Tiger Woods has selected himself as Team USA’s secret weapon ahead of the 13th Presidents Cup’s visit to Royal Melbourne Golf Club next month.
The 15-time Major Champion will become the second-ever playing captain in Presidents Cup history with Tiger also naming Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland to his team to tackle Ernie Els’ Internationals Down Under from December 9-15.
Woods (finished No. 13 in the U.S. Team standings) will become the Presidents Cup’s second-ever playing captain (Hale Irwin, 1994) and make his ninth career Presidents Cup appearance. Woods has a Presidents Cup record of 24-15-1 since his first appearance on the 1998 U.S. Team, and he is one of five players to earn a perfect 5-0-0 record during a single event (2009).
His 24 matches won ranks second all-time to Phil Mickelson’s 26 and his six victories in Singles matches are the most in the event’s history. Woods also holed the winning putt for the U.S. Team in 2009, 2011 (at Royal Melbourne) and 2013 – the only player to clinch the Cup three times.
At the conclusion of his 2018-19 season in mid-August, Woods underwent arthroscopic knee surgery the following week to repair minor cartilage damage in his left knee. He made his first start of the 2019-20 season at the ZOZO Championship in late October. Woods opened with rounds of 64-64 and held at least a share of the lead after each round en route to a three-stroke victory in Japan for his 82nd PGA Tour title that tied him with Sam Snead for most in Tour history.
“I’m going to choose Tiger Woods.”
A third-person explanation on why @TigerWoods picked Tiger Woods. ? pic.twitter.com/OLYrHSWERO
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 8, 2019
“As captain, I’m going to choose Tiger Woods as the last player on the team,” Woods said. “He’s made, what, nine Cups and he’s played in Australia twice in the Presidents Cup, so this will be his third appearance as a player. I find it interesting I’m talking in the third person! I’m just having fun with it,” he laughed.
“It’s going to be difficult, but also I have three amazing assistants with Fred, Strick and Zach, and that helps a lot, two guys that have won Presidents Cups and one will be a future captain along the line in the near future. Three great minds that will help me when I’m playing.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, but something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I’ve been vice captain in two Cups, so understanding it and seeing it, what those roles are is a little bizarre, and seeing it from a different side is really going to help.”
It’s a sign of the strength of Woods’ USA side that neither Rickie Fowler or Jordan Spieth will feature at the event in Australia.
United States Team
Patrick Cantlay
Bryson DeChambeau
Tony Finau
Dustin Johnson
Brooks Koepka
Matt Kuchar
Patrick Reed
Xander Schauffele
Webb Simpson
Justin Thomas
Gary Woodland
Tiger Woods
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