One of these American golfing legends believes he is worth a Ryder Cup wildcard despite lying in 70th place in the standings, having missed more than three months because of back surgery and having a best finish for the year of a tie for 25th.
The other is not sure whether he is worth a wildcard, despite lying in 11th place in the standings, having three top-12 finishes in his past six outings and having recorded a fine 68 in the final round of the Open on Sunday. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have always been opposites.
However, they do at least have one thing in common. Together, with Lee Westwood from the Europe perspective, they are emerging as the main stories in the biennial Ryder Cup selection head-scratcher. This time around the cranium could bleed from all the frenzied nail rubbing.
Woods is the most interesting case because... well, he is Woods, and he is almost always the most interesting case. Whenever Tom Watson sits in a press conference these days he knows one of the questions he will receive, just as the audience knows the answer he will give back. “Tom, will you pick Tiger?” “If Tiger is fit and playing well I will pick him. Who wouldn’t?”
But there is a caveat in Watson’s reply. “What happens if he does not make the FedEx Cup?” What happens, indeed? Woods at the moment is 214th in the FedEx Cup standings on the PGA Tour and if he does not produce the equivalent of back-to-back top fives in next week’s WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Akron and the following week’s USPGA Championship at Valhalla he will not rise into the top 125 who go forward to the play-off series.
Even mindful of the fact that he has won at both venues - eight times at Akron - it would take a great leap of faith to see him achieving this after his tie for 69th at the Open and his missed cut at the Quicken Loans National in his return to competition. If he does not make it then it could mean he would be inactive for the six weeks leading up to the Ryder Cup. He might well be “fit” but as to “playing well”? Well, he wouldn’t be playing. And Watson would have one huge call.
At least Watson knows that Woods is interested in being at Gleneagles in September. “I hope I’m on that team,” Woods said at Royal Liverpool. But exactly how interested is he? After the US PGA, when the automatic top nine are decided and the captain begins his three-week deliberations on to whom to hand the other three places, Watson plans to talk to Woods.
Depending on how he has fared in Akron and at Valhalla he may ask Woods what he intends to do in those three weeks. If Woods is genuinely serious about a) his commitment and b) proving his form, then an appearance at either the Czech Masters or the Italian Open would be his only option apart from yet more time on the sidelines. That ever-growing band of Woods cynics will laugh themselves silly at that suggestion, but that is what it could take.
In fact, how could Watson possibly pick Woods if he flops at the WGC and the US PGA in the knowledge that he would not be playing competitively again in the month and a half before Gleneagles? There will doubtless be many conspiracy theorists who will claim that the demands from the TV executives and the Cup’s sponsors will convince Watson. They do not know Watson. He will be prepared to overlook arguably the greatest player who ever lived and would have every justification in doing so, whether Woods wants to be there or not.
The Mickelson issue is not so muddled. Surely he has done enough already to warrant the wildcard. He is one place outside the automatic standings and is guaranteed to gain entry to the FedEx play-offs. He is fit and has played well in patches in the last two weeks at the Scottish Open and the Open.
My hunch is that in saying he is not sure whether he would deserve a wildcard, Mickelson is trying to gee himself up to make the Ryder Cup by right, like he has on every occasion since 1995. “It’s been 19 years now that I’ve made it on my own, and I think it’s a record of consistency to play that well to make the team on your own without being a pick for almost two decades – and I’d like to keep that streak going,” Mickelson said.
He holds the US record for Ryder Cup appearances and should he again make it on his own merit he would equal Christy O’Connor Snr’s mark for doing so 10 times by right. Mickelson is rightly proud of his run.
As is Westwood, who has played in every match since 1997. The Englishman required a wildcard in 2006 and may well need one again. Yet his problem is similar to that of Woods. Paul McGinley would love to pick him if he is playing well, but it could again be the case that Westwood is not playing.
Europe qualification runs up until the end of the month, taking in three events of the European Tour and two events on the PGA Tour after the US PGA.
Westwood is in 16th place on the Ryder Cup standings with the top nine being assured of their places after the denouement of the Italian Open. But the 41-year-old is in 117th in the FedEx Cup and will be desperate to remain in the top 125 if only to have another chance to impress McGinley.
Westwood would probably play at the Wyndham Championship in between the US PGA and the start of the FedEx play-offs if his FedEx place depended on it and if he still failed to make it, it would not be a surprise to see him at either the Czech Masters or Italian Open or both. The Ryder Cup is that big for Westwood.
But then, it is for so many players, particularly those for whom it has been a dream for so long. Take the Welshman Jamie Donaldson. The 38-year-old looked almost guaranteed to make his debut a few weeks ago, but after missed cuts at the Scottish Open and Open his berth is beginning to appear perilous.
