Furyk: Tiger and Phil pairing unlikely

Ryder Cup

Team USA Captain Jim Furyk revealed it’s not likely that veteran duo Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson would play together at the upcoming Ryder Cup.

Woods and Mickelson have a friendly rivalry between them and were first paired 14 years ago at Oakland Hills, where they lost both their matches in a losing effort.

Now at Le Golf National, Furyk is hedging his bets.

“I guess nothing’s out of the realm,” the 48-year-old told Sky Sports.

“They did play some golf yesterday. I think they both mentioned it would be a lot better pairing than it was in the past. You know, I won’t ever say it wouldn’t happen, but it’s probably not too likely.

“I wouldn’t say that anybody could be with anybody, on both sides. It’s not that guys don’t get along. Rarely do you see two really fiery guys paired together or two real complacent guys paired together.

“Bernhard Langer, one of my favourite guys, but you might not pair him together with himself because they are just even keel. You pair him with a guy that’s feisty, a Seve [Ballesteros], and you kind of get the ham-and-egg effect of things.

“One of the tasks for every captain is really trying to figure out how you get a depth of strength so you feel like at each session you have four great groups out on the course.”

Team USA will hope to win on European soil for the first time in 25 years when the Ryder Cup tees off on Friday.

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