Ryder Cup 2012: Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan's celebrity double act revives memories of darker days I think it's hilarious to see him riding around in the back of a cart, because you don't see guys who are 6ft 6in out here very often. I consider him like my big brother [and have] gotten to know him so well over the years. I may take that for granted. The friendship has endured at least one tornado of innuendo. Two years ago, when Woods's private life was disintegrating, Vanity Fair magazine ran a 14-page feature about his infidelities in which his former lawyer, John Merchant, claimed he had warned Woods: "Stay away from that son of a bitch [Jordan], because he doesn't have anything to offer to the f------ world in which he lives except playing basketball." The piece quoted the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Norm Clarke as saying: "When Tiger showed up in Vegas, he was always with Jordan and Charles Barkley." Others stepped forward to ridicule the idea of Jordan as Svengali and it was pointed out that Merchant was reported to be bitter at being cut out of the financial loop by Woods. Yet the sight of the two together at Medinah is a reminder of the double life lived by Woods in his glory years: a prime he is still trying to recover. The post-chaos Woods is the only US player to attend this week's Ryder Cup gala dinner without exercising the "plus-one" option. He appears alone in his struggle to win a 15th major title (Jack Nicklaus leads the way with 18) and to improve a ropy Ryder Cup record that has always left him open to the accusation of being a lone wolf with no collective or patriotic feelings. Unexpectedly he owned up to the crime of underachieving. He has been on the winning side just once: at Brookline in 1999. A strong return in the singles matches - four wins and a half in six outings - is set against overall stats of 13-14-2 in 29 matches. His 14 defeats have helped Europe win four of the last five meetings. "Well, certainly I am responsible for that, because I didn't earn the points that I was put out there for," he says. I believe I was out there, what, in five sessions each time, and I didn't go 5-0 on our side. So I certainly am a part of that and that's part of being a team. I needed to go get my points for my team and I didn't do that. Hopefully I can do that this week, and hopefully the other guys can do the same and we can get this thing rolling. Brookline 13 years ago remains his only cherishable memory: "And to be a part of that, to be a part of that rush early [on the Sunday]: I think Hal [Sutton] started us off, and then [Tom] Lehman and [David] Duval. I think I was fourth or fifth match out. We were winning by such huge margins. Just blowing these matches out, which added to the atmosphere. It wasn't like you were squeaking out these matches one-up. There was birdie after birdie after birdie, and we were just rolling. I've never been a part of anything like that. Never seen a comeback like that in golf, in a team atmosphere. It was something that I will never, ever forget. Thirteen years later he says of the comparison with normal Tour life: "It means so much more because it's our country, our team-mates." The man of whom his father Earl said in the early days "Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity" still has to prove the authenticity of this conversion, but the signs are encouraging. "Let me tell you this about Tiger Woods and the Ryder Cup," Davis Love, the US captain, has said. If Tiger's asked me 50 questions the last two years, then 48 of them have been about the Ryder Cup. It has been like a commentary on the rest of his life, a checklist where things have to be ticked off. Davis, where are we with the assistant captains? Check. Believe me, he is focused on it, and winning is right there on his list of things to get done. Basketball's brightest star reappeared in the discussion when Love pointed out the need for even the greatest players to transcend self-absorption: "It is what Michael Jordan had to learn; that if someone gives you the ball, you give the ball back. I think Tiger has learned. That's the Tiger we will see at this Ryder Cup. The one with Jordan riding shotgun.