Tiger Woods wants Fred Couples for next Ryder Cup captain, according to report

Tiger Woods has not swung a club in competition since August and has no plans to do so for another month, but even during prolonged sabbaticals, the 14-time major champion is never far from golf’s headlines.

What with Fred Couples claiming that Woods headlined a slew of U.S. players clamoring for the successful Presidents Cup captain to become the next Ryder Cup skipper, Gary Player coyly suggesting he could fix Tiger’s swing in an hour, and a major PGA Tour sponsor closing the checkbook on Woods’ appearance fees, the Eldrick Hot Stove League is stoked.

We want Freddie

Woods and Phil Mickelson are part of a PGA of America task force formed to scratch out a solution to the losing ways of the U.S. Ryder Cup team and, according to Golf World’s Tim Rosaforte, the movers and shakers behind a push to draft Couples as the next captain.

“When they all got home [from September’s drubbing by the Europeans at Gleneagles], they said, ‘We need you to do this,’” Couples told Rosaforte about how many past and current cup players contacted him.

Couples has a perfect 3-0 record as Presidents Cup leader but has never managed a Ryder Cup and is not on the 11-member panel under the aegis of the PGA, which will choose the next captain. His relaxed, friendly-to-the-point-of-coddling approach to getting the best from his players stands in stark contrast to that of 2014 captain Tom Watson’s rigid, uncommunicative style, but you can’t argue with the results.

“He didn’t cradle his boys enough, and that’s what they need,” Couples said about Watson, who has come under fire from all quarters since the 16.5-11.5 loss in Scotland. “They need some love.”

Thanks, Tiger, we can take it from here

Woods — along with Phil and Rory McIlroy — won’t be in attendance at this week’s PGA Tour tilt in China and that’s just fine with the WGC-HSBC Champions tourney sponsor, who claimed the lucrative appearance fees paid to the former world No. 1 no longer offered an attractive enough return on investment.

In fact, Giles Morgan, HSBC’s global head of sponsorship and events, told The Guardian that golf in Asia can get along just fine without the guy who put the game on the map all over the world.

“When golf in China was a much smaller sport, Tiger was the firepower which moved the needle,” said Morgan, whose event does not offer appearance fees. “That has grown and grown. That momentum has made the sport a much bigger force than just one individual, which is exactly right. We know that if we get 80% of the world’s top players at this time of the season, we are in a good place.”

As we noted last month, the days of Tiger pocketing some $3 million just to toss his cap onto the first tee are coming to an end.

“Every top player in the world is welcome to play this event if they qualify and we would be delighted to have them here,” Morgan said. “But we have moved beyond the point where we just need ‘a player’ to turn up to boost PR, gratification and media coverage.”

Morgan has a practice ripping Tiger, since he did so when Woods skipped the 2012 and 2013 HSBC events after banking lucrative appearance fees to play exhibition matches with McIlroy.

With last year’s WGC tourney reaching more than 500 million TV viewers and golf course growth booming, according to The Guardian, it looks as if Asia can do just fine without the world’s 20th-ranked golfer.

Gary Player’s 60-minute swing fixer-upper

If Woods returns to the golf circuit in December without a swing coach, since he fired Sean Foley in August, Player’s ready to pitch in with an amazingly quick but uber-secret solution for what ails the motion of the winner of 79 PGA Tour contests.

“Would I love to sit down with him for one hour and give him a piece of my knowledge,” Player said in an interview with Graham Bensinger. “I can’t tell you what I’d say. But then I think he could win majors.”

Player would, no doubt, take issue with Morgan’s assessment of the game with the absence of its marquee name.

“Tiger is the most talented golfer that ever lived, without a question,” said Player, who won nine major titles. “Will he come back as a champion? I really hope so, because the game needs Tiger Woods.”

As for the swing wisdom the 79-year-old Player would impart to Woods that would help him break Jack Nicklaus’ mark of 18 majors, the Black Knight preferred to keep that between him and Tiger.

“There’s a reason why he’s not the same Tiger Woods anymore,” said Player. “I reckon I could get those things across to him that would make a massive change because I’ve got so much experience, which will take him another 40, 50 years to get.”

Player probably ought not wait by his phone.