Woods ready for first-tee tension

Tiger Woods expects some nervous excitement when he steps on the first tee for the trophy-holders United States against Europe in the Ryder Cup before 7,000 screaming spectators at Le Golf National today.

The 14-time Major champion snapped a five-year win drought last weekend to cap a successful comeback season from spinal fusion surgery and will be the star attraction when the biennial team showdown tees off.

"It's going to be fun. It's going to be an awesome environment," Woods said. "There's a lot of nerves. It's excitement.

"It's something we don't get to experience in that regard because basically it's the final round of a tournament on the very first hole and every match you tee it up.

"It's a different atmosphere and one that we absolutely love."

The huge grandstand will create a crucible for Woods and his American teammates to start En Avant, the opening 419-yard par-4 hole known as Go Ahead in English.

Tee shots will be critical to setting up approaches as water comes into play from the start.

"When I first saw that on the first tee, I looked up and felt like I kept looking up and up and up," American Patrick Reed said. "It's going to be an unbelievable atmosphere."

Woods expects the noise to reach a crescendo to rival Celtic Manor in 2010, when crowd noise shook US players.

"I don't know what it was acoustically, but they were so close together that it was reverberating. It was so loud," Woods said.

"When you get on the first tee, you could actually feel it. That was fun to be a part of."

Woods has not won a Ryder Cup match since a 4&3 victory over Italy's Francesco Molinari at Celtic Manor in 2010, going winless in 2012 at Medinah and missing the past two Cups with back issues.

Woods already has a trophy from Le Golf National. In 1994, he won the World Amateur Team Championship as a teenager. - AFP