Rich Beem has admitted that he has completely changed his view on whether he expects Tiger Woods to be the Team USA captain at the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor.
There is still a question mark over both of the captains who will lead their sides into the next Ryder Cup. It is no surprise that Tiger Woods seems to be the leading candidate for the Americans.
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Woods turned down the role ahead of the 2025 event at Bethpage Black. Meanwhile, he has a good relationship with J.P. McManus, the businessman who owns Adare Manor.
Woods said he had not heard from the PGA of America when asked about the role ahead of the Hero World Challenge back in December. However, he had a slightly different answer ahead of the Genesis Invitational this past week.
Rich Beem changes his mind on whether Tiger Woods will be the next Ryder Cup captain
The 50-year-old said there had been contact with the PGA of America and they had asked for his input. But he stressed that he would not take on the role unless he had the time to do it properly.
Woods is now the chairman of the Future Competition Committee on the PGA Tour. And of course, he will hope to resume his playing career in the near future.
With that, Rich Beem has told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast that he is not optimistic that Woods will succeed Keegan Bradley next year.
“I’m going to say no. I think I’d have a completely different answer if you asked me that three months ago, but right now, no,” he said.
“Because I think that if he were to take the captaincy, he would have cemented his place as the captain already and said, ‘boys, we’re going’. We talk about the Ryder Cup all the time, but I think it would put the boys in a different frame of mind, even as far in advance, and I think he’d be like, ‘we’re not going to mess around, we’re going to go over there with every intent on taking this cup back on foreign soil’, and getting our stuff together going forward, because he’s not going to accept losing.
“Not to say that he’s afraid of not winning on foreign soil, but you talk about Keegan Bradley handling that loss very poorly, or how it eats at him, Tiger is not going to be any happier if he goes over there as captain at Adare Manor and they don’t win. I don’t see it happening, I really don’t.”
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If Woods is not interested this time around, the question obviously becomes who will take on the role.
Keegan Bradley‘s appointment appeared to be a roll of the dice after the PGA of America had waited so long for Woods to make a decision.
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Bradley has not ruled out taking on the job again. Meanwhile, Brandt Snedeker may look at this year’s Presidents Cup as an audition.
Stewart Cink is another obvious name that will be considered. And given how Bradley’s tenure played out, it would not be a surprise if the PGA of America looked to create fewer waves with their next choice.
That is unless Woods wants the job, of course.
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