Tiger Woods has been named as a part of Davis Love’s backroom team for next year’s Ryder Cup, a move that will trigger fresh speculation over the ability of the 14-times major winner to continue his on-course career.
Love took the highly unusual step on Wednesday of confirming three additional vice-captains 10 months before the event. Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker were named for September’s tournament at Hazeltine in Minnesota. Tom Lehman had already been confirmed in an assistant’s role.
One name, naturally, leapt out. Woods has recently had a back operation, his second bout of surgery since early 2014. Publicly, Woods has remained bullish about his ability to return to competitive golf. The 39-year-old has stated his intention to play again in early 2016.
Love insists Woods harbours hopes of playing in what would be an eighth Ryder Cup but the timing of this announcement will trigger rumours to the contrary. Interesting, too, is Woods’s desire to be involved at all.
“Tiger has said: ‘I want to make the team,’” Love said. “If he makes the team, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Tiger wants to be a playing assistant. That’s his goal. He wants to make the team but he wants to be involved in any way.
“Tom, Jim, Steve and Tiger have over 50 years of combined Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup experiences they are eager to share. They’ll also be my eyes and ears from event to event next year on Tour. That’s invaluable and, as captain, I am grateful for their commitment, dedication and passion to win.”
Amid loss of fitness and form, Woods has slipped to 384th in the world rankings. He had earlier held top spot for a combined and record total of 683 weeks.
“I’d like to thank Davis for his confidence in me and for my selection as a Ryder Cup vice-captain,” Woods said. “This is something I want to do. I will continue to do whatever I can to help win the Cup back. Once I’m fully healthy, I’d like to try to make the team too, but either way, I’m very excited to work with Davis, the other vice-captains and the players to get a US victory.”
Woods’s Ryder Cup record is a mixture of chequered and disproportionate in terms of his talent. From 33 matches he has won 13, lost 17 and halved three. Stricker and Furyk, it must be noted, have poor statistics in the event as well.
Pressed on the timing of his announcement, Love said: “These three guys, joining Tom Lehman, will send a message to our team that we are really serious about this Ryder Cup. We are ahead of the game this time and it lets potential team members know we are going to do whatever it takes to put them in the best position to win in 2016.”
