Tiger Woods’s Ryder Cup -Disability raises the question: When will he ever return?

For a few years, the popular 19th-hole parlor game Name that captain! – Red was hot when the subject turned to the captain of the American team for this Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

For the longest time, Phil was the leader in the clubhouse. Participants were attracted by the Hard-Luck Charme van de Kuilt four Second place US Open Finishes in Greater New York, plus all Fried-Garlic and Garden State Love who came his way by winning the PGA championship in Baltus role. But then Phil Liv and all bets were switched off.

So then it had to be tiger, right? Woods, King of the Kings, did not take the capincy of ’23 in Rome, so he would definitely take the job in Bethpage in ’25, where he won his second US Open. Right? He certainly did not need a test run as an assistant captain. Really not. Not after the masterful job at the 2019 President Cup, a road race in Royal Melbourne. As a captain there, he stubbornly (and brilliantly) held on to his game plan, and even to Patrick Reed, despite a four -point shortage halfway through the day 3 (of 4). His performance on the course was even better, playing Bump-and-Run Golf as a jewelry thief. The Americans won and Woods became the last explanation about what it means to be a play captain. Talking about growing legend.

But when the American team is introduced during the rear -up opening ceremonies in Bethpage on Wednesday afternoon, it will of course not be Tiger Woods on stage and call the name of Ben Griffin, plus the 11 other players and the five American assistant captains. It will not be Phil Mickelson at the microphone. It will not be Zach Johnson, who may have received a second crack because the captain had won his team in Italy two years ago. (Luke Donald’s way to this year’s European team by winning in Rome.) It will of course be Keegan Bradley. Practically nobody plays Name that captain! saw That Come and then it happened. Three days after this professionally hyped and managed Week, Keegan is the star. The real promotion starts on Friday morning.

So while we are here, let’s play a fast round Name that captain, ’27! In two years, the Ryder Cup will be in Adare Manor in County Limerick in Ireland.

Brandel Chamblee, in an informal aside on Golf Canal, said he expects Tiger to be the American captain in Ireland.

You can see it. Tiger loves Ireland. He likes JP McManus, the owner of Adare Manor. He loves the people of Ireland, the fish there, the Plengoffers. He loved the challenge of winning abroad in Royal Melbourne.

Everything becomes clearer on Sunday evening. If the US wins this week, I think Keegan Bradley will get a second team in Ireland. Even a loss of close call can give him a second nod. Firstly, his name Keegan Bradley – such as names go, that’s pretty Irish. He grew up on the Boston Celtics. As American sports teams go, it is as Irish as it becomes. He has a young team, so there is no reason to think that there will be a sea change in the American schedule in two years. As Johnny Wood, the American team manager, recently said: “Professional golfers love consistency. They don’t like change.” By Sunday evening we know much more about the Captainincy ’27. So the ’29 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine for Tiger? Sparks don’t fly.

Woods can never request a Ryder Cup team. It’s strange to think, right? And it’s strange to think that Phil Mickelson might never supplement a Ryder Cup team. So foreign. The two most decorated, celebrated popular American golfers of the past 30 years not Different team rooms left in the footsteps by Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson.

Traditionally, Elite Professional Golf appreciates its traditions more than his payment days. But when Phil Mickelson went Liv, he turned his back on that tradition and probably forfeited his place in that Hogan-Arnold-Nicklaus Ryder Cup Captain Parade.

But Tiger Woods did that too. Of course not by going LIV. Woods did the opposite. He had doubled and tried on the PGA Tour. But when he said, with regard to this Ryder Cup team from 2025, that he could not make the time connection that the job needed, he certainly told the truth, but not the whole truth. Because he would also say, implicitly, I don’t want to make time for it. He did not say that this former goodwill exhibition had become bragging in an exaggerated international sporty extravaganza, in which the captain is a PR pawn.

If you are Tiger Woods, there is no advantage to be the Ryder Cup captain. For Keegan Bradley there is. Ditto for Luke Donald. But if you are the only living player with 82 PGA Tour victories and 15 large titles, winning a Ryder Cup as Captain will almost not do anything for your Let-the-Legacy Legacy. Losing it hurts. You don’t get a shot and the requirements are exaggerated. Woods would never say this, but if you think about it, it is clear: it is more problems than it is worth.

Unless Woods has a change in heart.

Play Name that captain! Has never been nonsense again. Not so.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments on michael.bamberger@golf.com