Tiger Woods will serve as team USA vice captain in 2016 Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is still almost a year away and yet there was a release this week that American captain Davis Love III had a “significant” announcement to make on Wednesday afternoon. So what was the big news? Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk will be his vice captains next year at Hazeltine. They join Tom Lehman, a local boy from Minnesota, who signed up with Love as a vice captain from the start. A FIFTH vice captain will be named later to complete the rather crowded staff for just a 12-man team.

The news would be made more “significant” if it meant Tiger had taken himself out of the running for actually qualifying or playing his way onto the team. That would mean he’s resigned himself to either a fully missed 2016 season or didn’t think he’d be in good enough shape to even try to be one of the 12 players and was already packing it in for next year. But no, as soon as Love made the announcement, he quickly clarified that Tiger still wants to play.

Woods issued a release in conjunction with the announcement, stating, “Once I’m fully healthy, I’d like to try to make the team too, but either way, I’m very excited to work with Davis, the other Vice Captains, and the players to get a U.S. victory.”

So Tiger still wants to play, but even if he makes the team, he wants to serve as a playing captain of sorts. Given his recent form and health, it’s a long shot that he’ll be one of the 12 to make it next fall.

Furyk, on the other hand, has been one of the five-to-10 best American golfers in recent years and a mainstay on these Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams. He’s much more likely to qualify and Love indicated Furyk and Stricker (who is semi-retired but will also apparently still try to play his way on) would be an either/or package ... so he may need to find two new captains if they make the team?

When asked about the possibility of these new vice captains actually making the team, Love said he would “cross that bridge when we come to it.”

It’s all a bit confusing with almost 11 months still to go until they tee it up in Minnesota. Perhaps the USA is overreacting and over-managing a simple setup in response to the 2014 disaster and the spate of embarrassing losses over the past 20 years.

Setting those logistics aside, it’s still cool and good for the game that Tiger wants to be a part of this no matter what. He could obviously spend that week taking money baths and doing other stress-free things so it’s good to have him involved in one way or another.

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