Tiger Woods could be handed a Presidents Cup lifeline after Jim Furyk promised to “reach out” to the 15-time major winner.
Furyk has been given the reigns on a first US Presidents Cup captaincy at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada later this month. The 54-year-old will have six spots to fill when he announces his captain’s picks, with six members of the US team already automatically qualified.
The 2003 U.S. Open winner will be joined by Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala as the already confirmed players in the roster. Furyk was questioned whether there would be a part to play for Woods despite him rejecting to captain the US in the Ryder Cup next year and his ongoing work with the PGA.
Furyk told Golfweek : "I’ll reach out to Tiger. I think we all kind of expected that he was going to be named Ryder Cup captain and when that didn’t happen, I know he’s got his plate full with the PGA Tour and working on our board, which seems to be a lot of work at the moment.
"So I’ll reach out, say hello. You know, I know he’s got some great strategy. He’s got some great stuff with pairings, but as of yet I haven’t reached out." Furyk can name one more addition and he suggested it could be Woods: "I still have one more to name and I have a pretty good idea who’ll that be,” he added.
Woods decided to reject the offer of Team USA captain for the Ryder Cup , with Keegan Bradley taking the role instead. Furyk was asked whether Bradley will receive one of his six captain’s picks despite already being an assistant after winning the BMW Championship. Stewart Cink, Justin Leonard and Kevin Kisner are the other three to be named assistants.
Confirming he has a plan for Bradley, Furyk said: "That’s a road we’ll cross when I get there. We’ll wait and see who the picks are. Let’s not put the cart before the horse. I’ve got a plan of what I want to do, I just don’t want to talk about it that in-depth, how’s that?"
Furyk continued in his praise for Bradley: “You can see the passion in Keegan’s eyes. You can hear it in his voice, whether it’s about a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup or just on a daily basis. He brings a lot of energy.
“I think when you kind of round out your team, all your captains kind of have a role and a position and I think for him I expect it’ll be a learning experience for him but he brings a lot to the table he knows these guys.
“He’s playing not only week in and week out as he playing out on PGA Tour he’s playing an extremely high level and he’s playing with these guys quite often so he knows their games very well and he brings a lot to the table for our team.”
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