Tiger Woods was a strong contender for the 2025 Ryder Cup captaincy, but Team USA were forced to look elsewhere.
Many expected the 15-time major winner to lead the team on home soil at Bethpage Black, but Woods decided against the Team USA captaincy.
The PGA of America then made the unexpected move of announcing Keegan Bradley as the man to succeed Zach Johnson.
The former has never held a background role for Team USA at the event, while he is significantly younger than previous captains.
And he certainly has a huge task on his hands, with Team Europe storming to the trophy in Rome last year.
Why did Tiger Woods turn down the chance to be a 2025 Ryder Cup captain?
The defending champions have decided to stick with Luke Donald as their captain after he guided his side to glory in September.
Donald likely jumped at the chance to continue in the role, with Woods now explaining exactly why he turned the Team USA captaincy down.
“Well the decision was very difficult for me to make,” Woods said in his press conference at The Open Championship.
“My time has been so loaded with the tour and everything that we’re trying to accomplish. I’m on so many different subcommittees that it just takes so much time in the day, and I’m always on calls.
“I told Seth [Waugh] that I just didn’t feel like I could do the job properly, I couldn’t devote the time. I barely had enough time to do what I’m doing right now.
“The TGL starts next year, as well as the Ryder Cup, and you add all that together, and then with our negotiations with the PIF, all that concurrently going on at exactly the same time, there’s only so many hours in a day.
“I just didn’t feel like I would be doing the captaincy or the players and Team USA justice if I was the captain with everything that I have to do.”
Tiger Woods makes the right call about the Ryder Cup captaincy
Woods clearly has a lot on his plate, with the iconic figure certainly needing to balance his time across various events, both in and out of golf.
He could, however, still play a key role in New York, with Bradley telling Woods that he can be involved ‘as much as he wants to be’.
What role that could involve remains to be seen, but home fans would undoubtedly love to see Woods in action at Bethpage.
For now, however, all of his focus is on The Open, with Royal Troon hosting the 152nd edition of the event.
He has been practising on the iconic links course this week, with Woods a three-time Open winner, last lifting the Claret Jug in 2006.
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