Jim McCabe

STRAFFAN, Ireland - He accepted it as “his team,” so Tiger Woods won’t brush off the responsibility.

To lose is to hurt and this was Grade A, top-of-the-line, embarrassing type pain. Europe’s 18 ½ points next to America’s 9 ½ was humiliating stuff, especially since there was a loss by that same score two years ago.

“It doesn’t sit well. Nor should it,” said Woods.

He’s been part of five Ryder Cup teams now and only once has Woods walked away a winner. The first four trips? He was the youngest guy on the team — the best player, yes, but still the youngest — and he didn’t feel it was his place to take the lead role ahead of veterans such as Payne Stewart, Mark O’Meara, Davis Love, and Fred Couples.

But trip No. 5? The old guard wasn’t there, new faces abounded, so Woods agreed it was time for him to step up.

Phil Mickelson was in line to do it, but he has never shown a bit of passion for the Ryder Cup, so Woods embraced the opportunity. No, not in a fist-pumping, back-slapping sort of way; instead, he pulled four rookies aside, told them what to expect, told him he was there if they had any questions.

It wasn’t going to be an easy assignment at the K Club. Woods knew that, but he loves a golf challenge and this was as great a challenge as he had faced. It is team golf and it is so different from the golf he dominates on a weekly basis, but Woods has constantly been badgered about his record in it, that he was determined to silence the critics.

Give him credit, for in a way, he did. Oh, the final score was a disaster. No doubt about that. There was his very first shot of the competition — a pull-hook into the water — and there were a series of shots in Saturday morning’s four-ball that looked like nothing he had delivered since his amateur days, wild drives and errant approaches, no sense of distance control at all. It was bad and he’d be the first to admit it, so rip away at him.

But consider the way he played in Saturday’s foursomes, the toughest format, and how a victory there helped get his team within 4 points. Then consider how he took command of his singles match early and went on to win, the only American to score 3 points.

36th Ryder Cup Europe 18 1/2, United States 9 1/2 Record-tying rout for Europe | Results   Slide show: Top images from The K Club   Discuss: What went wrong for U.S. team? Opinion: Tiger not to blame | Has ideas Opinion: Get used to these Euro routs Clarke wraps up emotional, successful week Woosnam's choices on money | Euros rejoice McGinley's concession denied shot at record Tiger wins after caddie lets one slip away Verplank gets first American ace Individual points | All-time champions The K Club (pdf. file) | Future sites

Vaunted teammates Mickelson (0-4-1) and Chris DiMarco (0-3-1) not only didn’t step up, they only showed up for the opening and closing ceremonies, it appears. David Toms (0-3-1) and Chad Campbell (0-1-2) were two others who went winless, and each of those four names had finished within the top six on the automatic qualifying list.

Mickelson is the biggest disappointment, not only because he’s ranked No. 2 in the world, but because he’s on his sixth Ryder Cup team. He knows the competitive atmosphere and he knows that one has to be on form, or else. While Europeans tuned up in Madrid or at the HSBC Championship outside of London, Mickelson started his vacation.

He had played a lackluster tournament in Akron, Ohio, then decided on three weeks off. Mickelson probably has nothing scheduled for the next four months — at least not until the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic gets underway. It’s a meaningless tournament — the Ryder Cup isn’t, yet, Mickelson wasn’t prepared for the K Club, not in a fashion that goes with his world-class status.

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At times, Woods didn’t look prepared, but he gutted it out and earned 3 points. He also showed enough guidance to get J.J. Henry (0-0-3) and Zach Johnson (1-2-1) through with more than a respectable showing.

Woods couldn’t do anything about the captain’s decisions, though had things worked out his way two years earlier, Mark O’Meara would have been the captain and consideration would have gone to different names and not members of the “good old boy club.”