Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

After all that’s happened to Tiger Woods in the last year, after the Escalade and the fire hydrant and the "transgressions" and the apologies and the tantrums and the divorce and the godawful play, we may have lost sight of an important fact: It’s not that long ago that Woods was the best golfer on the planet, bar none. And thus, it may not be the wisest move, tactically speaking, for his competitors to get him riled up again.

Later this week, Woods and the 11 other best golfers of the United States will challenge their European counterparts in the Ryder Cup, a biennial tournament that’s far closer in atmosphere to an SEC football game than, say, the Masters. The competition is cutthroat, the galleries are raucous, and there’s actually trash-talking. No kidding. In golf.

Rory McIlroy, the Irish wunderkind, kicked off the verbal sparring a few weeks ago when he told the BBC he "would love to face" Tiger one-on-one in the Ryder Cup. "Unless his game rapidly improves," McIlroy said, "I think anyone in the European team would fancy their chances against him."

Fancy this, Mr. McIlroy: Woods heard your challenge. When asked at a press conference about McIlroy’s comment that he’d love to face Woods one-on-one, Tiger leaned forward and offered a terse reply:

"Me too."

Not bad. Not quite an instant classic like Ivan Drago’s "I must break you" from Rocky IV, but it’ll do for golf’s purposes.

Woods has obviously known about McIlroy’s comments for several weeks — there was a rumor going around a tournament a couple weeks back that Woods told McIlroy "careful what you wish for" — but, as always, Woods only speaks publicly when he absolutely has to.

The U.S. and European teams will play two days of team golf for 36 holes on Friday and Saturday. (The Friday rounds will take place during the morning in the United States; if you’re at work, be sure to bookmark Yahoo! Sports’ Devil Ball Golf and follow our live chat.) The two teams only play head-to-head singles matches on Sunday. Even that’s a blind draw, so McIlroy only has a one-in-12 chance of facing Woods.

But the golf gods have a way of making these things work out for the best, so don’t be surprised to see Woods and McIlroy head to head. And if that happens, save a prayer for McIlroy, whose mouth may have written a check his scorecard can’t cash.

This one’s for the ladies. Equal time and all that.

You may remember about this time last year when news broke that several lovely ladies from the LPGA would be posing nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue. That’s ESPN’s we’ll-do-you-one-better to Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, and it features many of your favorite athletes sans clothes — if, you know, you’re into that sort of thing.

Well, the Body Issue is coming around again to make you feel bad about your extra pounds and untoned muscles, and this year’s model will have another golf connection.

Yep, Camilo Villegas will be appearing in the issue, holding nothing but his putter.*

Villegas, who’s as sculpted as many of his fellow golfers are lumpy, apparently contacted the magazine himself to participate. "It was uncomfortable," Villegas told the New York Times. "Getting naked in front of a camera is not what I do for a living. In those moments when it was really awkward, I kept thinking I’ve worked really hard to accomplish these results, and that helped me to relax." Close your eyes and think of push-ups, Camilo. That always works.

Anyway, I’d imagine this’ll get Villegas a few more female fans. And as long as he doesn’t do that Spider-Man-on-the-greens move while buck naked, I think we’ll all get through this just fine.

*-No idea whether he’s holding his putter or not. Buy the issue and see!

The most important player on either side of the Ryder Cup might just be one of the most anonymous.

All eyes will be on Tiger Woods this weekend, but it’s possible that the guy who’s come within a few strokes of knocking him off his No. 1 perch will be far more important to the final standings. Steve Stricker, insanely talented yet ridiculously low-key, might be the guy who can take Tiger from match-play question mark to multi-win certainty.

Stricker is the perfect foil for Tiger, calm where Woods is demonstrative, steady where Woods is erratic (especially this year). At last year’s Presidents Cup, the pairing dominated, going 4-0 when matched together. (Woods was 5-0 overall, continuing what we thought at the time was a complete career renaissance.)

But Woods hasn’t had the same kind of success in Ryder Cup play; he’s only 7-12-1. Now, that’s a wretched record on its face, but match play is far different from stroke play, so it’s understandable that Woods could have a bit more trouble when the score resets after every hole than when he can carry over strokes and bulldoze his opponents.  

As Rex Hoggard notes over at the Golf Channel, Woods has played in 11 Ryder and Presidents Cups, and has had 17 different partners. (Let the easy jokes go right on past, friends.) He’s played with many more than once, and during that time, only four of them — Stricker, Jim Furyk, Davis Love III and Charles Howell III — have posted winning records. That’s not good news.

