The PGA of America has asked Tiger Woods to decide whether he wants to accept the captaincy role for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor before the Masters, according to a report from Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press.
Woods, acting as tournament host at last week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, revealed that the PGA of America had approached him but he had yet to fully decide at that point.
“They have asked me for my input on it, and I haven’t made my decision yet,” Woods said. “I’m trying to figure out what we’re trying to do with our tour.”
Now, it appears that the PGA of America would like a decision sooner rather than later, though the pre-Masters deadline which Ferguson reveals that two anonymous sources had confirmed, has been described as a ‘soft deadline’, meaning that Woods would not be completely out of the running should he fail to respond in the timely fashion required.
That’s fortunate, as Woods claims that he is engrossed with his duties as Chairman of the PGA Tour Future Competitions Committee and still retains hope that he will be at Augusta National in a playing capacity in April.
Despite being expected to take the roll of U.S. team captain at Bethpage last year, Woods’ late withdrawal from the running forced the PGA of America into a late scramble in which Keegan Bradley was ultimately selected, but Ferguson also revealed that, at present, Woods is not just favoured choice to take the reins at Adare Manor, he’s the only choice being considered.
Woods, however, has suggested that his boardroom duties are extremely time-consuming, to the extent that he’s putting in more hours’ work than he ever did during his playing career which, even allowing for hyperbole, is a bold statement given Tiger’s legendary work ethic.
“I thought I spent a lot of hours practicing in my prime. It doesn’t even compare to what we’ve done in the boardroom,” he said at Riviera, before adding: “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 I can actually do our team — Team USA and our players and everyone that’s going to be involved in the Ryder Cup — if I can do it justice.”
Tiger last played at Augusta National in 2024 where he set a new record by making the cut for the 24th time in succession, but he’s only made three competitive starts since – the other three majors in 2024 – and missed the cut in all of them.
Though he remained coy on the prospects of teeing it up in search of a 25th consecutive made cut and a 16th major championship, he refused to rule it out, meaning the public may be forced to play the guessing game until Masters Thursday arrives, and the PGA of America may be forced to wait a little longer before turning a soft deadline into a hard deadline.
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