Woods to join K Club shindig

Golf/ Ryder Cup: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have rearranged commitments with sponsors and will join the rest of the US Ryder Cup team on a trip to The K Club next Monday and Tuesday.

Captain Tom Lehman has organised a charter flight to take his 12-man team on a two-day reconnaissance of the Ryder Cup venue after this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

"We're all going there as a team to hang out, relax and play a little golf," world number one Woods said.

"Most of the guys haven't played the golf course very much and maybe I can help out and pass on a few titbits that I've learned over the years of playing there."

Woods has been a regular visitor to The K Club, playing practice rounds there along with a bit of fishing in his build-up to British Opens.

When Lehman initially planned the Ireland trip, Woods and Mickelson were the only likely absentees because of previous commitments.

"I've seen The K Club enough, but I just wanted to be with the guys because we are going as a team," Woods added.

Lehman, attempting to end a run of four European victories in the last five Ryder Cup matches, has made the US team's unity a priority for the September 22nd-24th showdown.

"I would say the one thing I'm most excited about is our guys are already together," he said.

"They've been aiming for this for two years. It's now really a simple case of the eight guys who have been there before, who have been parts of Ryder Cup teams and Presidents Cup teams, embracing the four guys who haven't and making them feel comfortable."

The four rookies on Lehman's team are Vaughn Taylor, JJ Henry, Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich.

Lehman and company are scheduled to depart for Dublin from Cleveland tomorrow night before returning on Wednesday morning for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston.

"We'll get a lot of things accomplished and our practices will mean something," Lehman said. "They are not going to be out there just knocking balls around."

The public, however, will not be able to see the Americans due to health and safety issues. The fact that Woods and Mickleson, two of the biggest names in the game today, will now be making an appearance will be a major disappointment to Irish golf fans.

Lehman had earlier intimated that he had no problem with the public watching his team practising as long as they showed due respect and didn't infringe on their preparations. However, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe Ltd recommended that the public be denied access to the course because of major construction work.