Unimaginable: US Ryder Cup captain announcement blasts Surprise choice on cards after Tiger Woods turns it down
Keegan Bradley, right, shakes hands with Jamie Donaldson after their singles match in the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.
PGA of America to set announce captain for 2025 match in New York on Tuesday
Keegan Bradley has emerged as a surprise favourite to become the new US Ryder Cup captain after Tiger Woods turned down the job at Bethpage Black in New York next year.
The PGA of America will announce Zach Johnson’s successor at 5pm UK time on Tuesday, but, despite having been the No 1 contender since the Americans lost last year’s match in Rome, it is being claimed that Woods is no longer in the frame.
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That being the case, it seemed that Davis Love, Fred Couple and Stewart Cink would be the likely leading contenders, but, according to a report in the US, two-time Ryder Cup player Bradley is set to be handed the reins for the event’s 41st edition.
Bradley, who was controversially overlooked by Johnson for one of his captain’s picks for the match in Italy, hasn’t served as a vice captain in either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, meaning his appointment would be somewhat unexpected but, at the same time, it would certainly be a sign of the PGA of America shaking things up a bit.
Seth Waugh, the organisation’s CEO, had been in discussions with Woods about the role before he announced out of the blue that he would not be staying on after his contract expired at the end of last month. Tuesday’s announcement will be made by PGA of America president John Lindert at a press conference taking place at the NASDAQ building in New York.
Speaking on the range at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian, where he is playing in this week’s Genesis Scottish Open, Cink said he wasn’t surprised by the news that 15-time major winner Woods had turned down the role. “No,” he replied to that being reported, “because I’ve already heard that, too.”
On more than one occasion in recent months, Woods had made it clear that he wasn’t prepared to take on the role if he couldn’t give it his full attention at a time when he is heavily involved in talks about the game’s future in his role as a player director on the PGA Tour policy board.
“I thought that he (Tiger) should have first run at it and he has,” added Cink, the 2009 Open champion. “It doesn’t surprise me that he turned it down because since he stepped into that board position, the PGA Tour is pretty busy right now and he’s got a lot on his plate and he’s got a lot away from the course, too, with his injuries and trying to recover and get himself in the kind of condition where he can play. It’s probably a big role when you consider adding it to all that stuff.”
Cink had been touted as contender for the role on the back of playing in five Ryder Cups before then being one of the vice-captains for Johnson at Marco Simone Golf Club last autumn.
“Not really because I’ve not heard anything,” he said of the impending announcement possibly being good news for him. “I got a lot of calls today from some of the media I know in the States and I kind of thought that was probably what it was about. But I haven’t heard anything – they haven’t said anything to me.
“To be part of the team playing or a vice captain, as I was last year, is an incredible experience and I’d love to be part of as many teams as I can because it’s a chance to represent your country. I love the game period and to be part of it in any way is really the top of the heap in the pro game.”
Asked if still felt he should be in the frame, he added: “I think so. I’d be shocked if they listed names and I wasn’t on the list at least. But I don’t have a lot of experience being a captain.
“Me being here has nothing to do with the Ryder Cup captaincy. I got the last PGA Tour spot here because I let them know in a timely manner how excited I was about the possibility of coming. I didn’t know there was going to be an announcement until you told me.”