HOYLAKE, England — US Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson made it clear on Monday he wants Tiger Woods on the team for September’s matches against Europe at Gleneagles in Scotland. But it hardly sounds as if Woods will get a free ride as a captain’s pick.
Watson, a five-time British Open winner who is playing his 37th Open this week at Royal Liverpool, indicated Woods’ performance in the next two-plus months will be crucial to whether he is one of the 12 players on the team.
Watson is allowed three at-large selections to fill out his team.
The issue at hand for Woods, who until recently had been out since March after back surgery, is lack of opportunities. Following this week, he is expected to play in only the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship, which is the last qualifying event to make the team before Watson has to make his captain’s picks.
The PGA Championship is also one week before the cutoff for qualifying for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, the four tournaments that lead up to the Ryder Cup. Barring a win in the next three events, or at least some high finishes, Woods is unlikely to qualify for the playoffs.
Watson, who indicated he’s expecting to meet with Woods this week at Hoylake, said, “I could ask Tiger, ‘How are you feeling? How are you feeling like you’re hitting the ball? Are you hitting it well?’ And that doesn’t mean anything, really. It’s performance. The performance means something. I’ll be watching Tiger and I want him on the team. I do. He’s a tough competitor and he’s great in the team room. Wouldn’t you want him on your team?”
Woods, who has played just two competitive rounds since returning at the Quicken Loans National following his March 31 surgery, did not play a practice round on Monday after playing 12 holes Saturday and 18 holes Sunday.
Woods will be paired for the first rounds with Argentina’s Angel Cabrera and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson. They’ll tee off at 9:04 a.m. local time (5:04 p.m. Eastern) in Thursday’s first round and 2:05 p.m. local time Friday (9:05 a.m. Eastern).
Phil Mickelson will begin his Open defense at 2:05 p.m. (9:05 a.m. ET) along with two-time Open champion Ernie Els and reigning Masters winner Bubba Watson. They will play at 9:04 a.m. local time Friday.
US Open winner Martin Kaymer is scheduled to go off at 1:38 p.m. along with Jason Day and Zach Johnson. Other notable groupings include Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler at 8:31 a.m.; Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth at 9:26 a.m.; and Adam Scott, Justin Rose, winner of his last two events (the Quicken Loans National and Scottish Open), and Jason Dufner at 2:27 p.m.
Rose, who moved up to No. 3 in the world rankings by winning the Scottish Open, enters this week as the No.6 choice to win the Open Championship at 20-to-1 according to Glantz-Culver. McIlroy is the favorite (12-to-1), Woods (14-to-1) is second, and Adam Scott, Kaymer and Stenson, are tied for third at 16-to-1.
Defending Open Championship champion Mickelson is listed at 35-to-1.