Tiger Woods has confirmed that he apologised to the quartet of American rookies after failing to win any of his Ryder Cup matches at Medinah.
Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson were playing in the tournament for the first time, but contributed a total of nine points, while the 14-time major winner lost all three of his matches when paired with Steve Stricker over the opening two days.
He also conceded a putt on the 18th to halve his singles rubber with Francesco Molinari, after Martin Kaymer had dramatically retained Europe the trophy minutes before.
Woods has acknowledged that he did not pull his weight in Chicago, and has apologised to the rookies for his "frustrating" performance.
He said: "I had an opportunity to earn three points in team sessions but I did not do that. It was tough.
"Stricks and I went out there and tried to earn points for the team and didn't do that and it was frustrating. We had a four-point lead and we went 0-3."
Woods also revealed that he would be interested in captaining the US team in the future.