Captain Jim Furyk made it official in a drama-free televised news conference in Philadelphia in advance of the BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in nearby Newtown Square.
The fourth and final captain’s pick will be made after the BMW Championship, allowing the captain to add a player with a hot hand. Even that seems to be a foregone conclusion; the consensus choice is Tony Finau, who finished second in the Northern Trust and tied for fourth in the Dell Technologies Championship.
Woods previously had been named a vice captain of the the team, a decision made when his future on the competition side was still uncertain. Woods, however, has played 16 events in 2018, finished in the top 25 in 10 of them, and finished in a tie for second in the British Open and second in the PGA Championship to earn his selection. He will no longer serve in that role.
“Tiger and I have had this conversation,” Furyk said. “What Tiger and I have decided is he will play in this Ryder Cup and we’ll name another vice captain. He’s been instrumental in helping not only the captains before, but me as well, as far as strategy, as far as planning, as far as pairings. I”m going to continue to use that knowledge and that strategy. I also want to make sure, Tiger gets very focuses on that, I want to free him up.”
Woods last played on a Ryder Cup team in 2012. “I haven’t been part of the team playing wise for six years,” Woods said. “This year to have the honor to be able to play again is beyond special.
“At the beginning of the year, that was one of my goals, to make this team. I got the call from Jim, and he asked if I would serve as vice captain. ‘Absolutely. Anything I can do to help you out.’ Deep down I wanted to make the team. I hadn’t really started playing golf again. But still the goal was at the end of the season to make this team. As the year progressed, I kind of gained some traction. I was somehow able to get some high finishes and lo and behold I’m part of this team. It’s incredible, to look back at the start of the year… as I said, it’s beyond special.”
Mickelson, meanwhile, failed to qualify for a Ryder Cup team on points for the first time in his career. Yet he finished 10th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, ahead of Woods, who finished 11th. Mickelson won the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this year and has finished in the top 25 in 15 of 22 starts. He has played on 11 U.S. Ryder Cup teams.
“It’s obvious the one thing that’s been missing is for our team to go over to Europe and win,” Mickelson said. “I’m very excited about the team this year, excited to be a part of this team. We have some incredible players, great leadership and a really special opportunity to do something we haven’t done in a long time. It’s going to be a great challenge because we know how strong the European side is and how well the play at home. But it’s a wonderful chance and opportunity to do something I haven’t been a part of in my career.”
DeChambeau, who finished one spot short of qualifying on points, solidified his standing with consecutive victories in the Northern Trust and the Dell Technologies Championship the last two weeks.
“Obviously, a tough spot,” Furyk said. “Finished ninth in points. He put a ton of pressure on himself, I’m sure. But to see the way he worked through that, hit the ground running, won the first two playoff events, just incredible. Not only won but won definitively on the back nine. I guess, thanks, you made it real easy on the captain.”
DeChambeau had missed the cut in the PGA Championship, another in a string of poor performances.
“I think I had a couple tough goes the past couple months,” he said. “It’s always about how you respond in situations. You can be frustrated and disappointed. That passion is always there. I knew what I could do, the capabilities I had. I just had to figure out a couple things in order to move in the correct direction.
A Woods-DeChambeau pairing would seem a cinch, too. The two have played practice rounds together on several occasions this year, including at the Players Championship, the Memorial Tournament, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship.
Furyk also announced that David Duval, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar would serve as vice captains, along with Davis Love III and Steve Stricker, who had previously been named.
ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE:
Capt. Furyk’s picks were no surprise but there was still cause for giddiness at his announcement
WEST CONSHOCKEN, Pa. — Greater Philadelphia is rich in Marriotts and Tuesday’s 5 p.m. Ryder Cup press conference, organized by the PGA of America, was held here at one called Marriott West, right off I-76, a hotel that has not seen so much golf talent in one place since the U.S. Open was held at nearby Merion in 2013. Justin Rose stayed at this Marriott five years ago and went on to win that week.
On Tuesday afternoon, the hotel’s circular driveway was choking with shiny new BMWs, a nod to the title sponsor of FedEx III, the BMW Championship, held this week at the Aronimink Golf Club, an often-remodeled Donald Ross course that was the site of the 1962 PGA Championship. Jim Furyk, the U.S. captain this year, wasn’t wearing a hat for the press conference, which was interesting to see. At tournament press conferences, the players always wear their lids, in the name of sponsor exposure —unless they find themselves in the Press Building at Augusta National, where hats-on-heads are verboten.
