AE Daily News
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Tiger Woods might kind a part of the US Ryder Cup group – or at the very least, Zach Johnson isn’t ruling it out.
Ahead of the Sony Open in Hawaii, US captain Johnson mentioned he wouldn’t low cost deciding on Woods to compete within the event if the 47-year-old didn’t qualify for the group routinely.
“I’d solely ponder having him on the group if he felt – if he was placing up some numbers and a few scores, No. 1, the place he’s displaying some signal of being aggressive, “Johnson mentioned at a media convention on Wednesday.
“And then No. 2, that discussion would be had with the other guys that are a part of that team, and specifically him. If there is anything I trust in Tiger Woods, is that he’s extremely invested in this team and the future Cups. Extremely invested. I can’t speak that enough,” added Johnson.
“And then I think you would do anything and everything for the betterment of the team. I assume he would say … I don’t like basing on assumptions … but I’m confident that he would say, ‘Yeah, I can play, or no, I can’t.’”
Last 12 months, Johnson confirmed Woods can be a part of the US Ryder Cup “in some capacity,” including that Woods had made it a “priority.”
“Given who he is and what he’s all about, I can’t tell you right now: I don’t know if he will be here next year, but he will be a part of this team in some capacity,” Johnson mentioned.
However, Woods’ well being might complicate this, Johnson conceded.
“He’s gone through some things as of late that make it difficult, whether it’s travel or what-have-you,” mentioned the US Ryder Cup captain.
Injury has hampered Woods’ current profession, his enjoying time decimated since he suffered critical leg accidents in a automotive accident in February 2021.
The 47-year-old withdrew from the Hero World Challenge in December citing his foot ache, and at numerous factors had seemed to be fighting motion through the seventh version of The Match that month.
“I think something that is realistic is playing the tour one day, never full time, ever again, but pick and choose, just like Mr. (Ben) Hogan did,” Woods informed Golf Digest after his accident in 2021.
“Pick and select a couple of occasions a 12 months and also you mess around that. You apply round that, and also you gear your self up for that. And you play. I feel that’s how I’m going to should play it any further.
“It’s an unfortunate reality, but it’s my reality. And I understand it, and I accept it.”
A biennial competitors which alternates between Europe and the US, the Ryder Cup is being performed in Italy for the primary time later this 12 months – September 25 to October 1 – on the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, which is 10 miles from the middle of Rome.
Team US regained the Ryder Cup in 2021 following a traditionally dominant efficiency over Europe at Whistling Straits.
