Ryder Cup 2016: ‘Tiger Woods was never loved as No 1, but he can win fans’ hearts at Hazeltine’
American vice-captain never succeeded in team play but that can change with his new role, says Constantino Rocca
TIGER WOODS was never loved in the Ryder Cup when he was world No 1 - but he has a shot at career redemption as vice-captain.
Rocca took down Woods 4&2 in the 1997 Ryder Cup singles, the year the 21-year-old American rocked the world by winning the Masters.
To this day he is the only man to beat Woods one-on-one with the Cup on the line.
As fate would have it the two were paired together during that final day at Augusta, but then it was Rocca's turn to stand in awe as Woods entered the record books.
That three-time Ryder Cupper Rocca got the upper hand at Valderrama later that year would appear to back the theory that says Woods does not have the clash with the Europeans at his heart.
But Rocca rubbishes the notion and says Woods' experience in the event, passed onto this year's players, can finally get him in the good books of American supporters.
Rocca said: "When you are No 1, nobody loves you. Tiger has not had a very good experience in the Ryder Cup.