Golf: Tiger could silence doubters

Beware the wounded Tiger. That's the message from Presidents Cup team-mate David Toms, as the build-up to the mid-November event begins in earnest.

Tiger Woods was a controversial inclusion in the United States team for the tournament against the International team (essentially the rest of the world minus Europe) in Melbourne, as the fallen star appeared to be chosen on reputation rather than form.

Woods, who has not won a tournament in more than two years, is currently the 22nd ranked American golfer but was the captain's pick of Fred Couples ahead of such players as US PGA winner Keegan Bradley. Toms, heading into his fourth President's Cup, is backing his compatriot to succeed on the world stage.

"I think it was obviously something that Fred thought long and hard about," says Toms. "He's talked to Tiger quite a bit and I still think that Tiger in a match play format is very, very difficult to beat. I'm not sure as an opponent you'd want to play him. When Tiger is playing well and he is healthy he is the best player in the world and I think everyone in golf knows that."

Toms, who has won 17 tournaments on the PGA tour, says the system will always provoke controversy: "There's always going to be a deserving player that gets left off because you can't pick everybody," says Toms. "The only way to do it would be to say the top 12 guys make the team - [with] no captain's picks - [but] that's the easy way out."

International captain Greg Norman and team member Geoff Ogilvy are among those who have voiced their surprise at the selection.

"Woods is a different player out there nowadays," said Norman recently. "I just don't think he's technically in the right position to do what he used to do. Keegan Bradley is the obvious one. He's won two tournaments this year, one of them being a major, and he hasn't made the team, which is astonishing really that you can do that and not make the team."

Meanwhile, Toms is looking forward to the team camaraderie that goes with the event and the team matchplay format.

"It's a nice change of pace," Toms told the Herald on Sunday. "It is a little bit different to have a partner for most of the event [when] normally you are just playing individual golf. If you can find somebody that you gel with as far as a partner, you might create a friendship or a relationship that lasts a lifetime that you might not otherwise have just playing golf against them every week."

A veteran of three President Cup events (2003, 2005, 2007) Toms says his favourite memory is watching Chris DiMarco sink a last gasp 15-foot putt to beat Stuart Appleby and clinch the 2005 event.

"I was actually down in the first fairway watching a playoff. I remember running down the fairway with Tiger trying to get there to the green on 18."

He also lists the epic playoff between Ernie Els and Woods in 2003 in South Africa (played in descending darkness as the teams fought out the only tie in Presidents Cup history) as well the infamous dunking of Woody Austin in 2007 as other memorable moments.

"To be paired with Woody when he fell in the water, that was pretty funny," recalls Toms. "He was my team-mate and he blamed it on me because I was in the water, as well. That's why he had to play his ball out of the water."

Toms expects a rough reception in Melbourne, well aware it was the scene of the United States's only loss, back in 1998.

"It will be a tough place for us to play," says Toms. "The international team has got a lot of great players [and] the Australians will probably have some local course knowledge as well as the fans behind them."