The American captain said Woods is “very much a part of Team USA.”
Ryder Cup captains Zach Johnson and Luke Donald gathered for a joint press conference and unsurprisingly enough it took just two questions before Tiger Woods and his status for the upcoming competition was put to question.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next September, but you can rest assured that he will be in constant communication with our team,” Johnson said on Tuesday at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, the host for next fall’s biennial bash between the United States Europe, September 29–October 1. Whether as a player or captain, Johnson confirmed Woods “will be a part of this team in some capacity.”
“I can’t put this mildly: He loves the Ryder Cup,” added Johnson, who represented Team USA five times as a player and will make his debut as captain in Italy. “He has made it a priority of his, and certainly Team USA. He wants to be a part of it as best he can. Obviously he’s gone through some things as of late that make it difficult whether it’s travel or what-have-you. But he and I will be in constant communication. I will welcome that. He has great ideas. Has great encouragement.”
“But he’s very much a part of Team USA.”
U.S. Ryder Cup player Tiger Woods (L) watches as team mate Zach Johnson plays his tee shot from the fourth during a Ryde Cup practice session at Celtic Manor golf course in Newport, Wales on September 28, 2010. (Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
The 15-time major champion has competed in eight Ryder Cups, most recently in Paris in 2018. Woods is 13-21-3 in the competition, with a 4-2-2 record in singles. He was not officially involved in last year’s American rout of the Europeans at Whistling Straits, 19-9. In fact, the last time golf fans saw Woods as a member of Team USA, he was a playing captain at the 2019 Presidents Cup, going a perfect 3-0-0 to lead the U.S. over the Internationals 16-14.
Navigating Marco Simone’s hilly terrain on foot would make for quite the challenge for Woods, who continues to recover from multiple leg injuries sustained in a single-car accident in February 2021. Riding in a golf cart as a vice-captain, however, is a different story.
Want to go to Rome for the 2023 Ryder Cup? Here’s how to apply.
When in Rome, go to the Ryder Cup.
The 2023 Ryder Cup is back on European soil next year and heads to Italy for the first time. It will be held at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, where Robert MacIntyre beat Matt Fitzpatrick on Sunday in a playoff to win the Italian Open.
And for fans looking to go to Marco Simone next September for the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup, the official ticket ballot is now open.
Fans can apply for day tickets from Tuesday to Sunday. There are also options to secure tickets through buying The Vista and The Garden tickets, though availability is limited.
Fans looking to apply for tickets will need to register an account on the Ryder Cup website. Once registered, fans can choose how many tickets they’re applying for and for which days.
Ryder Cup week starts Sept. 25. The competition dates are Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
Rory McIlroy is again at the top of the leaderboard.
It’s safe to say Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick are enjoying Marco Simone, site of the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, Italy.
McIlroy sits at 9 under while Fitzpatrick is at 8 under following their second rounds during the DS Automobiles Italian Open. McIlroy leads after a birdie on the closing par-5 18th to shoot 5-under 66. Fitzpatrick, who led after the opening round, shot a 2-under 69 and is in solo second.
The second round was suspended because of darkness, with McIlroy’s group finishing right as play was called for the day. It will resume at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), and the third round will begin no earlier than 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).
Rory McIlroy hits his second shot on the 18th hole of the 2022 DS Automobiles Italian Open at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy. (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Last week in the BMW PGA Championship, McIlroy finished tied for second with Jon Rahm, one shot behind winner Shane Lowry. He’s also playing in two weeks in the Alfred Dunhill Links, which is contested at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald had a strong day, recording eight birdies, but a triple on the par-4 16th help him to a round of 3-under 68. He sits at 5 under for the tournament, tied for fifth in a group including Tyrrell Hatton, among others.
After an even-par opening round, Viktor Hovland shot 3-under 68 and is tied for 21st. Also T-21 is Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt’s younger brother.
The cut is expected to be 1 over, though it could change Saturday morning.
“I think when you win and when you do things, it energizes you more than anything else.”
Rory McIlroy just captured the PGA Tour’s 2022 Tour Championship, yet he’s not taking much time off.
McIlroy, who Sunday became the first golfer to win three FedEx Cups, will head across the pond and play three times in four weeks, including a stop at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, which is hosting the 2023 Ryder Cup. The course is also hosting the 2022 Italian Open from Sept. 15-18, and McIlroy is slated to make his tournament debut.
