AP Columnist Thinks American Team Better Off Without Tiger, Logic Disagrees

I have a simple rule in team sports, and I think most anyone that likes having their best chance of winning would agree, and that is you don't go on the field without your best group of players. You just don't.

That is why bringing up the outrageous point that the American Ryder Cup team is better off without Tiger Woods is downright farcical. AP columnist Doug Ferguson argued this exact point, saying he thinks the U.S. team might be better off with Woods on the bench. You know, because the best golfer to ever play the game has a bad record. These are the times I'm sad Fire Joe Morgan doesn't write about golf.

"No one will miss Tiger Woods at the Ryder Cup more than the Europeans," Ferguson says.

Yes, the Americans will have to make do without a guy who has won 75 times around the world, 14 majors, and who has been No. 1 in the world ranking for 513 weeks. But they might be better off without him.

For all his greatness when the trophy is awarded to only one player, Woods has compiled a meager 10-13-2 record in his five Ryder Cup appearances. He went 3-2 at the last Ryder Cup, his first winning record. Plus, nothing motivates European players more than beating Woods in the Ryder Cup, which they have done 12 times in 20 team matches."

I'm a fairly sensible guy, so while 98 percent of this introduction bothers me, I would agree that yes, beating Tiger probably pumps the team up. So that is the justification for leaving him off your list? No offense to the 2003 British Open winner, but I'm fairly certain you'd take Tiger over Ben Curtis in your Ryder Cup fantasy draft.
Jim Kelly never won a Super Bowl in four attempts, but I guarantee the Buffalo Bills weren't thinking of benching him in the big game just because he hadn't produced in the past. You battle with your best and you lose with your best and if that is the outcome you deal with it.

Sure, you can sit around all day looking at the record Tiger has produced in the Ryder Cup, but you can also look at his other match play records. Three U.S. Junior Amateurs, three U.S. Amateur titles, three Accenture Match Play wins and sports a winning record in the Presidents Cup. This guy might be the best match play golfer of all time and there is an honest argument that you wouldn't want him on this team?

I know it's fun to go out on a limb at times, I do it to much criticism frequently, but there is no way a captain wouldn't want Tiger in his lineup.

Want to prove my point? Ask the Europeans if they'd take him in free agency.