Ryder Cup

Tiger Woods received one of Corey Pavin's four captain's picks on Tuesday and will play for the United States in this year's Ryder Cup. "I'm part of a team and honored to be part of that team," Woods said. "I always loved playing the Ryder Cup. I've been looking forward to it. I'm honored to be selected. " Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler were Pavin's three other picks to round out the American side, which takes on Europe starting Oct. 1 at Celtic Manor in Wales.

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FedEx should hold fate Jeff Shain Orlando Sentinel It depends on how Tiger Woods performs at the FedEx Cup playoff opener in two weeks. If he can't play his way into the second event — he'll need to make up at least eight places in the standings — then his troubles are too many for my risk/reward meter. Woods hasn't had a top-20 finish since tying for fourth at the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, here's a list of Americans with at least three top-20s in that span who aren't on the roster: Nick Watney, Sean O'Hair, J.B. Holmes, Ryan Moore, Vaughn Taylor, Matt Bettencourt.

Pick, don't bet on U.S. Teddy Greenstein Chicago Tribune I'll pick the Stars and Stripes. You can justify the pick like this: Even though the Americans have lost four straight on the road, they've won two of their last three in the land of the free. Plus Tiger Woods is to Chicago golf what pre-busted Lance Armstrong was to the Tour de France. Woods won the last two majors played at Medinah. But the Europeans have the better putters (Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter)

— The British have a marvelous way with words. Journalist Oliver Brown has written that England's Lee Westwood is "golf's perpetual nearly man. " Truth is so much better when it is also lyrical. As today's Ryder Cup plays on toward Sunday's expected dramatic conclusion, one thing can be established without any final results. This is Westwood's time. He is 37, has been a fixture on both the European and U.S. tours for more than a decade, has won millions, has been the top dog on the European Tour twice — winner of the Order of Merit — and is the veteran on this European Ryder Cup team with six previous appearances.

Pick, don't bet on U.S. Teddy Greenstein Chicago Tribune I'll pick the Stars and Stripes. You can justify the pick like this: Even though the Americans have lost four straight on the road, they've won two of their last three in the land of the free. Plus Tiger Woods is to Chicago golf what pre-busted Lance Armstrong was to the Tour de France. Woods won the last two majors played at Medinah. But the Europeans have the better putters (Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter)

By now, Hunter Mahan surely has realized the sun comes up again. Day after day after day. And with each day that passes, the sting of being the man from whom Europe figuratively wrested the Ryder Cup in all likelihood eases a bit. It hit pretty hard in the immediate aftermath at Celtic Manor, where Mahan struggled more than once to get words out as he discussed the pressure that went with having the Cup tilt on the final match's result....

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Tiger Woods might be far enough behind leader Nick Watney that he couldn't see him through a Sheboygan fog, but there's incentive for Woods to put up a good score Sunday. He can improve his Ryder Cup position, though he'll likely need some of his fellow players to stumble. Woods is currently 10th in the U.S. standings, with the top eight guaranteed a spot on the team. As erratic as his play was Saturday, Woods was encouraged. "The striking, the sound, the feel, more than anything, it feels good," said Woods, who is tied for 31st in the PGA Championship at 3 under.

ATLANTA — Paul Casey will spend much of next week biking with friends through the Canadian wilderness, traversing huge stretches far from a newspaper or a TV or even a cell phone tower. That's good. Nothing like a deep breath of the great outdoors to clear one's head. Find time to get away from your troubles. And for Casey, next week presents a good alternative. Where he rather would be, of course, is Celtic Manor in Wales, battling alongside his European compatriots as they try to recapture the Ryder Cup. But the English pro didn't make the cut — the odd man off the roster even though he ranks among the sport's top 10 practitioners.

POTOMAC -- Time was when a United States victory in th Ryder Cup, the biennial golf event matching American and European professionals, was no big deal.From 1947 to 1983, the U.S. team had an 18-1 victory margin. Then, the rules were changed to permit players from continental Europe to be eligible for the British team. The resulting European teams have picked up two narrow wins and a tie in the past three competitions.The Ryder Cup has become important, to the point where the matches will get 21 1/2 hours of television coverage, Sept.

The legendary Bobby Jones once remarked about an otherwordly star taking the sport by storm, "Jack Nicklausplays a game with which I'm not familiar. " Decades later, Nicklaus said nearly the same thing about another prodigy named Tiger Woods. Woods probably won't say it -- at least not yet -- but he could say of Rory McIlroy, "He plays a game with which I was once familiar. " McIlroy showed again Sunday in the final round of the PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., what all the excitement was about when he burst on the scene a few years ago as a curly-haired teenager from Northern Ireland.

Tiger still more talented Bill Kline The Morning Call Sure, the field has caught and even trampled Tiger Woods in stroke-play tournaments. But Tiger still has more talent than the bottom third of the U.S. Presidents Cup team combined. In match play, particularly one-on-one, he has as much resolve as a freedom fighter. And when Tiger is inspired — as he will be after his selection is maligned by some — his engine gets fired up more than Dick Vitale preaching at a motivational seminar.

Rosie Jones fully understands the hot seat she created for herself. Asked about the thought process that went into finalizing the U.S. Solheim Cup roster she will be taking to Ireland next month, Jones looked up from her lunch with a grin. "You mean my picks?" she said. Well, yeah. Particularly the player with just seven LPGA starts under her belt. From the outset though, Jones has acknowledged the addition of Ryann O'Toole isn't exactly conventional thinking — "a very wild pick," she called it before making the announcement late Sunday.

Tiger Woods is a lame-duck No. 1; Lee Westwood waits in the wings. Push number-crunching aside, though, and no golfer is hotter than Martin Kaymer. It turns out the PGA Championship was only a springboard for the 25-year-old German, who has yet to come away without hardware since that victorious playoff at Whistling Straits. After a three-week hiatus, he won the KLM Open in the Netherlands. Then he went 3-0-1 in helping Europe win back the Ryder Cup. Finally, a birdie-birdie finish captured last week's Dunhill Links at St.Andrews.

They always talk about how important experience is in sports, and U.S. team captain Tom Watson certainly viewed it as a key ingredient when he made out his lineup for the opening foursomes of the Ryder Cup competition today (USA, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.). On the sidelines observing the tension-filled matches were the "kids" -- Lee Janzen, Jim Gallagher, Chip Beck and John Cook.Looking at the twosomes -- Lanny Wadkins-Corey Pavin, Paul Azinger-Payne Stewart, Davis Love-Tom Kite and Ray Floyd-Fred Couples -- one might guess the United States would breeze.

ClarificationCaptions for two Ryder Cup photos in yesterday's editions, both referring to an 18th-hole putt by American golfer Davis Love, appeared to contradict one another. In fact, the caption on Page 1A referred to a morning round Friday, when Love's birdie effort failed. The caption on Page 1C was from the afternoon round, when his birdie putt dropped.