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Woods suffers from pressure in first Ryder Cup
By STEPHEN WILSON / AP Sports Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) -- Colin Montgomerie was right after all. Tiger Woods was a weak link of the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Montgomerie kept saying that he and the other European players relished the chance of facing the 21-year-old Masters champion. He said Woods could be taken, that his game wasn't suited to the narrow fairways of the Valderrama course.
"I think the guy we all want to play is Tiger Woods," Montgomerie said a few days before the event started Friday. "He has everything to lose."
The Scotsman's brash talk seemed out of place from a man who has never won a major and was trounced by Woods when they were paired at the Masters.
Yet, he was pretty close to the truth.
Feeling the pressure in his first Ryder Cup, Woods was a far cry from the brilliant player who has won six titles and more than $2 million in prize money since turning pro a year ago.
Woods lost 3-1/2 out of a possible five points over the three days. Most significantly, he lost his singles match Sunday to Costantino Rocca 4 and 2.
That defeat provided a vital point and huge psychological boost for the European team, which held off a late charge by the Americans to win 14-1/2-13-1/2.
"All the talk is about Tiger Woods and how great the players are in America," Europe's Bernhard Langer said. "I just want to say we have a lot of great young players here."
Woods offered no excuses.
"It's golf," he said. "You can't always win. I gave it all I had today. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough. Sometimes it just happens. That's just part of playing the game."
"It was nice to be part of a team," he added. "In golf, you're all alone out there, you're trying to beat each other's butts every week."
Earlier, Woods acknowledged that the unparalleled pressure of the Ryder Cup was getting to him.
"I felt it on the first day, I'm feeling it on the second day, and now the third day," he said. "I felt it all the way around. It's definitely out there, no doubt about it."
His coach, Butch Harmon, said Woods told him, "He's never been so nervous in his life."
"He's never experienced anything like the Ryder Cup," Harmon said. "In America, we're not oriented to team play. Golf is such an individual sport, so cut-throat. This will teach him an important lesson. Already, he's talking about trying to make the team for the next Ryder Cup."
On Friday, Woods and his friend Mark O'Meara beat Montgomerie and Langer 3 and 2 in their opening better-ball (fourball) match. But that was Woods' only win.
Later Friday, Woods and O'Meara lost 5 and 3 to Langer-Montgomerie in alternate-shot (foursomes). On Saturday, Woods and Justin Leonard halved their foursomes match against Parnevik and Garrido.
On Sunday, Woods was 2-down to Rocca after three holes. At the ninth, Rocca went 4-up after holing a 30-foot putt and Woods missed a four-footer.
Woods birdied the 11th to cut Rocca's lead to three. Woods had a chance to move within two at the next hole, but Rocca holed a crucial five-foot putt for a half.
The match ended at the 16th green after Rocca hit a great 1-iron shot through the trees that helped him scramble for par. Woods failed to make par.
"It was a gutsy shot and he pulled it off," Woods said.
The gallery erupted into soccer-style chants of "Roc-ca! Roc-ca!" and European captain Seve Ballesteros rushed over to embrace the Italian.
For once, nobody noticed Tiger Woods.
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