Pair look for change in fortune
They are the two biggest names in golf, winners of seven of the last 12 major championships.
But when it comes to the Ryder Cup Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have often looked more like superflops than superstars.
Forty games between them – 20 each – and Woods has won only seven times and Mickelson just twice more.
Nine caps between them, but only in Boston in 1999 have they been able to celebrate success. And then only in highly-controversial fashion after Europe had led by a massive four points going into the singles.
This coming week, in the cauldron that will be the K Club near Dublin as Ireland stages the match for the first time, the two giants of the game go under the microscope again.
They will, unless we witness the biggest shock in cup history, be only team-mates and not partners this time, but whether they are separate or together does not change what is expected of them.
Can they produce the goods at long last? And even if they do, is there enough talent in the rest of the United States team to stop Ian Woosnam’s side making it five wins out of six – and an unprecedented three in a row?
Woods has never tried to hide the fact he does not consider the Ryder Cup vital to his career.
A career that shows every indication of being the greatest in the history of golf – and quite possibly in the whole of sport too.
But if ever his country needed him they need him now. Another failure and some serious questions will be asked by those who do consider it vital.
The world number one does not very often turn up at a golf tournament with something to prove. But he very definitely does now.
“Tiger probably has not had the Ryder Cup that everyone would have expected to date,” said David Howell, whom Woosnam hopes will be one of his leading lights.
“It’s the exception of what his individual performances are from week to week and that’s the nature of the Ryder Cup.
“He has a partner that’s naturally not going to be as good as him because he’s the best in the world, so that’s a leveller for starters.
“But I believe they found a good partner for him in Jim (Furyk) in the Presidents Cup last time and Jim is number two in the world (as of last Monday just ahead of Mickelson), so that’s a pretty formidable partnership.
“Maybe Tiger will have a big week – but he can only win five points.”
Woods and Furyk won two and halved one of their three games together against the Rest of the World and with Mickelson and Chris DiMarco grabbing three-and-a-half points out of four in unison their Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman has been handed two ready-made partnerships on a plate.
What Lehman does with his other eight, including four rookies raw on international experience, is key, of course.
But American hopes will surely be hanging by a thread if their two main men do not function. And function from the start.
Woods, amazingly, has not managed even a half on the opening day since his debut nine years ago.
Mickelson, as will never be forgotten or repeated in all probability, was tried with him two years ago, but Hal Sutton’s “Dream Team” had a nightmare time.
Lehman has acknowledged the problem for anyone given Woods as their partner, but Furyk seems to have taken it in his stride.
“We have a few differences, but a lot of similarities,” he said. “The glaring difference, other than the fact he’s the best in the world, would be he has a lot more power, but as far as our attitudes and our mind-sets and personalities I think we’re probably a lot more similar than most people think.”
Woods says the same.
“Even though we have different styles of games our personalities are very similar in how we approach the game of golf and how we compete.
“So from that standpoint it’s kind of a no-brainer. I think the difference in length off the tee can be something that deters captains from putting guys together, but as well as our approach we read putts very similar.”
There are already 11 Europeans – Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood, Jesper Parnevik, Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Paul Lawrie, Thomas Bjorn, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley – who have beaten Woods in fourballs or foursomes.
And another, Costantino Rocca, memorably beat him in the singles at Valderrama.
Because of his stature Woods is always there to be shot at, of course. And that does not change at the K Club – Europe may be favourites, but not whoever is facing him.
And the same applies to a slightly lesser extent to Mickelson. He might be a member of a team carrying the tag of underdogs, but after the terrible time he had in 2004 he should be itching for revenge.
The left-hander was criticised for doing too much of his own thing in the build-up, while Woods makes no secret of his dislike for the functions.
Lehman needs to create the best environment he can so that the two are “up for the cup” when called to the tee.
What Europe’s captain Ian Woosnam has to create is a mirror image of the atmosphere from two and four years ago. Bernhard Langer and Sam Torrance hardly put a foot wrong and the players responded.
The poor performances of Woods and Mickelson played a big part in those results, though, and if there is one main worry for home supporters it is that the two leading lights of the American side suddenly get switched on.