Why does everybody fall apart when playing with Woods? Think about it. The guy draws more attention — and thus more pressure — than almost any athlete on the planet. When you play with him, you want to play well; you need to play well. 

But for whatever reason, that pressure doesn’t get to Stricker. He’s go-along-to-get-along, as pleasantly routine as a Midwestern county fair. That makes him the perfect playing companion for Woods … and it’s why the two might just be the pair to beat this weekend.

Golf may be you vs. the course, but the end result is you vs. everyone else. That is what we do here with our Devil Ball Power Rankings, a glimpse at who is currently hot on tour, that will run every three weeks during the PGA Tour season. These are the top 10 golfers at the end of the of the FedEx Cup playoffs, with nothing factoring in except the present golfing world.  
 
1.) Jim Furyk: He is the only player on the PGA Tour this year with more than two wins. He snatched up a hefty $11.35 million check with his Tour Championship and FedEx Cup wins. He is heading over to Wales as arguably the best golfer in the world. Sometimes, being a 40-year-old balding man with a goofy swing isn’t the worst thing in the world. 
 
2.) Dustin Johnson: Johnson’s win at the BMW Championship changed his 2010 from "the year that wasn’t" to "the year that was." Sure, he had two chances to win major championships, and will forever be remembered as that guy that isn’t sure what constitutes a bunker, but the 26-year-old Johnson is the closest American to Tiger Woods we’ve seen since, well, Tiger. 
 
3.) Steve Stricker: He won twice earlier in 2010, but ended his season with five to 10s in his last eight tournaments. Stricker has become one of those players that surprises you when he doesn’t finish in the top five. 
 
4.) Matt Kuchar: If Furyk doesn’t win in Atlanta, the argument could be made for a one-time winner as PGA Tour Player of the Year. Kuchar had 11 top 10s this season, claiming the title of Mr. Consistent from the man at the top of this list. 
  
5.) Hunter Mahan: A first for Mahan (two wins in one season), is coupled with another showing at the Ryder Cup. Mahan is the real deal, and seems to continually improve as the years fly by.
 
6.) Jason Day: It’s scary to think that Day is only 22, but the Australian has become one of the more solid players on tour. Day finished with a win and five top 10s this season, qualifying for all four legs of the FedEx Cup and joining Rory McIlroy as the only two from the youth movement with wins on the PGA Tour.
 
7.) Charley Hoffman: Hoffman was the Heath Slocum of 2010, sneaking away with one of the FedEx Cup events in impressive fashion (opened with a 64 at the Barclays, closed with 62).
 
8.) Ernie Els: A multiple-win season for Els, but not much else to sing about as his year went on, besides the third-place finish at the U.S. Open.
 
9.) Justin Rose: Another guy with two wins on the PGA Tour, but Rose will leave this year thinking about being left off the Ryder Cup by captain Colin Montgomerie for some guys that didn’t have nearly the year Rose did.
 
10.) Retief Goosen: No wins, but the Goose had ten top 10s, including a seventh and a third to close out his year. He finished in the top 10 in 52.6 percent of his starts this year.

It’s Ryder Cup time! And as always, we here at Devil Ball know exactly what’s going to happen. Read on as Jay Busbee and Shane Bacon make their predictions for this weekend. Remember, these predictions should not be used as a basis for actual wagering — unless you win, in which case we want our cut. Here we go …

Which of the seven captain’s picks will have the best week?

Bacon: Call me crazy, but I’m going Tiger Woods (cue the commenters calling me names). He is a match-play maestro, and he’s due to have a big week at this event like he did last year at the Presidents Cup. My advice? Pair Tiger with Steve Stricker for the entire week, don’t look back, and ride those ponies until they’re 3-0-1. 

Busbee: I’m not so sure Woods is headed for a big week, simply because the fans are going to be burrowing deep into his skull. Yes, the players and captains hope that the Celtic Manor crowd will be respectful, but this is the Ryder Cup. You’re going to hear plenty of pithy quips and dry wit from this crowd … and perhaps some hooligan-style rioting, too. Oh, wait, I was supposed to go with a captain’s pick, wasn’t I? So I’ll say Zach Johnson. He’ll have a fine week, and he won’t change expression the entire time.

The worst week?

Bacon: I’m a little scared for Luke Donald. He seems like a nice enough guy, and has played well coming in, but it just appears he might be the kind of guy that could let the pressure (and press) get to him this week. I feel that if Donald struggles early in the team matches, he could post a doughnut for the week in the win category.

