Tiger Woods will be in Melbourne, Australia for the Presidents Cup as captain of the United States team in December.
What remains to be decided is if he will participate as a player.
But Woods provided some interesting fodder this week when he wrote an update for the Presidents Cup website in which he signed it: U.S. Team Captain (crossed out) Playing Captain.
There remains considerable debate about whether Woods will pick himself to round out the 12-man team that faces an International squad, Dec. 12-15, at Royal Melbourne. He will make his four picks the week of Nov. 4.
Since winning the Masters, Woods played just six times, with two missed cuts and a withdrawal. His best finish was a tie for ninth at the Memorial. He also had an arthroscopic procedure performed on his left knee three weeks ago.
Woods finished 13th in the Presidents Cup points, with the top 8 automatically qualifying for the team through the BMW Championship.
Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler finished ahead of Woods but outside of the top 8. Kevin Kisner, who won the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship earlier this year, is another possible candidate, as are two PGA Tour rookies who Woods mentioned, Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa.
It should also be noted that Woods signed other blogs he wrote on the Presidents Cup in a similar manner, calling himself a “Playing Captain.”
“While I was disappointed not to earn one of the 8 spots, I’m hoping to perform well at my next start in Japan (the Zozo Championship, Oct. 24-27),” Woods wrote. “I’m going to rely on playing with some of the guys in Florida to stay sharp. I’ll practice hard, work on my game, and we’ll have some matches. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also always fun.
“At the end of the day, the decision of who rounds out this team will ultimately be my call, but I’m going to lean heavily on the opinions of my captain’s assistants (Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, Fred Couples) and the eight guys (Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay) who have already earned a spot. My plan is to keep an open line of communication to ensure we find the four guys who best fit this team.”
The only loss by the U.S. in the event’s 12-event history came in 1998 at Royal Melbourne, where Woods played in the competition for the first time.
If he were to be playing captain, it would be the first time since Hale Irwin did so at the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994. The last playing captain at the Ryder Cup was Arnold Palmer in 1963.