The PGA of America has confirmed it will reveal Team USA’s next Ryder Cup captain on Tuesday – with Tiger Woods having reportedly ruled himself out of the running to succeed Zach Johnson
Tiger Woods has reportedly ruled himself out of contention to take over from Zach Johnson as Team USA’s Ryder Cup captain for Bethpage Black in 2025, according to James Corrigan of The Telegraph.
The PGA of America has confirmed it will reveal Team USA’s next captain in New York on Tuesday, but that is not expected to be the 15-time Major champion after it was claimed by The Telegraph that Woods would have only accepted the role if there were fewer captain’s commitments in the build-up.
That was apparently unable to be promised, and the PGA of America were forced to consider other options prior to the qualifying window opening later in the years.
Team Europe, meanwhile, has had its next Ryder Cup captain in place for several months already following a successful showing in Italy during September 2023.
Luke Donald will once again lead the men in blue and gold at the biennial event against the USA after he agreed to return as captain not long after Rory McIlroy and co. sealed a 16.5-11.5 victory at Marco Simone.
After such a tumultuous campaign for the Americans, a partial reset was required and it was decided Johnson would move on before a new skipper was appointed for the next meeting on US soil in September 2025.
But – aside from appointing John Wood as team manager earlier this year – that was about as far as the PGA of America had gone in terms of its planning, until now.
On Monday, the PGA of America confirmed it has a replacement lined up and all would be revealed at noon ET on Tuesday. PGA of America president John Lindert will make the announcement live from the NASDAQ building in New York.
Rumors of Woods becoming Johnson’s replacement had begun to gather momentum after the turn of the year, and the 15-time Major winner had done nothing to quieten them down – stating he was having talks with the PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh but preferred to leave deeper discussions until after The Masters.
At the time, Woods said: “It’s something that Seth [Waugh – PGA of America CEO] and I are going to sit back and talk about it 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.”
That was, of course, in April. Since then, Waugh announced his exit from the PGA of America and Woods – nor anyone else – has barely uttered a word about who could take over from Johnson.
Other names thought to be in the frame for the job include Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Fred Couples, and Davis Love III. If it is not to be Woods, Cink might well be the best possible choice for the Americans after operating as vice-captain for the first time under Johnson in Rome and therefore having gained a better understanding on how it all goes down.
Cink is a highly popular figure, too and has five Ryder Cup appearances as a player under his belt, plus a Major victory in the form of the 2009 Open Championship. If not Cink, then Stricker – who already has experience of winning a Ryder Cup as Team USA skipper (2021) – or Furyk – who could be keen for a chance to make amends after being at the helm in 2018 as Europe dominated at Le Golf National.