Filed under: Golf & Tennis
Woods didn't qualify for the team based on points. Instead, Pavin had to make him one of his four captain's picks. Woods wasn't an easy choice because he had a terrible season, and he tends to play poorly in the Ryder Cup.
In his history with the Ryder Cup, Woods has only gone 3-1-1 in singles competition. In team events, he is 6-12-1. The only Ryder Cup the US has won in the past decade was the one in which Tiger wasn't competing.
But golf is a business, and one thing that always holds true is that Tiger Woods fills the stands. Had Pavin chosen to leave Tiger off to the side, he would have gotten a tap on the shoulder from the powers that be who are mostly concerned with revenue generation. At the end of the day, it's all about the Benjamins.
Perhaps the Ryder Cup will be another step on Tiger's road to redemption. As it stands, the super hero we had last year has been replaced by a mediocre divorcee who admits that he's a sex addict. That doesn't work nearly as well for Madison Avenue. But Tiger's father once told him that if he puts the ball in the hole, all of his problems will go away. Well, at least most of them.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.