Tiger Woods was straight and to the point on Sunday after he gave it all he had with that final round 64 at the 100th PGA Championship.
“I do want to be on the team as a player. Hopefully my name will be part of the process,” said Woods when the topic of the upcoming Ryder Cup matches surfaced.
Hopefully?
After a run for the ages on Sunday with his best-ever score in the final round of a major, Woods has done it the old fashioned way — he’s earned it.
Consider that Woods was ranked 656 in the world at the start of this season. When the Official World Golf Rankings come out this week, he should be No. 26.
“I played hard,” Woods said after his round, his face showing that he gave it everything his 42-year-old body could muster. “I was hanging in there, grinding it out.”
His tee ball troubles on the front nine didn’t surprise him. “I had a hard time with my warmup,” he confessed. “It was a struggle. I hung in there with my mind.”
He also hung in there with his scrambling. He missed every fairway on the front nine and at one point had eight straight one-putts.
In all, he had eight birdies on the day, his most impressive came a the long par four 15th where he crushed his drive then hit a nine-iron from 164 yards out to within a foot. The roars were deafening.
“These fans were so positive all week,” Woods said. “I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me.”
It was a two-way street. Woods gave them the best he could under the circumstances. He didn’t have his best stuff but magically produced his best score of his career for the last day of a major.
As for the Ryder Cup, the choice of Tiger Woods is a no-brainer.
Now, Jim Furyk will probably spend the next few weeks pretending it’s not.
