Tiger Woods accepts the pressure to perform

Tiger Woods accepts he is under pressure to perform at this week's Ryder Cup.

Woods, deposed as world number one by Vijay Singh two weeks ago, has failed to make an impact in the biennial team competition with five wins and eight losses in 15 matches.

"Hopefully this year will be a different story," the 28-year-old American told a news conference at Oakland Hills on Tuesday.

"You know how competitive I am. I go out there with the same attitude and that's to win, period. I don't go into any tournament thinking that it would be great to lose.

"I will be going out there to win as many points as I can for the team.

"That's what I've done, or tried to do, since my first Ryder Cup in '97 at Valderrama."

U.S. team captain Hal Sutton is expecting big things from Woods this week, and has urged his leading player to produce his best form at Oakland Hills.

"That's not any different than the rest of the captains have said," Woods said. "I've qualified as number one in points every time I've been on (the U.S. team).

"I've gone out there and played my best each and every time. I've shot 64 and lost and I've also played poorly and lost. All I know is I've tried my best. What can you do?

"Any person who gets put out there is only in charge of one point. It is a team effort and hopefully we can all do our part."

Woods, the youngest player on the U.S. team for the fourth successive time, has always expected his European opponents to have extra motivation when they played against him.

"That's the way it's been since my first Ryder Cup," he said. "I knew that, and I've known it all along. That has not changed.

"That's been there from the very first week. At my first Ryder Cup, I was ranked number one in the world at the time."

Woods has been criticised in the past for lacking team commitment at Ryder Cups, but he believed this was more a reflection of his personal style.

"I'm certainly not one for big speeches, I think the captain is doing that enough," he said. "But I'm more than happy to pull guys aside and go ahead and talk to them a little bit.

"I basically go over to the side eyeball to eyeball and tell them. That's what I've done in the past.

"Some of the guys who are new to this I've already spoken to a few times this week about what they can expect, what they might go through.

"It's kind of funny. Even though I'm a veteran of Ryder Cup play, I'm still the youngest guy on the team.

"You don't want to step on anyone's toes, on guys who have been there a long time, such as Davis (Love), Hal as a captain, Phil (Mickelson). You still want to do the right things."