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Woods has not played competitive golf since the Wyndham
championship in August 2015, and has been sidelined for much of
the past year while recovering from multiple back surgeries.
The former world number one was recruited by U.S. captain Davis
Love III as a team tactician for next week's event but Westwood,
a wildcard pick for Europe, said he was not convinced Woods'
presence would have the desired impact.
"I don't know what impact there will be from having Tiger
around," Westwood told ESPN.com.
"They have always struggled to find a partner for Tiger that's
been successful. He could have an adverse effect in the team
room. People have always seemed to try to do too much when they
have partnered him.
"It might be different if he's one of the vice-captains, you
don't know."
Europe, fielding six rookies in Minnesota, will be gunning for
an unprecedented fourth consecutive Ryder Cup victory next week,
and Westwood expects the pressure to be firmly on the hosts to
deliver.
"They have got a strong side and probably are favorites, but
they haven't won it for a while and they are playing in front of
a home crowd.
"There is a lot of pressure on them. That is going to keep
building in the next week or so and by the time the Ryder Cup
comes around, it is going to be pretty intense for them."
Love will announce his final wildcard pick on Sept. 25 and
Westwood, making his 10th consecutive Ryder cup appearance
questioned the American captain's omission of one former major
winner.
"There seem to have been issues about team spirit and chemistry.
Love has not picked Bubba Watson and I don't know what that does
for team spirit; he was first outside the points qualification
and is No. 7 in the world."
The Ryder Cup begins at the Hazeltine National Golf Club on
Sept. 30.
(Reporting by Nivedita Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by John
O'Brien)
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