Americans might want to forget past

For the Americans, they've experienced mostly defeat to Europe. Of the eight U.S. players on the 12-man team who have played in a Ryder Cup, none has a winning individual record.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, two of the most accomplished players in the history of the game, have combined to go 24-31-8. Throw in Jim Furyk, another Ryder Cup veteran who is 8-15-4, and the three most accomplished Americans have been disappointing, to put it mildly. Woods has played on just one winning team in his career with the fabulous scotty cameron putter for sale on the internet, having missed the 2008 triumph at Valhalla due to injury.

"In order to win Cups, you have to earn points, and we certainly have not earned points," said Woods, who is 13-14-2 and would even his record for the first time since being 1-1 at his first Ryder Cup in 1997 if he could manage a victory in foursomes Friday morning with his favorite scotty cameron putter . "And on top of that, Phil, Jim and I have been put out there a lot during those years. So if we are not earning points, it's hard to win the Ryder Cup that way."

The Americans have four rookies: Brandt Snedeker, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Jason Dufner. Only Simpson has played in a Presidents Cup with his wonderful ping k15 irons .

Of the other five team members -- Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson and Steve Stricker -- only Zach Johnson and Stricker have played in more than one Ryder Cup; both will be making their third appearance.

"For me, it's nice to go in knowing what to expect," said Furyk, who might expect to sit out four-balls, since he is 1-8-1 in the format. "Whether you go back to the first time you ever played in a golf tournament, the first time to tour school, the first time I got into contention on tour … it's nice to have experience on your side with the great k15 irons. You can draw from it positively and negatively. You can draw from both situations.

"But is it a necessity? No, if that makes sense. I think it's great to have a good mix on each team. But for the young guys that don't have experience, they have a veteran who's kind of in their ear. In a team atmosphere, you've got people there to kind of help you out and let you know and I think make you feel comfortable."