“I have a whopping one week off coming up and then I go to Europe for three out of four weeks, playing quite a bit over there,” McIlroy said after winning in Atlanta on Sunday. “But maybe that’s a little less intense than what we’ve just been through the last three weeks in the Playoffs here.
“Again, I think when you win and when you do things, it energizes you more than anything else. It makes you want to do it more.”
McIlroy won three times during the Tour’s 2021-22 season, including a come-from-behind victory in the Tour Championship, and he finished in the top eight of all majors this calendar year.
Now, he’s heading to Europe, where in two weeks he’ll tee it up at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship on Sept. 8-11. He’s also set to play in the Alfred Dunhill Links, Sept. 29-Oct. 2.
McIlroy is also in position to win the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai, the season-long points race. He’s in first by more than 300 points. He has won the title three times but not since 2015.
“Look, it’s been a long few weeks and I’m looking forward to just chilling for a few days, but yeah, it gets you excited to get out there and play again because you’re playing well and you want to have this feeling more often,” McIlroy said.
Donald represented Team Europe as a player in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012 and as a vice captain in 2018 and 2021.
Just 12 days after removing Henrik Stenson from his captaincy, the European Ryder Cup team has already announced a replacement.
Previous reports were confirmed on Monday morning when four-time Ryder Cupper Luke Donald was officially named as the captain for Team Europe for the 2023 matches at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Sept. 29-Oct 1.
The 44-year-old Englishman previously represented Europe in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012 and has five PGA Tour wins and six DP World Tour wins under his belt. The former World No. 1 also served as a vice captain in the past two Ryder Cups. Donald is set to be the first Englishman since Nick Faldo in 2008 to captain the Europeans.
“I feel extremely privileged to have been given that responsibility and it is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” Donald said. “Some of my best experiences in golf have been in the Ryder Cup and I would not swap those for anything. It is an event like no other, and I cannot wait to create more special memories in Italy next year.
“I love everything the Ryder Cup embodies, from the camaraderie and companionship of being part of a team, to the history of the contest, but most of all playing for something bigger than yourself.”
Thomas Bjørn and Edoardo Molinari will remain as vice captains.
“In my opinion, it was essential that Thomas and Edoardo remained part of the team,” Donald said. “They were the first two calls I made once I got the nod to be captain and I’m delighted that they are fully on-board.
Donald was competing at the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic last Thursday when the Telegraph reported his captaincy. When asked about the Telegraph report, Donald said: “If I got this captaincy I would live up to my word and see it through. Let me put it that way. I wouldn’t be doing a Henrik.”
“Everything is totally fine between us. We’re friends,” said Donald on Monday, noting how he and Stenson had spoken since his comments in Detroit. “And next time I see him I’ll congratulate him. He obviously played great yesterday and fair play to him.”
Stenson was ousted July 20 for joining the LIV Golf Invitational Series, where he won in his debut Sunday at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.
The Englishman, a four-time European Ryder Cup player, is reported to take the helm for Rome.
Englishman Luke Donald will replace the sacked Henrik Stenson as captain of the European team in the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy, according to a report in the Telegraph.
Stenson was canned two weeks ago after announcing he would join LIV Golf, the rival tour backed by Saudi Arabian royalty and clouded in controversy for that country’s poor record of human rights abuses and other atrocities. Stenson begins play on that tour today at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey. The longtime independent contractor has expressed disappointment in losing the honorary Ryder Cup job after breaking his captaincy contract that forbid him from playing on a rival tour by signing a lucrative contract with LIV Golf.
Donald – a four-time Ryder Cup player (2004, ’06, ’10, ’12), five-time PGA Tour winner and six-time DP World Tour winner who played college golf at Northwestern – was long rumored as a potential captain at some future Ryder Cup. The former World No. 1 served as a vice captain in the past two Ryder Cups and is playing this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour in Detroit.
According to the report, Thomas Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari will keep their gigs as vice captains in Rome.
While there was much speculation on who might replace the canned Stenson as captain, as of yet it doesn’t appear the top Euro players themselves are in any rush to jump to LIV Golf. Potential team members such as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick, among others, have not joined LIV, with several having pledged a commitment to the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. Most of the former European Ryder Cuppers who have jumped to LIV, such as Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, are seen by many as being well past their primes and unlikely candidates to have competed in Rome. Of those who have left to compete for LIV’s Greg Norman, only the aging Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey were considered potential contenders to compete in Rome.
