Jim Furyk has revealed he will hold talks with Tiger Woods about on the 2027 Ryder Cup team, and the captain has underlined the qualities Woods could bring to the role.
Woods was tabbed to be the Team USA skipper for next year’s showdown at Adare Manor in Ireland, with the Americans craving revenge after back-to-back defeats to Luke Donald’s Europeans at Marco Simone and Bethpage Black.
But Woods declined the job after being charged with driving under the influence and refusing to take a chemical or physical test following a rollover car crash near his Florida home in March. The 15-time major champion, who denies the charges, was dealt a setback on Tuesday, with prosecutors given access to his prescription drug records.
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The PGA of America responded by appointing Furyk as captain. The 56-year-old will lead Team USA for a second time after overseeing a dismal defeat to Europe in France eight years ago.
Furyk believes Woods can still be a valuable asset on his backroom staff, and he intends to reach out when the 50-year-old’s personal and legal matters are in order.
“We haven’t spoken yet. I think, out of kind of courtesy and for him, his family, and I know maybe a road to health, I haven’t reached out, but I will. Definitely. We’ll see where that role may fall,” Furyk said ahead of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.
“In the past, I think he’s kind of taken a backseat and kind of maybe served as an advisor for Keegan and such. I will say I enjoyed serving — I use that word, serving — as a vice captain with him a number of times. I think he brought a lot to the team room, and a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience.”
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Furyk faced numerous questions about the woes of Team USA -Credit:Getty Images
Furyk was grilled by reporters over the direction of Team USA after sobering defeats in Rome and New York, and he believes “continuity” is key to Americans getting back on level terms with the well-run European outfit, particularly after the miscalculation to appoint Keegan Bradley for Bethpage despite never serving as a vice captain.
“Instead of saying something’s not quite right, I think I would say we could definitely be doing a lot better job,” he said. “Let’s look at it right now. I’m pulled in in April to captain the team. We don’t have a point system in place right now. I heard Luke earlier say he’ll put something in place like late summer or mid to late summer or early fall.
“But I think the idea that Team USA is a professional sports organization, we go from the Presidents Cup to the Ryder Cup each and every year, and what I started noticing is we were maybe losing a little continuity from year to year.
“So I just think we could be better at this is a 12-month process each and every year. It’s not something the Ryder Cup is over. We decompress. We let it go for six months. We brought Keegan in even later than this last year. He had less than 18 months to prepare. And that’s a guy who never even served as vice captain. So he played a lot of catch-up, if that makes sense.
“The idea of more continuity, more continuity for future captains, more continuity for the players year in and year out, and that includes Presidents Cup in my mind as well. We’ve been carrying that knowledge along under some great captains, under the Davis Loves and the Freddie Couples and the Steve Strickers, and then myself kind of working with those guys. We’ve been kind of passing that information along, but I just really feel like it could be in a more organized manner.
“I think we could have put Keegan in a much better position last year, and part of my role as a vice captain was to kind of help him along with the experience that I had. But I think that “continuity” is probably the best word I could use.”