What is Tiger's input to this year's Ryder Cup?

Had things been different we might well have had Tiger Woods as one of Steve Stricker's vice-captains alongside the likes of Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples.

Woods, who was involved in that single-car accident in February, might not be at Whistling Straits but his presence is still being felt by the Americans as they look to recapture the trophy.

The 15-time major winner spoke with the American team over the the phone on Thursday night and it paid dividends for Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele as they teamed up beautifully to obliterate Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter.

“We got a nice message from Tiger, obviously we’re not gonna reveal what it said, but Pat [Cantlay] and I knew we referred to it a few times and we knew what we needed to do,” said Schauffele. “We know he was fist-pumping from the couch. Whether he was on crutches or not, he’s as fired up as any back at home, so it’s nice to have his support.”

For fellow debutant Cantlay he's been making the most of Woods in person.

"There's no better role model and no better leader, and just somebody that you can always learn from. So, I saw him last week at home, and just picked his brain on Ryder Cup and applied some of that here."

Stricker, who regularly partnered Woods in this competition, also received a text from Tiger: "I sent it out to the team, and that's between us, really. But the overall picture was just wishing the guys good luck and congratulations for making the team, and a few personal things from Tiger himself. He's a friend of a lot of these guys and these guys look up to him, and I lean on him a lot throughout this whole process. So it was great to hear from him and provide some words of encouragement to these guys."