The start of the college football season over the Labor Day weekend tends to overwhelm all other sports news, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that Tiger Woods shot a 63 yesterday to win his fifth straight golf tournament, a streak that includes two major championships. Doug Ferguson puts it in perspective:

Byron Nelson won 11 straight tournaments in 1945, a streak regarded as one of the most untouchable in sports. Woods won six straight at the end of 1999 and the start of 2000, and Ben Hogan won six in a row in 1948.
Woods now takes a week off before heading to England for the HSBC World Match Play Championship, followed by the Ryder Cup. His next PGA Tour start will be the American Express Championship outside London at the end of September.
He still isnít even halfway home to Nelsonís hallowed mark, but he surpassed Lord Byron in one category with his 53rd victory, moving into fifth place alone on the career list. Woods, who finished at 16-under 268, won for the seventh time this year. No other player has won more than twice.

By the way, only Hogan has had a streak similar to Woods’ current one where more than one major was involved. Hogan won four straight in 1953, including three majors.

Meanwhile, European Ryder Cup team captain Ian Woosnam finalized the European team over the weekend by picking Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland and Lee Westwood of England as his captain’s picks (see PGATour.com overview of the Euro squad here). Those selections prompted the following outburst from Sweden’s Thomas Bjˆrn, who labeled Woosnam the worst Ryder Cup captain ever:

ìSo far his captaincy has been the most pathetic I have ever seen,î Bjˆrn said. ìI havenít spoken to him for six months and now I find that Iím not in the team watching television. How can that be right? He has put a lot of players through misery because he just hasnít done the right thing.
ìI have nothing against Lee Westwood. But if you can find one category in which he has beaten me then I would like to see it. I have played better than him in the qualifying phase ó and then Woosnam bases his decision on results which are more than five years old. I donít understand the way he is handling the whole situation. It doesnít look like he is burdened by leadership qualities.
ìHe came into the bar at the hotel and gave me 20 seconds about Lee having won twice at the K Club. In a bar ó that kind of sums it up. He canít walk up to me, tell me in 20 seconds and expect me to be happy. Iím very disappointed. I think heís been very poor in the way heís handled the players.î
Woosnam cited Westwoodís two victories at the K Club as being among the factors that influenced him, leaving unsaid that Bjˆrn ran up an 11 on the 17th in the final round of last yearís Smurfit European Open when he had begun the day four strokes clear of the field.
ìIf thatís what itís come down to then why didnít he tell me I donít think youíve got the bottle to stand on the 17th tee?î Bjˆrn asked. ìYes, Leeís won twice there. But Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros won at Augusta and I donít think theyíd be picked if this Ryder Cup was being played there.
ìWoosie played with me when I finished second at the K Club (in 2001) by finishing three-four-three (an eagle and two birdies). So Iíve had good experiences there, too. But if itís come down to one bad one then why didnít he tell me?î

And just for good measure, Woosnam can’t understand why former Euro Ryder Cup team captain Bernhard Langer is advising his friend — current US team captain Tom Lehman — on the upcoming matches, while Langer can’t understand why Woosnam hasn’t bothered calling him for advice.
This Ryder Cup is serious business, eh? ;^)