Speculations about Tiger as team captain, Scheffler injury-free, fun with the DP World Tour and the Kordas. The Back Nine.
At the start of the year, a little speculation is allowed. Some disguise it as a prediction, a 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 expedition to Ireland in 2027, but the 50-year-old politely declines. He would prefer to lead the US team when it’s a home game. The GOAT as skipper in a continental competition on home turf: that would probably break all records of fan hype golf has seen in the USA so far.
Anyway: this would be Woods’ second refusal after already declining for 2025 at Bethpage Black. This inevitably led to the appointment of Keegan Bradley, who has been carrying the third trauma since the loss at Medinah in 2012 and being overlooked for Rome 2023. However, it would be an understandable decision for Tiger. Why should he give up home advantage – even if statistically it does not really exist – and risk tarnishing his sporting record on enemy ground in a command operation whose chances are certainly not good? The Americans last won in Europe in 1993 at The Belfry in England.
Moreover, his opponent at Adare Manor could possibly be Luke Donald, who has already outplayed the US skipper twice spectacularly. This again puts the PGA of America in a dilemma, as hardly anyone else is available for the team captain job. Not to mention if Keegan Bradley might have to go again – Medinah loser Davis Love III famously got a second chance, but that was in 2016 and at home. Well, a little speculation is allowed… The \”Fried Egg\” folks had some more thoughts: