Tiger Woods has been named by USA Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin as one of his four wildcard picks  for the competition against Europe (8/13 Ryder Cup outright) at Celtic Manor in October.

The world number one has endured a difficult return to the sport since his five month hiatus and is yet to win a tournament since his comeback to the tour.

However, recently the 34-year-old has shown signs that he is on his way back to something like his best and has done enough to impress Pavin having missed out on an automatic spot in the US team.

The US skipper has hinted he would have preferred Woods had qualified automatically for the team but gave him his backing by stating he feels he is getting back to his best.

“I was hoping he would qualify on points,” said Pavin. “He didn’t but then I was just waiting to see how he was going to play.

“I was pleased to see him playing better. Tiger is one of 12 guys on the team and every one of them is just as important as the other players.”

Joining Woods (7/1 BMW Championship outright) in the USA team will be fellow wildcard selections Stewart Cink (40/1), Zach Johnson (40/1) and Rickie Fowler (80/1).

Fowler will be making his debut in the tournament having been picked ahead of the likes of Anthony Kim, Lucas Glover and Rickey Barnes.

Johnson and Cink have both featured in the Ryder Cup before with Cink part of the side that won in 2008 while Johnson was in the US team that was heavily beaten at K Club in 2006.

The four wildcard selections join Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson, Jeff Overton, Steve Stricker and Bubba Watson in their bid to retain the Ryder Cup.