Nick Faldo’s advice to U.S. Ryder Cup team: Wear kilts, flash the Euros

Nick Faldo, along with the majority of the golfing world, gives the U.S. Ryder Cup team very little chance of wresting the trophy away from the Europeans next week in Scotland.

Not exactly news flash material, given that the Euros boast four of the top six golfers in the world, including, of course, No. 1 Rory McIlroy, as well as Team USA killer Ian Poulter. But it’s Sir Nick’s titillating advice for Tom Watson’s squad that had them guffawing during a golf clinic at Pinehurst earlier this week (h/t Back9Network).

In other pre-Ryder Cup “news,” Tiger Woods, who’ll be watching the action from his recliner, praised Watson for his three wild-card choices and Rory McIlroy took time off from his post-FedEx Cup vacation to hit golf balls into the River Thames

“I think Tom Watson made three great captain’s picks,” Woods said Thursday on his website.

Hunter Mahan, Woods said, “hits the ball on a string,” Webb Simpson’s “a great grinder,” and Keegan Bradley “is just a ball of energy ... fired up, anxious to play ... He’s just fun to be around.”

McIlroy, who complained about the long golf season before finishing T2 at last week’s Tour Championship, popped by London’s Tower Bridge on Wednesday for a sponsor’s event.

McIlroy, whose image looked oddly superimposed on the photos from the Thames event, told the Daily Mail he looked forward to being The Man in next week’s clash.

“I know I will have a target on my back,” said the newly crowned PGA of America’s player of the year and presumptive favorite to take home his second PoY award from the U.S. tour, “but I love that and I am going to play up to it as much as I can.”

Speaking of golf’s most renowned gym rats, Lee Westwood decided to get in on Woods’ and McIlroy’s workout act by buffing up and losing more than 20 pounds in four weeks to work himself into Ryder Cup “fighting weight,” according to James Corrigan.

“What have I been doing at home? I’ve been vanishing,” Westwood told Corrigan about shedding enough poundage so that he resembled his profile as the world’s top-ranked golfer in 2010. “I’ve lost 23 pounds, doing double gym sessions – cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon. I’ve been off the alcohol and been watching my diet.”

Corrigan noted that some critics believe Westwood, who failed to make it past the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs and was one of European captain Paul McGinley’s three wild-card picks, might have served his team better by working on his game. A start at this week’s Wales Open as a tuneup for next week’s matches at Gleneagles has not gone so well, with Westwood finding just four of 13 fairways, 11 of 18 greens, and needing 30 putts in Thursday’s opening round.

Westwood was tied for 74th and a stroke south of the projected cut line late into day two but at least he should be able to give Rory a mighty fist bump or two -- especially if he misses the cut and has more time to devote to those six-pack abs.