Rocco: "A lot of guys are happy Tiger isn't playing well. I'm not."

Ron Kroichick talks to Frys.com Open defending champ Rocco Mediate about Tiger's entry into the Fall Finish event. Rocco is "disgusted" with the direction of Tiger's game.

"I love the way he plays, but I'm disgusted with what's going on with him because it's sad for our game," Mediate said Tuesday from Pittsburgh, where he will play in this week's Nationwide Tour event. "A lot of guys are happy Tiger isn't playing well. I'm not. ...

"We need to have Tiger back at the top, because he's the draw. It's fantastic all these other kids are winning, but they're not Tiger Woods."

And he's not wild about the swing:

"The physical motion is wrong," Mediate said. "To get that stress off his body is a piece of cake - the guys working with him just don't know. Sean knows some stuff, but what's going on with Tiger is not correct. That's why he keeps breaking and that's why the ball keeps going sideways."

Mediate also took a none-too-subtle swipe at Hank Haney, Woods' previous coach.

"Starting with Haney until now, it was a complete and absolute destruction," he said. "If it was me (as Woods' instructor), I would say to Tiger, 'Look, dude, I'm not helping you. You're getting worse. You've broken down three times and you've had 57 knee surgeries. It's not happening.' "

I think I smell a V-Harness in Tiger's Frys.com Open locker!

Couples On Picking Tiger: "He's the best player in the world forever."

An unbylined AP report was the first to report Fred Couples' answer to a simple question at the Boeing Classic: Tiger's one of his two Presidents Cup picks. Here's the exchange:

Q.  A question on The Presidents Cup.  Do you talk to Tiger ever?  You mention that you'd like to see him play.  Where does that stand as far as your thoughts on it?

FRED COUPLES:  Yeah, well, I mean, it stands where I told him that he's going to be on the team.  I kind of told ‑‑ the question came up, and there's no reason for me to wait until September 26th to pick Tiger.  He's the best player in the world forever.  I mean, you guys ‑‑ is he playing well right now, no.  He almost won Augusta three months, four months ago, so you don't do that by playing poor golf.

Jason Sobel shreds Couples for the decision to add Woods and also suspects the PGA Tour is happy with the selection.

By picking Tiger – who ranks smack dab between Kevin Na and D.A. Points at 28th in the current standings – Freddie won’t necessarily afford his team the best chance to win, but certainly ensures the competition will receive more attention than had he selected any of the aforementioned players.

And therein lies the dirty little secret about the Presidents Cup.

While the Ryder Cup is a storied, ferocious rivalry between country and continent, its less embattled younger cousin is more about pomp and circumstance, professional golf’s version of a hit-and-giggle festival at your local country club.

Don’t believe it? Just ask Lanny Wadkins, who once said of the Presidents Cup, "Why would I want to travel halfway around the world to play a bunch of guys from Orlando?"

Farrell Evans also suspects "The Man" got to Couples, but he still criticizes the choice in a letter to the Captain.

I get nepotism, cronyism and all the ways that we help out our friends and family. But what I don't get is why you would pick a guy who has been hurt for most of the year and who has played only eight PGA Tour events and had two top-10s.

Do you want the players to resent Tiger more than they already do? Golf is supposed to be the ultimate meritocracy. So what do you say to Mark Wilson and Keegan Bradley, who have both won twice this year, if you leave them off the team? One of those guys is not going to make the cut.