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Pavin, Woods and the Ryder Cup

• TarheelsRule 5,471 Posts

  Mon, Aug 16 2010 9:51 AM

  Pavin will have to pick Woods as I have said before.   Why..........ratings would go down if he is not there, don't like him but that is a fact.  Also Corey has to hedge his bet and pick Woods, can you imagine the outcry if he didn't and lost by 1 point.  Go back to an earlier Ryder Cup when Lanny Watkins picked Curtis Strange, an aging star at the time who hadn't played well in a couple of years.  The single point that was needed came down to the match Strange was playing and lost.  Pavin can't afford that type of scenerio if he picks someone other than Woods.  If he picks him and he loses, then it is on Woods...........he is the #1 player in the world.  Nice that Johnson and Watson played their way on the team, one of those two would have been left off if they hadn't played their way on.

• neildiamond11790 1,115 Posts

  Mon, Aug 16 2010 11:42 AM

  Here is another question then:

  IF PAVIN INVITES WOODS, SHOULD WOODS ACCEPT?

  1) Yes.  Being involved in the game playing for something with meaning outside the majors can help him.  It can also be good to be around the other players in a team environment.

  2) No.  His game is not where its needed.  He has played "well" in the majors but he needs to work it out on his own, as well as some inner demons.  Might be wrong on this but, I recall part of the Ryder Cup having to do with the players wives or girlfriends, this being a sore part for Tiger (lol, which girlfriend would he choose to come, jk).  Tigers involvement will take much of the attention away from the match and will become yet another circus.  And finally he flat out doesn't deserve to play this year.  He recently said he will earn his spot.  Then said he would do the team no good shooting +18.  Get your life together TW, then the game should fall right back into the groove.

  What do you think?

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Mon, Aug 16 2010 12:29 PM

  Tiger and his record at Ryder is somewhat average. He has always gone into it with the stature of being, by far, the very best player from either team, but never proving it. If he is picked, and I believe he will be, he will enter into this format with a much changed mentality. It will be interesting to see him enter with humility and watch the differance of mind unfold.

• TarheelsRule 5,471 Posts

  Mon, Aug 16 2010 12:34 PM

  Tiger will of course accept if asked, he can't stand to not be on the stage.

  His record is spotty at best.  He is good at singles but horrible at foursome and fourball.  Basically he is a poor team player and drags his partner down with him.  He and Phil just don't like each other, in fact I can't see anyone who would like to play with Tiger.  Maybe the team should sit him except for one afternoon match and the singles if he is there.

• KingOfTheCourse 419 Posts

  Mon, Aug 16 2010 12:40 PM

  TarheelsRule:

  Tiger will of course accept if asked, he can't stand to not be on the stage.

  His record is spotty at best.  He is good at singles but horrible at foursome and fourball.  Basically he is a poor team player and drags his partner down with him.  He and Phil just don't like each other, in fact I can't see anyone who would like to play with Tiger.  Maybe the team should sit him except for one afternoon match and the singles if he is there.

  Two words Tarheels, Steve Stricker....

• zagraniczniak 1,984 Posts

  Wed, Aug 18 2010 3:55 AM

  Maybe Woods was too blessed with too much talent for too long. The greats are the ones who do their best when tested under adversity. Woods was not someone who folded under pressure, but he typically won by building on a strong early lead, not by coming back from behind. I for one hope for the good of the game that he has the grit to come back from being down.

  As far as Tiger liking a little kitty on the side, as one cat to another? It just totally escaped me what was the news story there. He's a professional athlete - not, say, the president of the United States.

  As for Corey Pavin, it was painful to see him get into that standoff with a journalist over whether he said he would pick Tiger for the team. What a mess of stress just before Pavin himself was about to play his own major championship.

  Of course Pavin should not have let slip that he had already made up his mind in advance, but it is incredibly tactless for a journalist to ask a question like that which basically invites Pavin to take an unethical stance. But then, journalism by necessity is a profession for scoundrels. God bless them, that's what they've got to do to git 'er done.

• PSUrangers11 208 Posts

  Wed, Aug 18 2010 5:37 AM

  He HAS to take Woods if you ask me.  Which 4 guys would you rank ahead of him that are a much better option than taking Tiger?

  Lets just hypothetically assume that Pavin takes Kim, Z. Johnson, and because of Mickelson's endoresoment... Rickie Fowler.  Who's that much better of a 4th option over Tiger Woods?

  Cink? Crane? Glover? Watney? Holmes?

  Good news here too is... it's strictly match play.  I think it's a no brainer that Tiger has to be 1 of Pavin's 4 picks.  That's just my opinion though...

• hewitt1968 42 Posts

  Thu, Aug 19 2010 11:47 PM

  "So at the PGA when Eldrick was teeing off one guy said "In the hole" as Tiger watched his tee shot.  Right as the guy finished yelling that another responded with "that's what she said."  And if that wasn't enough a third guy desided to say "that's what Ellin used to want."

  Yeah, that's awesome.  Real classy.

  *******************

  Food for thought:

  " Yes, Tiger is struggling, and yes, his personal life has clearly taken a toll on his game, but the idea that he's "finished" is borderline absurd.  T4, T4, T23, T28. Those are Tiger Woods' finishes in the majors this year.  That means th at when things were at their absolute worst, Tiger finished in the top five twice and the top 30 all four times against the toughest fields in golf.  At the height of his powers in 1969, Jack Nicklaus went T24, T25, T6 and T11 in the majors.  Good thing he didn't just pack up his clubs and go home. "

  - Steve Beslow, Golf Magazine - responding to a New York Magazine article which claimed Tiger Woods was finished and would never win another major again based on his performance and finish in the four majors this year.

  ********************

  For the record, Tiger should decline Ryder Cup and take the rest of the year off.  Get the divorce settlement signed, visitation with the kids settled, and just unplug for a while.

  Never really understood those people who delight so much in seeing him suffer.

• Schnickolai 2 Posts

  Fri, Aug 20 2010 7:42 AM

  Pavin has to invite, too much pressure from TV, sponsors, etc.  Pavin invites, Tiger accepts, and continues his abysmal record in the Ryder Cup.  Bet on Europe!

• neildiamond11790 1,115 Posts

  Mon, Aug 23 2010 10:43 AM

  Schnicki, thats the best part, even when Tiger has been Tiger he is average in the Ryder Cup (probably because its not a major).   So now that Tiger is average at best, whats the point of inviting him asides from pressure from the media?