One of the more interesting storylines to follow once the Ryder Cup has concluded at Bethpage concerns who will captain the two teams at Adare Manor in 2027.
It is hard to see Luke Donald staying on for a third Ryder Cup, regardless of the result in New York. Meanwhile, Keegan Bradley may be offered the chance to follow in Donald’s footsteps should he oversee an impressive win later this month.
However, much may depend on whether Tiger Woods is interested in taking on the role.
Woods served as a vice-captain at Hazeltine in 2016 before returning as a player two years later. He also picked himself to be a playing captain at the 2019 Presidents Cup.
Paul Azinger asked if Tiger Woods will captain the USA in the Ryder Cup
The 15-time major champion has made a number of appearances in the J. P. McManus Pro-Am over the years, with the last three stagings of the event held at Adare Manor.
So there is going to be plenty of interest in whether he decides that he wants to captain the Ryder Cup team at the same venue in two years.
However, when asked on Straight Facts Homie whether he thinks Woods will ever take on the job, 2008 captain Paul Azinger admitted that he can see the 49-year-old having his sights set on another role.
“I don’t know, I think he’d more like to be the commissioner before maybe than the Ryder Cup captain,” he said.
“Tiger’s bigger than Ryder Cup captaincy. I said a couple of years back he should be the permanent captain, all-time captain, because who better? But that’s not right. Other guys deserve to be captain, so I kind of take that back. But I think he has bigger fish to fry.
“Tiger, he’s involved with this game monetarily now and maybe he’ll end up running it, who knows?”
When Tiger Woods turned down the Ryder Cup captaincy
It appears that the PGA Tour may be moving forward without a commissioner, with Brian Rolapp taking on the CEO role. But of course, all bets are off when it comes to Woods.
Woods had reportedly set his sights on playing a full schedule on the Champions Tour. However, that was before he missed almost the entirety of the 2025 season with another injury. And he was involved in the decision to appoint Rolapp.
But only he will know how determined he is to get back playing at the highest level.
Woods did decide to turn down the captaincy for this year’s Ryder Cup before Bradley was approached. That would suggest that the role is not the pinnacle in his mind – as Azinger suggests.
However, Woods will also know that the PGA of America are likely to throw all plans out of the window once he decides that he wants the job. So if he did not feel that the timing was right for Bethpage, he will have been aware that he has enough credit in the bank to come back for the captaincy in the future.
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