Ryder Cup 2012: Tiger Woods is taking the competition seriously according to United States captain Davis Love But Love is a sincere man and is prepared to state that the young Tiger Woods had trouble accepting the group situation. "I think he realises he was trying too hard when he broke into the team, " said Love. He couldn't do it all by himself, he had to be part of the team, win points with his partners, become part of the team rather than be the team. Love is well qualified to make this judgment. He partnered Woods in three matches, the first two of which they won back to back. Up until linking with Love on the Saturday of the Belfry in 2002, Woods had won only two of 10 foursome and fourball games in the Ryder Cup and the headlines screamed of a reluctant individual, unwilling or incapable of sharing his talent. They still do, in some quarters. The theory goes that it was only when he found Steve Stricker - after 12 different partners - that he at last felt comfortable. Love understands the bond between Stricker and Woods, but also credits the change in mindset to Michael Jordan, the basketball legend and a close friends of the 14-time major champion. "Jordan had all this individual talent but learnt to play in a team and I think Tiger learnt from him," said Love. You have to support everyone. Someone gives you the ball you give it back and Tiger's learnt to do that in the golfing sense. Certainly Woods's recent record suggests his Ryder Cup doubters are clinging on to a myth. In his last two Ryder Cups he has won six out of nine points, easily the best of the American team. And on the eve of the 2008 match, which he missed through injury, he sent a text to the captain Paul Azinger which seemed to hint that he cared - "Go kick their f------ asses." The singles were never a problem for Woods. Well, not since Costantino Rocca, the Italian Stallion, knocked him out with a 4 & 2 on Woods's first appearance in 1997. He has not lost in his five games thereafter, compiling a singles record which no other player in these two teams can match. "Tiger is nigh on unbeatable in the singles nowadays," says Colin Montgomerie, the 2010 Europe captain and Telegraph Sport columnist. So what was the problem with Woods with that conveyor belt of partners which almost outnumbered his mistresses? Love alludes to Woods's own insecurities, but Mark O'Meara, his first partner, looks at the other half of the equation. "Playing with Tiger isn't like playing with anyone else," said O'Meara. There is so much going on around him that it is difficult for someone unused to that sort of environment to adjust. Plus, you have to take into account how playing Tiger impacts on his opponents. "I'm sure they all stand on the first tee and think, "Hey, I've got absolutely nothing to lose here." That tends to loosen you up and you play better. It's my bet that most of Tiger's defeats have come through the other guys playing great more than him playing poorly. Not enough credit goes to how well the European guys have performed. They have been doing so since 1995. In that year Woods turned up at the Walker Cup, the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup, and as the Great Britain and Irish team did not lie down in front of his majesty he proceeded to act like a spoilt child. He did not turn up for the closing dinner and in the view of Gary Wolstenholme, the man who beat him in the Saturday singles at Porthcawl, "within the US team it was a case of "him" and "them."" Woods recalls his experience differently, saying at the weekend: "I played my Walker Cup at Portmarnock, and I was introduced and just got a huge ovation of boos. I'm like "Oh, OK, welcome to the Walker Cup."" As someone who stood there by that first tee, I can say for certain that not one person booed or heckled. Yet Woods could not recall if it was "Porthcawl" and not "Portmarnock" so maybe it is case of a fading memory. But then, he claimed the same thing happened in Valderrama two years later on his debut in the Ryder Cup. Again, I was there and again the reception he received on the first tee was not hostile. "I got to Spain, and it was even more so [than Porthcawl]," he said. And that was nice. That was good. It was fun being in that atmosphere. Woods is rewriting history. He was not booed and neither was it fun in those days. He would appear baffled why the media took the Ryder Cup, and his poor record in it, so seriously. Famously he said there were "750,000 reasons" why he would prefer to win the tournament prior to the match than the match itself. And then he once asked a packed press room if anyone could tell him the details of Jack Nicklaus's Ryder Cup record. When nobody answered, he smirked. Point made. But then he started making points in partnerships. First with Love, then with Jim Furyk, now with Stricker. That is the theory, anyway. Their last match two matches together happened to end in a 6 & 5 foursomes reverse to Lee Westwood and Luke Donald and then in last year's Presidents Cup with a 7 & 6 humbling to K J Choi and Adam Scott in the fourballs. Love is praying they can return to the form which saw them win their previous six games before Westwood and Donald. Otherwise, the Woods naysayers will grab their loud hailer. "Tiger's quiet like Stricker's quiet but they are real leaders," said Love. I'm happy to have Tiger. We need him, more than just a player. I need him to be a leader. Tiger and I do things differently but we're both passionate about winning and he is going to be a big part of it. Believe me, he cares.