Woods selected for U.S. Ryder Cup team

NEW YORK, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods was among four golfers selected Tuesday by U.S. Captain Corey Pavin to join the U.S. Ryder Cup automatic qualifiers.

Pavin, in addition to Woods, said Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and Rickie Fowler would be included on the 12-man U.S. team. Eight players -- Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Phil Michelson, Jeff Overton, Steve Stricker and Bubba Watson -- qualified through their results in tournaments this season.

But Woods hadn't played consistently this year and his selection was in question until Pavin completed his team Tuesday. Woods, like Cink and Zach Johnson, is a Ryder Cup veteran. Fowler is a rookie on the PGA Tour and also a newcomer to Ryder Cup play, as are Dustin Johnson, Kuchar, Overton and Watson.

The European team, which was announced last week, has six first-time Ryder Cup participants in Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Peter Henson. Also on Colin Montgomerie's teams are Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Lee Westwood.

The 38th Ryder Cup will be contested Oct. 1-3 in Wales. The United States won 16 1/2-11 1/2 in 2008 and had a 25-10-2 record in Ryder Cup play. However, European teams have won five of the last seven Ryder Cup competitions and the United States hasn't won on foreign soil since 1993.