Speculations about Tiger as team captain, Scheffler injury-free, fun with DP World Tour and the Kordas. The Back Nine.
At the beginning of the year, a bit of speculation is allowed. Some disguise it as a prognosis, a very popular discipline in early January. The colleagues from the renowned US portal The Fried Egg have made a bold thesis looking ahead to the upcoming golf year: The PGA of America will offer Tiger Woods the position of captain for the Ryder Cup 2027 in Ireland, but the 50-year-old politely declines. He wants to lead the US team when the event is a home game. The GOAT as skipper in a continental competition on home turf would likely break all previous fan hype records in the USA.
In any case, it would be Woods’ second refusal after declining the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. This led to the appointment of Keegan Bradley, who has since carried the trauma of defeat at Medinah 2012 and exclusion from the 2023 Rome event. It is an understandable decision for Woods. Why give up home advantage — statistically almost nonexistent — and risk tarnishing his record in an away command mission, with rather poor odds? The last time Americans won in Europe was in 1993 at The Belfry in England.
Moreover, his counterpart at Adare Manor might be Luke Donald, who has outsmarted the US skipper twice by all accounts, posing a dilemma for the PGA of America. Few others are suitable for the team captain role. Hopefully, Keegan Bradley will not have to step in again — Davis Love III, who lost at Medinah, was given a second chance in 2016, although that event was at home. So, some speculation is in order… What else the \”Fried Egg\” folks suggest:
McIlroy and Keegan: It’s Complicated
A strange situation: Boston Common won its first match in the Tomorrow’s Golf League, helped by putts from Michael Thorbjornsen, who replaced Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama. However, last Friday at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, the \”Frogs\” faced Los Angeles and a tense internal team situation. Rory McIlroy and teammate Keegan Bradley had to put on a united front despite a special relationship since the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
This tension began after McIlroy was hounded by US fans in a partly unpleasant manner. Bradley downplayed the fan behavior as merely \”very passionate.\” They allegedly reconciled, but before Boston Common’s first appearance this season in TGL, the issue resurfaced. McIlroy made it clear he still holds a grudge against \”Captain Keegan\” for not calming the aggressive fans. The five-time major winner said on the podcast \”The Overlap\” with British football stars Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, and Roy Keane: \”You have to take advantage of home advantage, but Keegan and the others had the chance to say: ‘Let’s stay calm and play with the right attitude.’ Some did, but not Keegan. As captain, he could have had the greatest impact and said something, but he didn’t.\