Stenson’s announcement now raises the question: who’s next to step into the captaincy for the Euros? Ryder Cup stalwarts and LIV golfers Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Sergio Garcia are all most likely out of the question due to their status on the upstart circuit that’s long been criticized as a way for the Saudi government to sportswash its human rights record.
European legends like Bernhard Langer and Nick Faldo have most likely aged out of the role, so who does that leave? Here are some options for the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy.
Those who bolted the PGA Tour won’t be wearing the red, white and blue when the U.S. faces Europe.
U.S. captain Zach Johnson isn’t counting on using players who have joined LIV Golf when next year’s Ryder Cup begins in Italy.
They won’t be there.
Speaking earlier this week at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., where Johnson has seven top-5s including a win in 2012, the two-time major winner said when you connect the dots, those who bolted the PGA Tour for the Saudi Arabia-backed rival league won’t be wearing the red, white and blue when the U.S. faces Europe Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside of Rome.
“In order to play on the Ryder Cup team whether you’re top 6 or a pick, you must garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America,” Johnson said. “In order to garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America, you have to be a member of the PGA of America. The way that we’re members of the PGA of America is through the PGA Tour.
“I’ll let you connect the dots from there.”
As of now, that would forbid players from last year’s victorious U.S. team – Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson would be out, too.
As for Europe, it could be without longtime stalwarts Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter.
“I hope that I still have the possibility, as I’m sure (Kaymer and Westwood) do, too, to be a part of a few more Ryder Cup teams,” Garcia said at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland, Oregon, home to the second event of the LIV Golf Invitational Series this week. “But that’s not going to depend on us now. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed.”
And Westwood wondered why there’s even a chance he won’t be allowed at another Ryder Cup.
“I’ve been playing Ryder Cup golf since 1997, and the criteria has been to be a member of the European (DP World) Tour. Now, the criteria for being a member of the European Tour is to play four events. Why should they change that now?” Westwood said. “I’ve been a member of the PGA Tour and still played four events on the European Tour, and why would the European Tour change their rules so dramatically because another tour doesn’t like it or feels financially threatened?
“There’s just a bit too much protection going on for my liking and not enough transparency. I think as long as you fulfill the criteria to be a (DP World Tour) member, then you should still have the opportunity to try and qualify for the Ryder Cup team.”
Bjorn was the winning captain for Team Europe in 2018 in France.
Henrik Stenson will have at least one experienced, victorious Ryder Cup captain by his side in Italy next year.
The 2023 European Ryder Cup captain announced on Wednesday that Thomas Bjorn will serves as his first vice captain at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy from Sept. 30-Oct 1, 2023.
“I have known Thomas for my whole career,” said Stenson in a press release. “I trust him implicitly and I know any advice he will give me will be honest and direct. He will not simply tell me what he thinks I want to hear and that will be important, so I’m delighted to have him as my first vice captain for Rome.”
Bjørn, a 51-year-old native of Denmark and 15-time winner on the DP World Tour, has been involved in Team Europe in eight previous editions of the biennial contest – three as a player, four as a vice captain and as the victorious captain in Paris in 2018.
“He was very happy when I asked him. He was very honored to be asked and happy to be part of Team Europe again and part of the journey with the players,” Stenson said. “Since the match itself is still over a year away, I know I am going to have a lot of conversations with him about all elements of the Ryder Cup from his experience, both as a vice captain on previous occasions but also, obviously, as the captain in 2018 when we had a great result. I will be depending on him a lot and I’m really looking forward to those chats.”
Stenson was one of Bjørn’s 12 players in that successful team at Le Golf National and the Swede has confirmed his fellow Scandinavian as his first official appointment since he was unveiled as European Captain on March 15.
“I’m delighted to be part of the whole Ryder Cup experience once again. I probably thought that after 2018 that was it for me, but Henrik called me to talk about captaincy in general and that led into him asking me if I wanted to do another stint as vice captain, which I agreed to,” Bjorn said. “I think I can help Henrik outline what he wants to do with his captaincy going forwards. I can keep asking him the right questions and reminding him of things that are going to come his way that he might not have thought about. I will help him prepare in the best possible way and as we get closer to the match, to be an additional support to the players.
“I think Henrik will be a fantastic captain. He is so well respected by players and by everyone in the game. He is a very hard-working golfer and somebody who is true to himself, and his team will represent that. He has a great sense of humor that the players will take to, and he is very well liked across the whole Tour, not just the top where he has played his golf for so many years.”
