Tiger Woods on call, huge muscles and missing players – inside USA’s Ryder Cup team

borealit September 16, 2023

0 29 2 minutes read

The greatest show in golf gets underway in 18 days’ time when Europe try to win back the Ryder Cup from the USA at Rome’s Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. The Americans were dominant when the two teams last met at Whistling Straits two years ago, recording an emphatic 19-9 victory to wrestle the trophy back off the Europeans.

That was a bitter pill for the visitors to swallow, but Luke Donald is captaining the team on home soil this time round and hopes are high that the misery of 2021 can soon be forgotten and that the 44th edition of the competition will see the cup stay on the east side of the Atlantic.

Zach Johnson took his US team to the eternal city on September 8 for a practice and bonding session as preparations for the adrenaline-pumping matchplay event start to gather pace.

Express Sport take a looks a some of the key talking points from inside the Team USA camp as anticipation begins to grow..

A notable absentee from the USA team is Tiger Woods. The legendary former world No 1 may be one of the greatest golfers of all time but injury has ravaged his season and it is difficult to imagine that he will ever appear in another Ryder Cup team again.

However, his love for the tournament is not diminished and Zach Johnson revealed this week that although Woods will not be in Rome, he is still very much in contact with the team.

Johnson told the Associated Press: “Tiger is very much a part of Team USA and has been for years. He is, for lack of a better term, on call with us. He is very much in the know as to what we’re trying to do.

“We’re going to utilize his wisdom and he’s passionate about the Ryder Cup. He wishes he could be here, but it’s just not in the cards for him physically. And that’s fine. I mean, he is with us. He’s just not here physically.”

Woods is said to have been an inspirational figure for the USA during the last Ryder Cup. After the Americans opened up a significant lead on Europe during the Sunday Singles, he sent captain Steve Stricker a text message that said: “Now step on their necks.”