Former US captain advises against picking Tiger Woods for Ryder Cup

London, Aug 10 (IANS): Former US Ryder Cup team captain Paul Azinger Sunday said he would not pick Tiger Woods in this year's event and feels that the 14-time major winner will rule himself out of the contest slated Sep 23-28 at Gleneagles, Scotland.

The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States.

Azinger led the United States to their only victory in the 21st century at Valhalla in 2008, when Woods was ruled out through injury.

Woods, a former World No. 1, is once again struggling for both form and fitness and Azinger believes that current US captain Tom Watson will not pick Woods as one of his three wild cards.

"I don't see how you can take an injured player who is not playing well," Azinger told the Golf Channel. "I don't think I would. And also, Tiger has not necessarily been the formula for success either. I just don't see how you can pick him at this point."

"I am guessing he will call Tom and beg out of this and say 'I am not ready', make Tom's decision easier," said Azinger.

Six-time major winner Nick Faldo thinks the era of Woods dominating the game is now finished.

"Tiger may win again. And we would love to see him win again, wouldn't we? But the period, the Tiger era, I have to say is over," Faldo said in his role as an analyst for CBS.

"We are in a new era now. Whether it becomes Rory McIlroy's era, we don't quite know yet. He's sure making a damn good case for it. But there's such great quality, the quality left and right of Tiger I think is amazing.

"The era of his dominance is over. We're definitely on a new era now."