Pavin's Pressure Shot

Memo to Corey Pavin: You can do this.

Leave Tiger Woods off the Ryder Cup team. The world will not end. You will not be pelted with rocks and garbage.

And, it must be noted, it is crucial for your team's chances of winning.

The same Pavin who used to hit 228 yard 4-woods into the 18th green at the US Open on Sunday, or chip in for birdies from thick rough at the Ryder Cup as a player, needs to summon the guts to play the shot that needs to be played.

Leave him home.

You do this not to embarrass Tiger Woods, or to punish him. You do it because it's the right thing.

Every ounce of logic points to Tiger not being a captain's pick.

Here's how you say it.

Pavin (as written by Czabe):

"Look, I've given this a lot of consideration, and explained it to Tiger. The Ryder Cup selection process is a 'now' thing. How are you playing 'now.' Especially for captain's picks. This has no reflection on his talents, or his career. He's been the world's best player for the last 13 years, and when his career is over, he'll probably be the best ever.

But again, this is a now thing. Right now, he's not playing to form. He is, by our carefully designed points system, a bubble player. And bubble players need to be playing well going into the fall to merit selection. He's not playing well. He'll even tell you that.

Furthermore, he has played a very limited schedule due to changes in his life. This is how it should be. However, this is not a positive credential to be a captain's pick.

Lastly, because of all of this, he will be playing a limited amount of competitive rounds going into the Ryder Cup. This too, is far from ideal.

So in the end, I decided to make the tough call, and go with somebody else. I am sure some will criticize me for it, but when I signed up to be captain, I specifically signed up to absorb that kind of criticism.

I will always regret the poor timing of my captaincy, in which I was unable to have the world's #1 player on my team. But my responsibility is to the team, and our country in this exhibition, not to my resume or his."

"Any questions?"

There. Just say it, Corey. You can even cut and paste if you like. By the time the plane lands at Celtic Manor, all of the Tiger distractions will be long gone. If you choose the "easy" route now, then the hard part will arrive in force next month in Wales.

If you broke obvious statistical trends to put Tiger on the team, do you have the balls to bench him for at least one session, maybe two? He'd be terrible right now in alternate shot, so you'd be looking at a better-ball only captain's pick, plus singles. Which is typical of what captain's picks get.

But Tiger has never, ever, ever sat a Ryder Cup session, even when fatigue or format might have dictated otherwise.

If you feel obligated to bring him Corey, you'll feel just as obligated to ride him once he's there.

And do you really want the history books to show that you got scared into taking Tiger Woods, watched him go 0-4-1, and lost the Ryder Cup by a point?

Now put a good swing on this one, Corey, and hit the shot.