Woods deciding whether to be Ryder Cup captain
Tiger Woods brings a lot of uncertainty to Valhalla for the PGA Championship. Some of that has to do with his achy body. And some of that involved the Ryder Cup.
The PGA of America still has not settled on a captain for the 2025 matches at Bethpage Black, with Woods as the most obvious candidate. Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America, had said he would be speaking to Woods.
“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.”
The PGA of America typically announces the Ryder Cup captain well before the Masters of the preceding year. Zach Johnson was announced in February 2022 for last year’s Ryder Cup.
Woods, who has teed it up only twice this year going into the PGA Championship, is keeping plenty busy off the golf course. He was appointed to the PGA Tour board last summer and has been a central voice in meetings. Woods also is on the committee that is meeting with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia about becoming a minority investor.
The U.S. Ryder Cup captain, whoever that is, has a lot of promoting to do, which includes a “one year out” event at Bethpage Black in September.
“I need to feel that I can give the amount of time that it deserves,” said Woods, who won his second U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in 2002.
Woods had mixed memories when he returned to Valhalla. He played a practice round late last week and was on the course the past three days.
There was 2000, where he made what he still considers the most pressure-filled putt of his career. He had a fabulous duel with unheralded Bob May, ending with Woods having to make a six-foot birdie putt on the last hole to force a playoff.
And there was 2014, when he was trying to recover from the first of four back surgeries. Woods had to withdraw the previous week at Firestone, and he didn’t come close to making the cut at Valhalla.
“At that time I was maybe one back procedure into it. Now it’s a hell of a lot more than that number,” he said. “Back is now fused, as you know. Yeah, coming into 2014, I wasn’t feeling very good. But I’m always going to feel soreness and stiffness in my back, but that’s OK. Just need other body parts to start feeling better.”
He also needs more than two good rounds. Woods set a Masters record this year by making the cut for the 24th consecutive time, but he followed with an 82 in the third round and wound up in last place among those who made the cut.
He has not played since then. “I still feel that I can win golf tournaments. I still feel I can hit the shots and still feel like I still have my hand around the greens and I can putt,” Woods said. “I just need to do it for all four days, not like I did at Augusta for only two.”