A Ryder Cup without Tiger? Yes, please

Sally Jenkins wrote today:

Tiger Woods isn't making Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin's job any easier. Life would be so much simpler if Woods would definitively play his way on to, or off of, the Ryder Cup team. But judging by his first-round performance in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, it's going to be an agonizing decision, because every swing is a potential mind changer.

Here's my opinion, for what it's worth: if Woods doesn't play his way into a locked spot on the team, Pavin shouldn't pick him, even if he's playing better than he has been.

When Tiger's on his game, he's the best stroke player in the world. But even then, he's never been more than a decent match player, and he flat out stinks in the team matches that make up the bulk of the Ryder Cup. He's been on the US team five times. His personal record is 10-13-2 - 7-12-1 in the foursomes/fourballs - meaning that he has lost more points for the team than he's won (he's not even won his singles matches (3-1-1), losing to Rocca and halving with Parnevik), and the United States has gone 1-4 in those Cups. The 5½-point victory last time came with him out for knee surgery. He doesn't have the impact he should; he's simply not a team player.

Pavin will probably have the chance to go to a Cup without Tiger. He should take it.