Tiger gets snared by loss of form

When the dust settles and US recriminations begin in earnest, the lack of impact by Tiger Woods on last weekend's events is certain to become a major topic for discussion on the far side of the Atlantic. The player who was meant to win the Ryder Cup on his own finished as low as eighth in the US merit table, with only one and a half points from five matches.

So, what went wrong? It seems that we Europeans were duped by all the pre-tournament Tiger hype. Close observers of Woods in the US were not in the least surprised by his subdued contribution to the team effort.

Even his captain seemed to have lost faith in him by the time the singles came around. It was clear from the American order that Tom Kite was leading with what he considered his strongest troops. And he rated Woods third behind Fred Couples and Davis Love.

The fact was that the so-called "phenom" came to Valderrama with a decidedly moderate game. Indeed, in his last tournament appearance, he missed the cut in the Canadian Open after a second round of 76.

A comparison with his tournament scores at the start of the year are even more revealing. In his opening 19 rounds - the Mercedes Championship was reduced to three rounds because of the weather - Woods broke par on 16 occasions.

In his last 19 tournament rounds on the USPGA Tour, he has broken par only seven times. The inconsistency of his play can be gauged by the fact that his last three results were: tied 29th in the USPGA Championship, tied third in the World Series and missed cut in Canada.

"I pointed out before we came here that there was more to golf than Tiger Woods," said Colin Montgomerie yesterday. "Even if he played unbeatable golf, he could still win only five points. And the more realistic view was that the course wouldn't suit him because of the tight fairways."

Montgomerie then dismissed the notion that the player was entitled to be upset over his father, a recent victim of heart surgery, not being granted special status at Valderrama by the PGA of America. When told that he wouldn't be allowed inside the fairway ropes like the players' wives or girlfriends, Earl Woods decided to remain at home in California and watch the matches on television.

"I'm as close to my father as Earl is to Tiger," insisted the big Scot. "But he walked outside the ropes with the paying public, despite the fact that he had triple by-pass surgery last year."

It seems that even Kite had reservations about the Masters champion prior to the event. "Without wishing to take anything away from the guys he beat in all those amateur championships, he hasn't played matchplay against the sort of players Europe will have in the Ryder Cup," he said.

Another highly revealing point was made by former amateur colleague Trip Kuehne, who was beaten by Woods in the final of the US Amateur at Sawgrass in 1994. "In the Ryder Cup, Tiger won't have the luxury of starting slow as he might do in a 36-hole final," said Kuehne. "If you can get on him early, you have a chance."

Which is exactly what happened in Sunday's singles against Costantino Rocca. While Woods started par, par, bogey, par, par, the Italian started birdie, par, par, par, birdie - and was three up after five. Far from staging an immediate fight-back, Woods went further behind with a bogey at the ninth.

In theory, Woods's game should be ideally suited to matchplay. His aggressive style would cost him no more than a hole whereas a wild swing in strokeplay could cost him a tournament. In the context of the Ryder Cup, however, there was a more important consideration: team commitment.

Those of us who watched Woods in the Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl two years ago would have seen problems in that regard. He was thoroughly indulged by the US captain, Downing Gray, who treated him as a player apart from the remainder of the side, which must have had a disrupting effect on his colleagues.

As it happened, Woods made a decidedly moderate contribution to what became a lost cause for the Americans, on that occasion. Granted, he and John Harris combined in a foursomes win over Gordon Sherry and Stephen Gallacher on the opening morning. That afternoon, however, he paid the price for immature wilfulness in his execution of the treacherous 18th.

Ignoring the advice of his caddie on club selection, he pulled his approach out of bounds when losing to Gary Wolstenholme in the anchor position. He was then involved in a foursomes defeat by Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Jody Fanagan the following morning before getting revenge on Wolstenholme later in the day.

In terms of being eased into his Ryder Cup debut, Woods was given every chance by Kite in the opening fourballs in which he was paired with his Orlando neighbour, Mark O'Meara. Even at that early stage, it was clear that Valderrama was not to his liking, despite a 3 and 2 victory over Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer.

After that, he continued to play with no real sparkle, unable to fire himself up as he has done so successfully at strokeplay level. As European skipper Ballesteros put it: "You get into the Ryder Cup to compete, not to participate."