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MEDINAH, Ill. — Tiger Woods' run of consecutive Ryder Cup matches has come to an end, after Davis Love III decided to leave the 14-time major winner on the bench for Saturday morning's foursomes session.
"We just don't want guys to be worn out," Love said. "We need Tiger and Steve in the afternoon.* We need Tiger and Steve on Sunday.* There was a reason we sat Webb and Bubba out this morning; was so they would be ready for the afternoon.* I didn't know they were going to be that ready, but we sat them out because, really, there's so much that goes into this week, and we as players see it-- I saw it Monday night and Tuesday night.* Our guys were out of the team room and in bed.* They knew what was coming and they needed to be rested."
Woods, who played on his first Ryder Cup team in 1997, had played in 31 consecutive matches following a 2&1 loss to Lee Westwood and Nicolas Colsaerts. Woods struggled with his entire game in the early session but during the afternoon found a spark, recording seven birdies during the round.
While he'll certainly be disappointed to sit out a session after gaining some momentum, Love said it was his plan all along to sit every player for one at least one session -- including Woods.
"Well, I've been talking to Fred [Funk] for well over a year about this, and then talking to Scott [Verplank] and Jeff [Sluman] a lot in the last couple months; we just felt like we didn't want anybody to have to play five matches on this golf course," Love said. "It's a big, long golf course.* It's tough."
Woods will likely play in the afternoon four-ball session. His Ryder Cup record following Friday's two defeats is now 13-16-2.