Busbee: Padraig Harrington. Whoever the guy was with the name "Padraig Harrington" who won two majors in 2008, that guy hasn’t been seen in years. Maybe he’s chained up in a basement somewhere, Saw-style, and we’ve got this less-talented knockoff to deal with. Harrington’s got a suspect game and a lot of pressure on him, which make for a bad combo.

More follows …

Which of the rookies will break out? 

Bacon: I really like Bubba Watson‘s chances to be a big player this week. Sure, he hasn’t won a ton on tour (just one win, earlier this season), but he has that competitive fire in him that could be very "Christina Kim at the Solheim Cup"-like. While I am very pro Team Stricker-Woods, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Corey Pavin toss Watson in with Tiger at some point, as the two are friends, and see if they can do the "Christina Kim-Michelle Wie" thing. Also, hitting the ball deep this week is helpful, and nobody does that better than Bubba. 

Busbee: I’m with you on Bubba. But in the interests of making this interesting, I’ll throw Dustin Johnson into the mix. First off, the soul patch is going to look badass with the natty outfits the U.S. team will be sporting. And second, Johnson will either have a spectacular week or will completely flame out — also in spectacular fashion. And that’s always worth watching.

What can we expect from Tiger and Phil? 

Bacon: The two biggest names on the American team are, interestingly enough, the two biggest question marks. Combined, they have just one win this season, and neither are coming in with much momentum. Still, I like Tiger to have a big week in Wales. He had to be picked to play, and will be carrying an even bigger chip on his shoulder with all the bad press about him from 2010. Phil, on the other hand, might struggle. He has had bad stretches before heading into Ryder Cups which lead to a struggle in the match-play format, and with his shaky place since the Masters, seems like another down year for Lefty.

Busbee: I’m with you on Phil. He hasn’t gotten out of second gear since Augusta, and there’s no indication he’ll have a bust-out game this weekend. His best chance may be in a mentoring role, as he did in 2008 with Anthony Kim, keeping his playing partners steady and calm in the midst of the gallery’s firestorm. Tiger: same thing as Phil. I’m not nearly as high on his chances as you are. Although there’s this: If he’s going down in flaming fashion, he could be the U.S. team’s equivalent of a pitcher taking one for the team — he could draw the attention of the screaming hordes while the other U.S. players thrive in (relative) calm.

OK, OK, who will win this thing?

Bacon: Homer alert, homer alert! I think the Americans take it for a second straight year. With the uncertainty of Lee Westwood for the Europeans, and the onslaught of rookies, it seems that the mighty Europeans have been taken down a notch. Sure, they have the talent to run away with this, but a lot of guys (Furyk, Dustin Johnson) are heading into the week on fire. I’d say at this point, calling the Europeans the heavy favorite is almost an ignorant statement. The teams are equal, and as they say in football, when it’s up for grabs, you always take the points (And "the points," in this thing, is which team retains the cup if it ends in a tie). 

Busbee: With Lee Westwood at undetermined strength and the rest of the European team bearing the pressure of a win-or-die burden — that’s the truth, they face execution if they lose — everything sets up well for the Yanks. Now, Captain Pavin, gather the troops around and have them watch this …

U-S-A! U-S-A!

This is a post that high-end golf equipment companies don’t want you to read.

You probably know by now that Jim Furyk won the FedEx Cup, the Tour Championship, and a whole passel of cash on Sunday at East Lake. And he won it using a cheap little used putter that he picked up for $39 out of a bin at Joe & Leigh’s Discount Golf Pro Shop in Massachusetts.

That’s right. If you traded in an old Yes! Sophia putter in Massachusetts, an 8802-style heel-shaft, it may well have gone on to a far better life than you could have ever provided for it. So be happy.

And make no mistake, this is no high-end, ultra-exclusive putter. "It’s got a nick on the back flange, it’s got a little ding in the top line," Furyk said after Sunday’s win. "I never loft-and-lied it, which is rare for me because I’ve always got my putters on a loft-lie machine at home, and the way the grip is on it, it might be slightly off center, but that’s kind of how I like it anyway. I guess we were meant to be, who knows."

Furyk has taken the putter with him to Wales, and plans to use it in competition this week at the Ryder Cup. Not bad for a … how much was that putter again?

"It was like 65 bucks, but they sold it to me for $39, I think," Furyk said. "I didn’t ask for that, trust me. I didn’t barter."