Tiger Woods is Taking His Ryder Cup Vice Captain Role Very Seriously

Tiger Woods was named as a Vice Captain of the Ryder Cup team by Davis Love III last November and he’s taking the job very seriously.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Love said that Tiger had already texted him his four Captain’s picks.

"“He’s already picked his four,” Love told Sky Sports. “I can’t tell you who they are, but he knows who he wants to watch and who he wants to manage and who he’ll get along with. I think Paul Azinger really showed us that breaking it down into small groups and having each group be responsible for themselves is kind of the way to go, and Tiger’s all over that.”"

Love, who was the captain of the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team that lost, obviously believes that having Tiger in an advisory role could work out to his advantage.

"“He has texted me some pairings and some groupings and he’s put a lot of thought into it,” Love said. “He’s kind of our tactician a little bit. He’s a guy that’s probably one of the most prepared when he shows up at a golf tournament.”"

Woods has been a member of a Ryder Cup team seven times in his career, but has only been on one winning team, the 1999 team captained by Ben Crenshaw. In 2008 Woods was unable to participate in the Ryder Cup at Valhalla, where the U.S. team led by Paul Azinger won for only the second time in the previous six events, due to that whole ailing knee situation which involved him beating Rocco Mediate in a playoff at the U.S. Open.

Tiger was on the 2010 team that again lost, and after not playing very well in 2012 he was left out of the Saturday foursomes at Medinah for the first time in his career.

Clearly itching to get back into the game in some way, Woods has taken to the role as vice captain. Will it work? We’ll see, but one thing is for sure, the players who are under Woods’ wing at the Ryder Cup will most definitely be eager to hear what advice he has for them because after all, he is still Tiger Woods.

Current Ryder Cup standings after PGA Championship

The top eight after the Barclays are guaranteed spots on the team, then Love will make three of his captain’s picks after the BMW Championship and his final pick after the Tour Championship has concluded.

[Quotes via Golf Digest]