Tiger Woods admits: I wasn't ready for the Ryder Cup

Woods has struggled with back injury (©GettyImages).

Tiger Woods has admitted that he wasn't going to be fit for next month's Ryder Cup and that he withdrew for the good of the team.

The 14-time major winner was being talked about being one of Tom Watson's wildcard picks but pulled out of contention. Woods has been struggling with back injuries since surgery in March and will now concentrate on recovering fully.

Delay

He's failed to regain any sort of form after returning from a four month lay-off and withdrew from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in March due to back spasms. Woods then missed the cut at the PGA Championship by five shots, clearly suffering from injury which led to questions as to whether he deserved a Ryder Cup place.

But Woods made the honest decision to declare himself unfit long before the event started, acknowledging that physically he wouldn't have been able to help team USA.

Involved

"Physically I just couldn't do it - I wouldn't be ready and not being ready for my team-mates, for the captain, assistant captains and everyone who's involved in the event, I just wouldn't be ready and I just couldn't help the team."

Having experienced the intensity of the Ryder Cup format, Woods was aware that he needed to significantly improve his fitness before next month's event and admitted that he wouldn't be able to win his team any points during the event.

"Every time your name's called – and when you're on that team your name could be called five times and trust me, I've played all five sessions, some guys have played one - but when your name's called, your name's called and you need to be able to go out there and get a point," he said.

Compete

"I just didn't feel like I could be ready enough where I could get a point," Woods admitted.

After realising he was unable to compete in the Ryder Cup, Woods has set his sights on returning stronger and better next year.

"It was time to shut it down, get stronger and get more explosive again and get back for next year."

Woods is targeting a return to his event in December and is, without the thought of rushing back for the Ryder Cup, focusing on slowly getting stronger day by day.

He said: "It's a little bit right now but generally it's getting better, there's no doubt. We've got it all calmed down, now it's about the strengthening up process.

Woods knows it's important not to rush him comeback again and won't be picking up another club for quite a while.

Swinging

"And I probably won’t be swinging a club for another month but just getting stronger each and every day.

"I'm in the gym two or three times a day. I've got my physios, I've got my trainers there, so we're working hard and then we're going to introduce dynamic training again, my explosiveness, but that's down the road, let's just get this thing stronger first."

He added: "I've got basically three-and-a-half, four months off where I get to be physically fit, when I come back I'll be explosive again and stable."