Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger have played on Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams together in the past.
As a result, they have both experienced playing for teams with Tiger Woods in one of the vice-captaincy roles.
Back in 2017 at Liberty National, Berger and Thomas were making their Presidents Cup debuts for the United States.
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“No one’s asked me.”
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And Berger made the decision not to allow Woods to follow him around.
Interestingly, Tiger Woods became the first ever Presidents Cup playing captain two years later at Royal Melbourne.
Woods is now being touted as a future Ryder Cup captain, with the 2027 edition at Adare Manor pencilled in for the 15-time major champion.
However, there are some concerns that Woods’ aura may be detrimental to the US team’s chances of success.
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Thomas was stunned by what Berger did back in 2017 during the Presidents Cup practice rounds.
When discussing Tiger’s aura on The Smylie Show, Thomas shared a funny story from the Presidents Cup in 2017 at Liberty National.
“The funny story that reminds me, that I just thought of when you said about him being a captain, I mean, my first experience was him as a vice captain at Liberty,“ the 32-year-old said.
“He was there, and we kind of have like pods or whatever, and it’s the, the captain, vice captain, that’s with your pod, generally walks with the guys that are playing that match.
“And he happened to be with Brooks, DJ, Boog (Berger) and somebody else, I can’t remember, but, Boog, I think, and Brooks were going to play.
“So Tiger was out walking with them.
“And Boog, he went to Stricker, somebody like that, and he’s like, ‘can somebody else walk with us?’
“He’s like, ‘I don’t want Tiger to walk with us’. He’s like, ‘what do you mean?’ He said, ‘he makes me too nervous’.
“We’re like, look, ‘he’s on our team’. He’s like, ‘I can’t have shots in front of him’.
“And he’s like, ‘I can’t do it, I have to have somebody else’.
“So we had to get a different vice captain to walk with Boog because he was so nervous to play golf around him.
“Which I honestly respect the hell out.“
Why Tiger Woods may struggle as US Ryder Cup captain
The aura that Woods has can be matched by nobody else in the game.
The younger generation of players on the PGA Tour are totally in awe of the 50-year-old.
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And it’s fair to argue that could adversely affect them at the Ryder Cup, if Woods is captain.
There have been numerous stories in other sports where people who were great players in their time failed to make the grade as head coaches.
While that isn’t common in golf, Woods’ record in the game and the way in which he completely transformed the sport, means that he has legendary status that few others do.
Berger may not be the only person who is too nervous to play golf in front of Woods, and that could be a real problem whenever the 15-time major champion does become Ryder Cup captain.
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