Former Ryder Cup captain says no Tiger might help

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - The absence of Tiger Woods could prove to be an advantage for the United States in this week's Ryder Cup, former captain Hal Sutton said on Thursday.

"I think they've got a good team. It's a changing of the guard. The fact that they don't have Tiger to depend on...they're going to have to go out and do it on their own. That might be a good thing. That might be to their advantage, really. We'll have to wait and see."

The team facing Europe at the matchplay tournament, which starts on Friday, includes six rookies and is missing mainstay Woods, the world number one who is recuperating from knee surgery.

"I'm optimistically hopeful," 2004 captain Sutton told Reuters as he walked past the 18th green at Valhalla Golf Club on the eve of the event.

"I think the roles have been reversed. I think we've got new underdogs and new favorites."

The Americans have lost the last three competitions, including the 2004 contest in which Sutton's U.S. team were flattened by a record 18-1/2 to 9-1/2 on home ground at Oakland Hills Country Club outside Detroit.

"We'll see how both of them handle that better. They both have a different role. We'll see how that is accepted and played out," Sutton said.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)