Don't question Tiger's Ryder desire: Lehman
Tom Lehman today handed Ryder Cup wild cards to Scott Verplank and Stewart Cink – and then added that he will “go crazy” if anybody questions how much Tiger Woods wants to be part of his team next month.
Woods has won only seven of his 20 games since appearing for the first time at Valderrama nine years ago and said on the eve of the 2002 match that he wanted world championship success for himself more than he wanted a Ryder Cup victory at The Belfry.
Because of a commitment with his Foundation the Open and US PGA champion is not expected to join the rest of the side when they go to the K Club for early practice next week.
But Lehman, breaking off from talking about his 11th and 12th men, said this of his number one: “If I ever hear somebody question Tiger Woods’ desire to be a part of this team again I’m going to go crazy.
“Tiger Woods cannot wait to play in this Ryder Cup, He is looking to playing every bit as much as
looking forward to playing in the PGA Championship, the [British] Open, the Masters and the US Open.
“And if he didn’t have this commitment with his charity he would be in Ireland with us (next Monday and Tuesday). And that’s a fact.”
With that off his chest, Lehman returned to his wild-card choices.
The most notable omission was Davis Love, who has been on every team since the ‘War on the Shore‘ at Kiawah Island in 1991.
Love, without a top 10 finish since February, appeared to be playing himself into the team when he was just one off the lead at the halfway stage of the final major of the season.
But he fell away to 34th with weekend rounds of 73 and 76 and played his last three holes bogey, double bogey, bogey.
Many would still have expected him to be given a wild card for the first time, but Lehman had other ideas.
Cink, also chosen two years ago, looked a certainty for one pick after three top five finishes in his last six events. He finished 12th in the table and number 11 John Rollins was never likely because most of his points came from winning in America the week of the Open.
But instead of Love, who wound up 15th on the points table, Lehman went for 20th-placed Scott Verplank despite the fact that he has not won a tournament for five years.
The 42-year-old was the first uncapped American ever to be chosen for the match four years ago and won two of his three games at The Belfry.
He also had eight successive rounds in the 60s prior to the US PGA, where he missed the cut and spent an anxious weekend hoping he might be called.
“I slept with the cell phone under the pillow,” he said, “and last night I didn’t sleep very well at all.”
Lehman, who gave serious consideration to Love, 26-year-old Lucas Glover, Steve Stricker and his assistant captain Corey Pavin, explained: “One of the things I think our team needs is somebody who can really putt and really can chip, who can drive the ball, put it in the fairway, who is a tough, tough, tough competitor who will never quit, never give up.
“And for those reasons I picked Scott Verplank.”
There are five changes from the team thrashed two years ago.
Out go Love, Chris Riley, Kenny Perry, Fred Funk and Jay Haas and into their places come Verplank and uncapped quartet Vaughn Taylor, JJ Henry, Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich.
The last four of those are respectively ranked 57th, 74th, 37th and 61st in the world and have only limited experience internationally.
Augusta-based Taylor, 30, has won twice on the US Tour, but both came when the big names were all away playing a world championship. The Open last month was his first trip to Europe and he did not even have a passport until last year.
Henry won his first title last month at the 177th attempt and did not finish in the top 80 on the US Tour the last four years.
Johnson took six years to make it into the big league, but certainly made his mark when he got there with one win and over $2m (€1.5m) in earnings. That was 2004 and the 30-year-old has not won again yet.
Wetterich, 33, was at the qualifying school last December and survived it with nothing to spare. He won his first tour title in May 12 years after turning professional and hung on to the 10th and last automatic place despite missing the halfway cut in the last two counting events.
But America also has, of course, the top three players in the world – Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk – plus three more in the top 20 in Chris DiMarco, David Toms and Chad Campbell.
Europe, winner of four of the last five clashes, are favourites for the first time for the first-ever match on Irish soil.
As for the atmosphere his side can expect to face Lehman said: “It’s going to be electric. Think Jack Nicklaus in 1986 on the back nine of the Masters. That’s what it’s going to be like.”
| Related Stories: |
|
