SUTTON COLDFIELD, England – Tiger Woods said yesterday views he expressed last week on the relative importance of stroke-play events and the Ryder Cup were taken out of context by the media.

Woods, who said there were “a million reasons” it was more important for him to win last week’s American Express Championship than this week’s Ryder Cup team competition at The Belfry, attempted to set the record straight at a news conference.

“I was just trying to be funny and obviously things were taken way out of context,” he said.

“And that’s what happens if you just read it. You say: ‘Oh my God.’ But if you actually saw me on videotape and how I said it, you would say: ‘Ah, OK I understand.’

“But you can’t really compare the two. I think they’re two completely different animals.”