Tiger Woods has cast doubt on whether he will take the US Ryder Cup captaincy at a point when he is weighed down by golf’s political sideshow.
The 15-time major winner has been told the job is his if he chooses and confirmed at the US PGA Championship on Tuesday that talks are ongoing with the PGA of America.
But the 48-year-old, who is front and center of the drawn-out merger negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, sounded cautious when asked about his prospects of succeeding Zach Johnson for next year’s clash with Europe in New York.
‘We’re still talking,’ Woods said. ‘There’s nothing that has been confirmed yet. We’re still working on what that might look like. Also whether or not I have the time to do it.
‘I’m dedicating so much time to what we’re doing with the PGA Tour, I don’t want to not fulfil the role of the captaincy if I can’t do it.
Tiger Woods has hinted that he may not take US Ryder Cup captaincy for next year’s event
Woods said that his focus on PGA talks with the Saudis could be too much of a distraction
Up to now, the 48-year-old Woods has been the frontrunner for the 2025 event in New York
‘What that all entails, representing team USA and the commitments to the PGA of America, the players and the fans, I need to feel that I can give the amount of time that it deserves.’
The US situation could not be more different to that of Europe – Luke Donald has been in post since November and has already undertaken one reconnaissance trip to the Bethpage Black course, as revealed by Mail Sport last month.
Woods’s primary focus remains the slow-moving discussions with the Saudis at a time when there appears to be no end in sight.
That view was hardened by the resignation of Jimmy Dunne from the Tour’s policy board on Monday, which he accompanied with a claim that there had been ‘no meaningful progress’.
Dunne, who came to prominence for his role in brokering the secretive ‘framework agreement’ with the PIF last June, went on to infer that the elevated power held by the players on the policy board – Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati – had conditioned his decision to walk away.
Woods said: ‘We’re working on negotiations with PIF. It’s ongoing, it’s fluid.
‘It changes day-to-day. Has there been progress? Yes, but it’s an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process. And so we’re making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we’re making steps.’
He refused to directly answer the question of whether he was open to a deal with the Saudis, with numerous figures in the game privately querying if he is against it.
Woods says that negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have moved slowly
Meanwhile, Spieth has disputed the notion that the players have taken too much power in the process.
‘If you’re in the room, it’s very obvious that players are not dictating the future of golf and the PGA Tour,’ Spieth said. ‘You have a lot of strategic investors that know a heck of a lot more than any of us players. So that’s a false narrative that the players are determining all these things.
‘I hope and feel like everyone’s trying to row the boat the same direction and get it to where they’re both in a very sound place [where] what’s been happening just doesn’t keep happening.’
