Tiger Woods has been set a deadline for the end of this month to declare if he wants to be the next US Ryder Cup captain, with the 15-time major winner acknowledging that he will reach a decision after this week’s Masters.
With the match 17 months away, Woods has kept the PGA of America waiting to see if he will lead his country against Luke Donald’s Europeans in New York.
It is no secret that the 48-year-old has been offered the job and it shows that the organisation which oversees the US arm of the Ryder Cup is desperate to have him on board by leaving it later than ever before to declare their leader.
Woods announced late last year that his primary focus was, as a player director on the PGA Tour policy board, solely on assisting in the negotiations to strike a peace deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and that the Ryder Cup issue would have to remain on the back burner.
However, it is understood that now Woods has met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor and chairman of LIV Golf, the PGA of America has demanded a definite answer from Woods. Here at Augusta National in the build-up for the 88th Masters, Woods recognised that it will soon be time for him to declare his intentions.
“We’re still talking about it,” Woods said. “It’s something that Seth [Waugh, the PGA of America’s chief executive] and I are going to sit back and talk about after this event. I said I’m going to be busy for a couple weeks, so let me focus on getting through this week and hopefully getting another jacket, and then we can sit back and talk about it next week.”
Stewart Cink, the 50-year-old famous for beating Tom Watson in the 2009 Open play-off, is standing by if Woods elects to bide his time until 2027. Paul McGinley, the 2014 winning captain and who sits on the Ryder Cup Europe board, is just one who thinks Woods might be better off delaying until 2027, when the match will be hosted at Adare Manor, the Limerick venue owned by Woods’s close friend JP McManus.
“Tiger has been consumed by all the stuff going on with the policy board – which is fair enough – and also with his game as he tries to relaunch his career,” McGinley told Telegraph Sport. “So maybe it makes sense this time to skip and do it at Adare.”
However, there is also the chance that, like Donald, Woods could stay on for a two-match reign, providing, of course, that Europe do not win for the first time on away soil in 13 years.
Donald, the Europe captain, has played it cool in public, suggesting that his plans are largely unaffected by the wait to discover who is his counterpart. Yet in the background insiders insist that there is an urgency to know and get around the table.
The overwhelming issue is how the respective teams treat the LIV problem and if the rebels are eligible for the showdown at Bethpage Black. In Rome last October, Zach Johnson was allowed to pick LIV players – and he selected US PGA champion Brooks Koepka – but the likes of Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey were off limits to Donald.
“We want it to be a level playing field this time around,” a source said. “And for there to be a selection agreement between the two captains and teams.”
Woods being Woods, he will still believe that there is a chance he can play in another Ryder Cup. Since withdrawing after seven holes of the third round in last year’s Masters, Woods has only completed one round in official competition – at the LA Open two months ago, where, he once again, was forced to withdraw, this time during the second round.
Because of the car crash three years ago – during which he was lucky not to lose his right leg – Woods has not completed four rounds in a tournament since the 2022 Masters, although he did finish the unofficial Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December, where he came 18th in a 20-man field. However, he is refusing to sound defeatist, summarily dismissing the notion that he could ever be a ceremonial golfer.
Enough said. #themasters pic.twitter.com/EogXAXCunq
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 9, 2024
“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more [green jacket],” Woods said. He also vowed to meet his stated aim of playing competitively once a month, which is good news for Troon, which hosts the Open in July. “It hasn’t worked out that way yet, but now we have major championships every month from here through July,” he said. “So now the once a month hopefully kicks in.”
Woods played nine holes on Tuesday in the company of Fred Couples, the 1991 champion who is never one to be pessimistic – especially about his beloved compadre – but he was impressed. Certainly he believes that Woods is thinking higher than simply making his 24th Masters cut in succession and so beating the record held by Couples and Gary Player.
“Can he win here? You know what, yeah. I just watched him play nine holes, and nine holes is only nine holes on a Tuesday, but he never miss-hit a shot,” Couples said. “But the idea of just making a cut – I think he would laugh at that. That’s a huge record, but he’s here to win. He’s here to play really, really hard. His ankle is bad. We know it. But he’s going to walk 72 holes and if he keeps playing like that, he’ll be a factor.”
Woods’s challenge may be complicated by the fact that there may be a marathon Friday and possible Saturday morning, to catch up. Thunderstorms are forecasted for Thursday’s first round.
