ESPN Commentary

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Hear that sound?

It's a legion of Americans walking past the golf graveyard and whistling like they're rolling the opening credits of "The Andy Griffith Show."

Only it's a different tune. Name of this one: "Hold That Tiger."

The whistlers are trying to convince us that the United States actually has a better chance of winning the Ryder Cup without the best golfer on the planet, Tiger Woods. They're trying to sell us on this notion because Woods the Ryder Cupper is nowhere near as dominant as Woods the independent contractor. They want us to believe the Americans will rise up and defeat their European oppressors with a team whose whole is greater than the modest sum of its Tiger-less parts.

Time for a whistle stop.

Taking Woods out of the equation does not make 2 plus 2 equal 5. It does not improve the already telescopic odds stacked against the U.S. team.

Ask Ohio State if it felt better without Beanie Wells in the Coliseum.

Ask New England if it feels better about its chances of going to the Super Bowl without Tom Brady.

Ask investors if they feel better about the market without Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

You'll hear all kinds of fanciful theories suggesting that Woods actually has held back the U.S. team during its emphatic three-match losing streak in this event. You hear that Woods lacks passion for the Ryder Cup, and that trickles down to his teammates. You hear that playing with Tiger made his American partners tense up and try too hard. You hear that any match Tiger lost created an exaggerated momentum boost for the Euros.

"The only reason we're probably considering that is because he's not here," American Ryder Cupper Justin Leonard said. "If Tiger Woods was here, you certainly wouldn't say we're better off without him. I think that some guy is trying to paint a little bit of a silver lining."

Some guy is trying to create a silver lining fit for the silver screen, but it's not ready to play on Kentucky bluegrass. The reasons why:

• Tiger's Ryder Cup record is not stellar, but he's still the best America has.

There are six rookies on this 12-man team. The records of the other six:

Phil Mickelson: nine victories, 12 defeats, four ties while earning a point at a .440 clip during Ryder Cup matches.

Stewart Cink: 3-5-4, .417.

Jim Furyk: 6-12-2, .350.

Chad Campbell: 1-3-2, .333.

Justin Leonard: 0-3-5, .313.

Kenny Perry: 0-2, .000.

Woods is 10-13-2, making his point-earning percentage identical to Mickelson's and better than everyone else's. And his struggles certainly haven't come in singles competition. Tiger lost his first singles match, in 1997, but is 3-0-1 since then. He earned three points for the U.S. in the wipeout at the K Club two years ago, nearly one-third of the team total for the entire event.

On the remote chance that the U.S. keeps it close coming into Sunday's singles matches, you don't think captain Paul Azinger would love to send Tiger out for a must-win showdown?

• Woods does have a bit of history at this course, and at Jack Nicklaus-designed layouts in general.

He won the 2000 PGA at Valhalla in an epic duel with Bob May, with both shooting 18 under par for 72 holes to set a PGA record that still stands. And he's won Nicklaus' tournament, the Memorial, three times and finished in the top five six times.

Unless the U.S. was going to dredge up 1996 PGA winner Mark Brooks, it won't find anyone with comparable success at Valhalla.

• Ryder Cup passion doesn't necessarily translate to Ryder Cup points.

If it did, Leonard and Perry wouldn't be winless. Nobody on the American side cares more than those guys.

• No American has filled the Woods vacuum.

"It's time for us to step up there and show what all the rest of us can do in his absence," Cink said.

He's right, of course. But it hasn't happened.

When Woods shut down his season after the U.S. Open for reconstructive knee surgery, it created a grand opportunity for someone -- that's you, Mickelson -- to seize the day. It happened, all right -- but that someone turned out to be Padraig Harrington. He won the British Open and PGA -- and will play for the Europeans here.

Only one American placed in the top five during either of those majors. Furyk tied for fifth in the British and Ryder rookie Ben Curtis tied for second in the PGA Championship. So it isn't as though Azinger has a bunch of red-hot talent to plug into the gaping chasm Woods leaves behind.

Now, there are a few reasons for American hope. Azinger seems to be pushing all the right buttons, picking the brains of all his players and approaching this with a bit more spit-in-your-eye defiance than some past captains. He has also set up the course to favor his big hitters and tweaked the format in hopes of stopping the early European routs of previous years.

And he'll almost certainly get more of a home-course advantage than the last time the event was held on U.S. soil, in 2004. That was at Oakland Hills in Michigan, and those who were there say there wasn't much pro-American buzz on the course.

"There was no noise on the course," Perry said. "It was terrible."

Here, they'll treat it like a Kentucky basketball game against Christian Laettner's Duke team. And it won't hurt to have a pair of homeboys, Perry and J.B. Holmes, on the roster. The bourbon will be flowing early.

"I think the Europeans are going to be stunned, to tell you the truth," Perry said.

Maybe all the shoutin' earns the Americans a couple of points. They'll need more than that to make this competitive.

Mostly, they need the best player in the world. And he's not available.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.