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Ok, it's time to get it all out on the table.

I've been reading all of the Ryder Cup threads and I am seeing little knocks here and there about Tiger's performance and attitude. No one seems to be saying what they really want to say. Certainly other players are getting more criticism than he, but it's time to look at it more closely....

I thought Tiger's effort was among the top for the US players this time around. He had added pressure on him due to all of the stories about taking on a greater leadership roll. Combine that with the distraction regarding his wife earlier in the week.

In each of his team-matches he appeared to be grinding the entire time. He had many missed putts that could have changed the complexion of many of his matches. His decision-making was POOR. Hitting driver off the fairway was just a ridiculous play IMO (Saturday morning I believe).

The effort is always there with him, even in the team matches. The concept just throws him out of rhythm and cause mistakes in judgement and makes him press at times. This was proven during his singles match when he was clearly in control the entire time. The hook he hit into the 16th green from the rough to end the match, was just vintage Tiger.

No complaints from me this time Tiger.

What do you guys think?

I thought it was easily his best RC showing that I can recall. Some of you stats guys may be able to prove me wrong there. With the exception of the 3 or 4 short putts that he inexplicably missed, I though he did fine.

My Ryder Cup grades and rememeber we lost so im skewing towards lower grades because of that. Also im lenient on the Rookies.
Tiger- C
Phil- F
Furyk- C
Dimarco-F
Cink- B
Johnson- B
Henry-B
Toms-F
Taylor-C
Wetterich-C
Verplank-B
Cambell-C
Lehman-B... i thought he did all he could i was proud of his efforts. He would have gotten an A but he didnt win and had some critical pairings but for two years the man gave everything he had.

All three posts were well stated. I agree.

I thought Tiger struggled but kept plugging away and started to click on Saturday afternoon in the Foursomes. It's not a natural format for him and upsets his rhythm but lets face it he is still the No 1 by a long shot.

Mickelson on the other hand.....

Perhaps a bit critical on the grading. I think that based on potential, it's about right, though Tiger played better than a C IMO. To me the biggest surprise was Toms. I thought he'd be a stud in this. DiMarco and Phil...no surprises there. They have the name but as of late, not the game. Phil is still living the 72nd hole meltdown at the US Open and DiMarco hasn't been consistant since his injury. The rest...pretty much as expected. Euros played quite well.

Tiger can not be criticised , he made a bigger contribution on and off the course than any other American player. So he did not play to his best, sometimes it happens. You try swinging a club with eleven guys on your back.

^ hey im a big Tiger fan and i want to grade him higher but realistically he gets a C . He was 2nd or third best out of the 12 imo but his grades are on a different scale than everyone else. Hes head and shoulders above the rest and i think Jim helped him through a couple matches. Nonetheless a C and one net point is better than most Johnnie...ha ha....seriously he played better than in the past but he would have gotten a higher grade with a bit better play with jim....that being said your grades and everyones grades will differ than mine. Thats just how i saw it. I think tiger did ok to better than ok against a brilliant euro team

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A predator does not play well with their prey.

Tiger played well and gave it his all, but I still wonder if all the hype of Tiger is a distraction to the team.

Tiger could help by saying. It is a 12 person team. It is not all about me.

I would have liked it if he also made a similar comment to Sergio that he'd rather be 0-5 and have his team win than 5-0 and have his team lose.

I also would like to know if he'd be willing to sit out one of the matches if it would help his team.

While I think he's got great desire, I don't think he has the team concept down yet.

I would be willing to bet that if he were honest and wouldn't have the face charges of lack of patriotism and selfishness, Mr Woods would be quite happy to skip the entire event. If you could convince the media and public that his hype is a distraction (contributing to the loses, I assume?), I think he'd be graciously absent!

He is a creature of habit who likes to practice, work out and eat on his own schedule, detests formal dinners and ceremonies, and isn't a big fan of the format.

He shows up, plays as hard as he can, participates in everything he is supposed to do, and even wears the ugly clothes they give him. In return for that, he gets to listen to every pundit in the world second guess his every move and insult his wife. Fun, huh? Gosh, I'd like his money and his golf prowess but I don't think I could handle his "life".

Edit: Oh, and please, do not suggest that Sergio should ever give anyone lessons in public commentary!!!

Donnakay you speak the truth. The man also takes the rookies out to dinner and rearranges his schedule at his own tournament to fly to Ireland and practice with the team and be dead tired at the next event he played and won. Yet we have a Phil Mickelson who just says ill withdraw from the par 3 and from the Amex because hes moping about his play. Tiger shows class and refused to bash Sergio as well when he could have after Sergios comments about him. Noone is saying Tiger has it bad but give the guy some slack. He is after all the greatest promoter of the game of golf we all so dearly love.

tiger played well for a normal pro. but looking at tiger in the way of the best player since jack he should have had a better record, i have never seen him miss more putts then at the cup. the greens were soft due to the rain and i didn't see him go pin hunting like i have seen from him at medina (also slow and soft greens) i don't know why tiger does not play well in this format but for some reason no american golfer has played well in the cup since 99. i love watching tiger in majors he is great, but not great in the ryder cup

There you go! A much better and thought-out analysis of his performance. Glad you found the thread!

Now, believe it or not, I am going to agree with some of your points here. Yes, being the undisputed World #1, we would think he could just run over any and every opponent. I would love to see that more than anyone. He just doesn't do it in these tournaments.

So, perhaps in judging his performance this week, we are comparing it to past Ryder Cups and noting an improvement. I'll agree, his putting was off this week and some of his decision-making was extremely questionable. Aside from his walk in the park on Sunday, his performance was NOT great and certainly not what I hope to see from him.

Having said all of that, this time around, Tiger's slice of the blame pie is of very modest size.

(Note: spell checker did not work, so my apologies for any misspellings)

i agree, and i can't spell so even if you did misspell a word i wouldn't know.