Tiger Woods apologized to Ryder Cup rookies for poor play at Medinah

It’s difficult to place blame on one particular player for the U.S.’s historic Sunday collapse at the Ryder Cup, but there’s no question Tiger Woods should shoulder a large portion of it for going 0-3-1 at Medinah.

Woods, who accepted responsibility at the beginning of the event for the team’s lack of success against Europe in the Ryder Cup, reportedly did some more apologizing after failing to secure a point.

According to Golf Channel contributor Tim Rosaforte, Brandt Snedeker told him that Woods took the four rookies — Snedeker, Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner and Webb Simpson — into a room and apologized for his performance on Sunday evening.

Appearing on “Morning Drive,” Rosaforte revealed, “Brandt shared with me (at his fundraiser in Memphis) that Tiger got all the rookies in a room, closed the door and personally apologized to everyone for not doing more, for not getting the points he needed to get to get a U.S. victory. For people who don’t think Woods really cares, whenever that turn or that pivot occurred in his career, it has fully turned.”

Woods obviously didn’t need to apologize or take all of the blame for the U.S.’s stunning defeat. You could’ve pointed a finger at a number of players, but when you’re the biggest name in golf, you’re going to shoulder a larger load than, say, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker, who were just as awful as Woods when the pressure started to mount.

Regardless, you have to give Woods a lot of credit for stepping up and admitting to the rookies that he didn’t do his part to ensure a U.S. victory. Normally seeing something like this from him would be a huge story, but over the last year, Woods has softened a bit.

We’ve seen Woods joke around with Rory McIlroy, have some fun with the media and even do video hangouts with his fans. He’s never going to change completely, but it’s nice to see the 14-time major winner do things he probably wouldn’t have done in the past — like apologizing to teammates for his abysmal play.

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