PGA Tour News

Phil Mickelson knows this is his last Ryder Cup outside of U.S. borders. Tiger Woods knows it’s another step in his comeback and a chance to right past failures in this international event.

Maybe, just maybe, they’ll be playing together when the Ryder Cup begins on Friday at Le Golf National in Paris, France.

“Those team events where we’ve worked together, I think, we realized that we both have a lot more in common than we thought,” Mickelson said, “and I think that we both have really come to appreciate working together to achieve things.”

At 48, Mickelson is the oldest player on the U.S. team. He was a captain’s pick for the first time, rather than a qualifier. Woods has a career mark of 13-17-1 in Ryder Cup play, nothing to get excited about. But given his comeback-capping victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia, perhaps better times are coming. The U.S. has not won the Ryder Cup on foreign soil in 25 years, of which every player is mindful.

“We haven’t done well,” Woods, 42, said. “… My overall Ryder Cup record, not having won as a player since 1999, is something that hopefully we can change.”

Will he and Lefty get to play together? Mickelson was dropping hints on Tuesday about team captain Jim Furyk’s thinking, but wouldn’t confirm or deny anything.

“I do have an idea of what Captain Furyk is thinking,” Mickelson said.

The mystery won’t last long. The drama, however, might.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman