While Team Europe is once again putting down the marker when it comes to the Ryder Cup captaincy, the PGA of America is still wondering what to do if Tiger Woods turns them down. And that, Bernard Gallacher tells TG, is unacceptable…
Over to you, Tiger Woods.
The reappointment of Luke Donald as European Ryder Cup captain on Wednesday has sharpened the focus on Woods, who is still contemplating an offer to lead the US team at Adare Manor in 2027.
Woods is the PGA of America’s first choice to succeed Keegan Bradley, but is yet to decide whether he wants the job. The 50-year-old has a close relationship with JP McManus, the host venue’s owner in County Limerick, and was always destined to become a captain one day in spite of his dismal record in the contests as a player.
But Woods is now a figurehead in the PGA Tour’s boardroom and is weighing up whether he can juggle that responsibility with the daunting task of denying Donald a third win in a row on away soil.
“They have asked me for my input on it and I haven’t made my decision yet,” Woods revealed last month at the Genesis Invitational. “I’m trying to figure out what we’re trying to do with our Tour.
“That’s been driving me hours upon hours every day and trying to figure out if, [for] Team USA and our players and everyone that’s going to be involved in the Ryder Cup, I can do it justice with my time. Serving on two boards and what I’m doing for the PGA Tour, I’m trying to figure out if I can actually do this and serve the people that are involved and serve them at an honorable level.”
If you’re getting an eery sense of déjà vu here with Woods, you’re probably not alone. The PGA of America only made the left-field Bradley appointment for Bethpage in the summer of 2024 after Woods stalled and then eventually turned down the captaincy.
There is now the possibility that Woods could once again say thanks but no thanks and put his energy into a more favorable home match in 2029. Outside Woods, there is no obvious Plan B. The bookmakers’ second favorite is this year’s Presidents Cup captain, Brandt Snedeker, who was one of Bradley’s five assistants at Bethpage.
Europe, meanwhile, are already planning ahead.
Bernard Gallacher, who was the last man before Donald to lead Europe into three successive Ryder Cups, cannot fathom why Woods even needs time to consider a role he viewed as the ultimate privilege.
“It would be good for the Ryder Cup if Tiger takes it,” Gallacher tells TG. “But he’s prevaricating quite a lot. Usually when people are asked to be captains they say yes please right away, no matter who you are, whether you’re Tiger Woods or not,” he says. “But he’s not saying that. I don’t know why he’s not saying that. If ever Tiger was going to be captain I thought New York would have been the perfect place. But he had other ideas.
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“Maybe now that all the players are getting paid he’ll feel more comfortable captaining his side of players who are getting paid money. There was a suspicion way back when Mark O’Meara was mooting the fact that the players should get paid to play and Tiger was friendly with Mark.”
Woods was indeed leading the calls for players to be compensated as far back as the matches at Brookline in 1999 – but argued that was only so they divert the money to chosen charities. “It’s never really been about getting paid,” he said. “It’s how can we allocate funds to help our sport or help things that we believe in back home.”
The main concern Woods has now is the time he commits to two PGA Tour boards, shaping the tournament schedule for the 2027 season and beyond. The first plans for a drastic revamp of the calendar are expected to be announced next week and Woods has given plenty of his input.
But for others who have had an intense love affair with the Ryder Cup, Woods’ priorities are curious.
“The Ryder Cup’s bigger than that,” Gallacher explains. “When Jack Nicklaus was asked to be captain [in 1983 and 1987] he did it right away. When Arnold Palmer was asked if he would be captain [in 1963] he said, ‘But I’m still playing.’ When Ben Hogan said would you be captain [in 1949] he hadn’t played and he was still recovering from his injury but he still said, ‘Yes, OK, I’ll be captain.’ It was a big shock to me that Tiger said that he felt he couldn’t do it because he was working hard on a players side of it.
“Tiger’s input is important, yes, but the Ryder Cup is more important.”