Jim Furyk is a curious choice, as the backup pick and second chance captain of next year's US Ryder Cup team. If the PGA of America, in consultation with its Ryder Cup committee, wants to go down the old road, done that way, why not just bring back last year's model, Keegan Bradley, fresh off the Lessons Learned Tour? Yes, Europe won that event, 15-13. But being a winner wasn't a requirement for the job, and 11 Bradley players had a rally cap on Sunday.
The team Furyk captained in 2018, France, appeared to be on the move throughout the three days of the event, losing 17.5 to 10.5. American golfer, Tiger Woods, was seen sitting in Team USA's Go well press conference Sunday night. Woods hasn't worn a Ryder Cup uniform since, not in a playing role, not in an administrative role, not in any role other than whispering on the sidelines.
Woods was always Furyk's boy. He told him, the mill. Bradley was a Phil Mickelson acolyte.
The elephant in the room here is the absence of Woods and Mickelson as Ryder Cup captains, at least for now and probably forever. Two of America's greatest golfers of the past 30 years, with 127 PGA Tour wins between them, including six PGA Championships, is unmatched. There is no quick summary of the cost of their lives off the course, rather, that none of these titans of the game are in the conversation for the Ryder Cup.
Woods, without saying anything, has shown that he is a driver who does not care about the deep levels of trauma in his life. Mickelson, using a string of words, turned his back on his home tour, calling for untold damage. Even in this age of metrics, no device can measure weirdness, or ask.
Long ago, it was easy to imagine Mickelson captaining the 2023 team in Italy and the 2025 team at Bethpage Black, and Woods captaining the 2027 team in Ireland and the 2029 team at Hazeltine. Perhaps it was all a dream of the pandemic flu. It seems that, like the epidemic itself, it is eternal.
So, to put it in one place, here are your six recent US Ryder Cup captains, along with the following:
*2018, France, Jim Furyk;
*2021, Whistling Straits, Steve Stricker;
*2023, Italy, Zach Johnson;
*2025, Bethpage Black, Keegan Bradley;
*2027, Ireland, Jim Furyk.
Talk about tried-and-true. Four-for-five, right there. (No one saw Bradley coming, not at 39.) Once, Arnold Palmer, at age 34, was handed the Ryder Cup reins, but only then (1963). In this list, Steve Stricker is the best: He had never won a big score! But he was a native son of Wisconsin. Stricker was too modest and too loyal to claim a role in the US victory in Kohler, Wisc. “Brooks and Bryson wanted to play together — that's how much [this team] they got together,” he said when it was all over. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. They may be controversial now, but they weren't then. Stricker did what any good manager, in any field, does: get his players in a place where they can do what they do, play golf at a high level. It's not that complicated, despite the extreme efforts to do it.
Broadly speaking, the PGA of America is in a tough spot. Waiting for Tiger, waiting and waiting for him to make a decision, didn't help. The organization has yet to face the worst of last year's Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island, where the PGA of America failed in its last responsibilities, to provide a safe and appropriate venue for spectators and to be a welcoming and kind host to our European visitors.
The PGA Championship at Aronimink next month, on the far outskirts of Philadelphia, will be a major test, but also an opportunity, for an organization in turmoil. Four CEOs in eight years, for one thing. A smart move from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to Frisco, Texas, outside of Dallas, for one. That was a hard sell all the way. The Future PGA Championships is set on a new, untested course there, owned and operated by the PGA of America. The unspoken goal is obvious: make more money. Never have an encouraging comment for any true sports fan to hear. The greatness of the Ryder Cup is that it became an accidental money maker. It was a surprise for Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal, Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart, Paul McGinley and Ian Poulter, and even Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau. It became the Ryder Cup for the personality and quality of the game, combined with the great American divisions. Here I am looking at you, Oak Hill in early fall, Rochester, NY
The captain's job, when you really boil it down to its essence, is to fill out the program card, to help set the mood, to engage the community. With Jim Furyk, who turns 56 next month, we know what we're getting. His entire golfing career has been based on constant rotation, and it has worked well for him. DeChambeau, 32, would have been a Ryder Cup captain, and an unusual choice. But if recent history with this little story has shown us anything, don't delay the excitement. Don't hold back the excitement when choosing Ryder Cup captains. The committee has waited too long for Tiger and Lefty. Elvis left the building. Tiger has it too.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at [email protected]