Team Europe’s Henrik Stenson celebrates after winning the 42nd Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in France in 2018. (Photo: David Davies/PA Wire)
Bjørn became the first Dane to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup in 1997 at Valderrama. He is no stranger to being a part of Team Europe’s backroom, having served on four previous occasions: to Bernhard Langer at Oakland Hills in 2004, then Colin Montgomerie at The Celtic Manor Resort in 2010, José María Olazábal at Medinah in 2012 and Darren Clarke in 2016 at Hazeltine National, which was his lone experience with defeat.
Bjørn oversaw a dominant 17½-10½ victory in France, with Stenson contributing three points from his three matches as Europe extended its unbeaten home record to six consecutive editions dating back to Bjørn’s debut in 1997.
Team Europe will be seeking to regain the Ryder Cup against the United States team which will be led by Zach Johnson, who has named Steve Stricker, the victorious 2020 U.S. Captain, as his own first vice captain.
Henrik Stenson is Europe’s new Ryder Cup skipper for next year’s match in Rome.
It’s nice work if you can get it. Conservative estimates suggest the European Ryder Cup captaincy is worth nearly $3 million in sponsorships and other lucrative odds and sods for the man at the helm.
When you’ve reportedly been offered $40 million to join a Saudi Super League, though, that’s chump change.
It was well-known in golfing circles that Stenson needed to provide an ongoing commitment to the circuit before his captaincy could be endorsed. You half expected some elaborate, archaic ceremony in which he swore his allegiance over some holy relics. Or at least a dog-eared copy of the Tour’s members’ manual.
“There’s been lot of speculation back and forth,” said the Swede of the Saudi situation which certainly won’t disappear in the months and years to come. “I am fully committed to the captaincy and to Ryder Cup Europe and the job at hand. The captain does sign a contract. He’s the only one that does that. Players and vice-captains don’t.”
With the elephant in the room brushed aside, Stenson could get on with talking about his new post. As a five-time Ryder Cup player, with 11 points from 19 matches, and a vice-captain last year, Stenson ticks all manner of boxes.
“They’ll get Henrik,” he said simply when asked what he’ll bring to the job. Stenson will do it his way and, as a popular figure with a sense of humor that’s as dry as a sawmill, getting Henrik is not a bad thing. “As a player, I’ve been Captain Chaos a few times,” chuckled the 2016 Open champion.
The 45-year-old will be the first Swede to captain Europe and there’s a fair bit of pressure on his shoulders. After the visitors were on the receiving end of a dreadful thumping by a rampant USA side at Whistling Straits in 2021, Stenson has to find a way of derailing the American express. And he doesn’t want to be the first European captain to lose on home soil in 30 years either.
Team Europe’s Henrik Stenson celebrates after winning the 42nd Ryder Cup at Le Golf National on Frane. (Photo: David Davies/PA Wire)
The might of a youthful and hugely talented Team USA was there for all to see last September. Europe, meanwhile, could be set for a changing of the guard with some seasoned campaigners making way for fresh talent. Whatever the make-up of his team, Stenson wants young and old alike to make a strong claim over the next 18 months.
“Looking solely at the age at Whistling Straits, I think our team was an average of 35 years and the American side had about a 26-year-old average,” he noted. “So we certainly had an older team and at some point there will be a shift and I can definitely see that happening this time around.
“But I can also see a few hungry veterans wanting to keep their jerseys. I know from my own experience that when you play in a Ryder Cup, you don’t want to hand that jersey to someone else. You are going to fight dearly to keep it another time. And that’s exciting for me as a captain. Everything is a possibility. The door is open to anyone with a European passport.”
The Ryder Cup may be over 560 days away but the job starts now.
“The Ryder Cup is golf, and sport, at its very best,” he gushed. “I got goosebumps every time I pulled on a European shirt as a player and that will be magnified in the role of captain. When I started out as a professional golfer, it was beyond my wildest dreams that, one day, I would follow in the footsteps of legends such as Seve [Ballesteros] and be the European Ryder Cup captain. But this proves that, sometimes, dreams do come true.”
It wasn’t to be, meanwhile, for Luke Donald, Robert Karlsson and Paul Lawrie, who were the other names in the hat. At 53, Lawrie’s chance has passed him by. Like Sandy Lyle before him, another Scottish major champion has missed out.
Sometimes, the captain’s cap just doesn’t fit.
Nick Rodger is a contributor to the Scotland Herald and Glasgow Times, part of Newsquest, which is a subsidiary of Gannett/USA Today.