Furyk’s two first announced captain’s picks — Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson — came on the dais in their customary hats, Dr. M wearing KPMG, Dr. D in Puma. But when Tiger sauntered on stage as the third pick, he was wearing running shoes, trim jeans — and no hat! He looked marvelous. Phil did, too. It’s amazing what a Sunday 63 can do for a guy. As for DeChambeau, he’s been king of world for a fortnight now. FedEx I, FedEx II, and now this.
It was a grand occasion, with two Ryder Cupper vice-captains watching the proceedings, Davis Love III and the newly-named David Duval. Tiger Woods, now a team member as a player, is no longer a vice captain. But Matt Kuchar is. You’re keeping track at home, right? Jordan Spieth was also in the house, mulling about, trying to make himself useful. All in all, it was a far different event from an equivalent one four years ago, when the U.S. captain, Tom Watson, named his captain’s picks from the stage where “Saturday Night Live” is shot. Live from New York, it’s . . . Webb Simpson!
People will say that there wasn’t much drama to the Tuesday proceedings. There was a theory that Furyk might name Dr. D., Dr. M. and Tony Finau on Tuesday, and then name Tiger Woods as the fourth and final captain’s pick on the Monday after the Aronimink tournament. This would have had the advantage of taking playing pressure off Finau this week and give Woods another night at home in Florida, between the Tour’s Boston and Philadelphia stops.
But Furyk didn’t go that way, and didn’t waste any time. “I’m going to cut to the chase,” Furyk said. “The three members of the team are Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.” Finau has a big week ahead of him.
When Allen Iverson was in his Philadelphia 76ers prime, he had a lot of big nights at this hotel. He’d take rooms for himself and friends and family members and live large for days at a time. It was party time. The Tuesday Ryder Cup press conference had a similar feel, with an open bar for all at the end of the proceedings.
Tiger Woods was all smiles at the Team USA’s Ryder Cup captain’s picks press conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
For reasons not immediately apparent — nothing to do with drink — Tiger and Phil had a giggle-fest when they stood almost shoulder-to-shoulder to do a joint standup for one of the broadcast outlets after the formal announcements were over. We’ll all be seeing a lot those two in Paris, although not, Furyk noted, twice a day on the Friday and Saturday of Ryder Cup play. Some of us will tune in to watch them go head-to-head on pay-per-view in Las Vegas, $9 million to the winner.
In any event, this is likely the best team Woods and Mickelson have ever been on together, with Spieth and Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson and maybe even Tony Finau. That prospect could have left them giddy. They’re in their 40s. They’re deep on the back nine of their careers.
The Ryder Cup, of course, is not about money, but about pride, about patriotism, about team. That’s why Furyk and Woods were not wearing hats. That’s why millions of sports fans in America and Europe, with only a passing interest in golf, will watch the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup is the closest thing golf has to football, the American or European version of the game.
“I love their songs, I love their chants,” Furyk said. That’s like an Ohio State fan saying he or she likes hearing “The Victors,” the University of Michigan fight song, in Ann Arbor. It’s not that you really like it. It’s that you like how it makes you feel. Rory McIlroy’s face looked actually possessed two years ago, after he drained a bomb against Patrick Reed at the 2016 Ryder Cup. That kind of thing.
Woods was named as a vice captain last year, long before his T-6 finish at this year’s British Open. After his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship, it seemed obvious that he would be one of the four captain’s picks.
A reporter asked Woods, “Could you be brutally honest with us and tell us how long you’ve known you were a pick?”
Woods started to respond in the first person, half-stammering, and then retreated into the third person. “Probably for —”
He paused. “I played well at the PGA, so we are hinting at —”
Another half-stop.
“Sorry.”
A reboot.
“The vice captains and the captain were hinting at picking him as a player,” Woods said. “So as a vice captain, I put my hat in for that player.” People laughed.
But that’s not why he was without a hat on Tuesday afternoon, in Salon C, of the Marriott West. He’s rich in hats. Ryder Cup W’s is another matter.
ABOUT THE RYDER CUP:
The 42nd Ryder Cup Matches will be held in France from 28–30 September 2018 on the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, a suburb southwest of Paris. It will be the second Ryder Cup to be held in Continental Europe, after the 1997 contest, which was held in Spain. The United States is the defending champion, but has lost the last five matches in Europe, having last won there in 1993.
RYDER CUP 2018 Format
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The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format will be as follows:
- Day 1 (Friday) – 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches and 4 fourball (better ball) matches
- Day 2 (Saturday) – 4 foursome matches and 4 fourball matches
- Day 3 (Sunday) – 12 singles matches
On the first two days there will be 4 fourball matches in the morning and 4 foursome matches in the afternoon.
With a total of 28 points available, 14½ points are required to win the Cup, and 14 points are required for the defending champion, the United States, to retain the Cup. All matches are played to a maximum of 18 holes.
