USA Team captain, Davis Love 111 and his European Team rival, Jose Maria Olazabal have played down any part he could have in arranging for 14-time Major winning Tiger Woods in facing World No.1 Rory McIlroy in Sunday’s concluding Ryder Cup Singles.
Woods and McIlroy have suddenly found themselves inseperable during the FedEx Cup Playoff Series with organisers drawing enormous interest to the four events in pairing the straight talking American with the curly-haired Northern Irishman.
Actor commedian Bill Murray walks off with the Ryder Cup during a celebrity match on the Medinah course. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
Lovee 111 was quizzed today at Medinah what he thought of the notion of a Ryder Cup dream Sunday Singles showdown between Woods and McIlroy.
I’m sure it’s not in the captains’ agreement that we don’t do that, but I’m sure it’s against the spirit of it,” said Love 111.
“I said it yesterday or the day before up here; it would be neat to sit up here and match them up.
“It would be pretty good theater to match groups, and it would be fun. But since we can’t do that and since I doubt that‑‑ well, I definitely don’t want to be the first one to go cross over into their room and start rigging pairings, so I would say no.
“But it would be fun to watch, that’s for sure. ”
And Olazabal was also asked to respond to the subject of a Woods and McIlroy showdown on Sunday.
“Sunday will be what will be,” said the Spaniard.
“You know, I’m not expecting nothing at this particular time. I know that all of you are very eager to see that match played, but we will have to wait and see what happens, and first of all, how the matches develop the next few days.
“Obviously Friday and Saturday are going to be crucial to know what we’re going to be doing on Sunday.
“We are guessing here, and my guess is as good as yours. And the only thing I can say is that I know you’re eager to see that match, but I think the Ryder Cup is more important than that single match.”
And Olazabal responded also to questions concerning a decision to allow his team play just nine holes today instead of a full 18 holes of the Medinah course.
“Well, the reason behind it is that the boys had a good look at the golf course yesterday,” he said.
“It took them quite a while to play 18 holes, and I thought because of what I said, that Wednesdays and Thursdays are quite busy apart from the golf. We have the gala dinner; we have the media interviews; we have the opening ceremony. I wanted the boys to take it easy today and tomorrow, just play nine holes and be ready for Friday.
“The thing is as I said yesterday they saw the course yesterday, they saw every bit of it yesterday, and now it’s just a matter of taking it a little bit easier today and tomorrow because Friday, 36 holes, Saturday, 36 holes, a lot of pressure, a lot of tension, so I want them just to, as I said, take it a little bit easier than usually.”
