outside the team room, what happens in the media or anything like that, it has no concern to us. We are here to get the job done as a team
Q. You don't win majors anymore; you don't win regular tournaments anymore and you are about to be deposed as the world No. 1 by Phil Mickelson. Where is The Ryder Cup now on your agenda now that you're an ordinary golfer?
TIGER WOODS: I remember you're the same one at the British Open who asked me that, too. I hope you're having a good week.
Q. Could I just briefly ask, as you're fighting to get back to the levels which we associate with you, does this particular Ryder Cup and the team aspect and bonding of it, does it perhaps have a special significance for you this year?
TIGER WOODS: I think it always has a special significance. Each and every year, as Americans, we get to play on teams every year, being The Ryder Cup and The Presidents Cup.
The teams are always fun to be a part of. We don't get a chance to do it very often. As I said, once you leave college, we don't get to do it very often. So for us to come here like this and be part of a squad, it truly is fun. The thing that goes on in the team rooms, that's what we all look back on; the memories and the friendships that you build for a lifetime just in one week, and then the connection we have had, it's awfully fun.
It's been raining most of the afternoon, only sunny for my two hour ride from Heathrow. The forecast for the weekend does not look good. Lots of rain predicted. I hope it is not as rainy and soggy as it was at the K Club in 2006 where spectators were sliding all over in mud that seemed knee high in spots. That year, the European Team crushed the United States 18 ½ to 9 ½ points, equaling a record with points for a victory. The U.S. got revenge in 2008 at Valhalla Golf Club on home soil in Louisville, Kentucky, thanks to six American rookies who played their hearts out in the singles competition on Sunday and led the team to a 16 ½ to 11 ½ victory. It was the first time in nine years the United States had beaten Europe.
This weekend will probably be a different story, but more on that tomorrow. I must run to a media reception. Cheers.
