The first blow of the phoney war which always precedes a Ryder Cup has been landed by Lee Westwood, who has pointed towards the potentially “adverse” influence of Tiger Woods as a vice-captain of the USA.
Woods has endured an infamously troublesome time as a Ryder Cup player but while injured this time, the USA captain Davis Love III asked him to become a member of the backroom staff. Westwood will play in his 10th Ryder Cup at Hazeltinein nine days’ time, with Europe seeking an unprecedented fourth win in a row.
“I don’t know what impact there will be from having Tiger around,” Westwood said to ESPN.com. “They have always struggled to find a partner for Tiger that’s been successful. He could have an adverse effect in the team room. People have always seemed to try to do too much when they have partnered him. It might be different if he’s one of the vice-captains, you don’t know.
“The captain is obviously building them up a lot and making a few interesting decisions. They have got a strong side and probably are favourites, but they haven’t won it for a while and they are playing in front of a home crowd. There is a lot of pressure on them. That is going to keep building in the next week or so and by the time the Ryder Cup comes around, it is going to be pretty intense for them.”
Westwood also referred to Love’s captaincy in 2012 at Medinah, and the handling of his wildcard picks this time, as being potentially significant. Four years ago Europe triumphed in memorable style as the hosts capitulated during the singles matches. “I don’t know if something went wrong on the Sunday or the team didn’t play very well for some reason, but that will be in the back of their minds,” the Englishman said.
Westwood was similarly questioning of Love’s decision, thus far, not to pick Bubba Watson. The USA captain has one wildcard remaining, with Watson seemingly battling against Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger for the spot. “There seem to have been issues about team spirit and chemistry. Love has not picked Bubba Watson and I don’t know what that does for team spirit; he was first outside the points qualification and is No7 in the world.”
