2. Captain Tiger
Tiger Woods will be representing the United States at the Presidents Cup, but it won’t be as just a player. Woods will captain the American team when they take on the Internationals at Royal Melbourne in December, becoming the youngest captain in the event’s history.
There are several subplots that go along with his leading the team, not the least of which is his own participation. Woods is currently 12th in the Presidents Cup standings. Only the top eight automatically qualify for the team, with the captain filling out the roster with four picks. If he doesn’t improve his ranking, Woods will likely be put in the awkward position of having to pick himself, one he said he wanted to avoid when he took the job.
“I would like to get to a point where I’m playing well enough where I could make the team on points,” he said in March 2018. “I wouldn’t want to have the conversation and go, ’Self.’ I don’t really want to have that conversation, so let’s just see how it progresses.”
Hale Irwin in 1994 is the only playing captain in Presidents Cup history. That Woods would even have a chance to qualify for the team seemed like a long-shot when he was named captain more than a year ago. At the time he was still working his way back onto the PGA Tour after another back surgery and hadn’t won in five years. Since last March, though, he’s won the Tour Championship and the Masters and increased his world ranking from 149th to fifth.
During his time away from the game, Woods got in plenty of experience in a leadership capacity with Team USA. He served as vice-captain at the 2016 Ryder Cup and 2017 Presidents Cup and was supposed to reprise that role at last year’s Ryder Cup before dropping out after making the team.
Another consideration for Woods as captain is whether to pick long-time nemesis Phil Mickelson. Mickelson, Woods’ rival for the better part of two decades, is currently 14th in the standings.
Team USA has won the Presidents Cup seven straight times. The only International win in the event’s 25-year history came in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. Ernie Els will captain the Internationals.