Tiger Woods Addresses Ryder Cup Captaincy and ‘HatGate’ Controversy

Woods set the record straight about a potential Ryder Cup captaincy at Bethpage Black and provided his perspective on player compensation issues.

The golf community is yearning for Tiger Woods to serve as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain at Bethpage Black in 2025, but the 15-time major champion has made it clear that he isn’t thinking about the role just yet. 

Woods has other business to deal with: Determining the future of the PGA Tour. 

“Right now there’s too much at stake with our tour to think about a Ryder Cup,” he said Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge, where he’ll make his first competitive start since withdrawing from the Masters and undergoing ankle fusion surgery. 

As the newest addition to the PGA Tour Policy Board, Woods has a lot more to sort out before he can turn his attention to beating the Europeans in New York. The Dec. 31 deadline for a finalized agreement with LIV Golf’s backers is quickly approaching. 

But that doesn’t mean the captaincy isn’t on the table. Less than a week after the Americans lost in crushing fashion at Marco Simone, it only took a few words from two-time captain Davis Love III to ramp up the chatter. 

“Tiger’s into a lot of stuff right now, but it’s kind of his call ... he’s the next logical choice,” Love said during a press conference for a PGA Tour Champions event. 

At Bethpage, a venue notorious for attracting some of the rowdiest fans in the country, who better to serve as captain than Tiger Woods, especially coming off another American loss overseas? 

As exciting as the prospect may be, it will remain unconfirmed for now. Woods and the Americans understand that finalizing a deal with Saudi Arabia’s PIF and potential outside investors takes priority. 

“We have to get this done and we have to be focused on this right now,” Woods said. “The Ryder Cup can take a beat—the players and everyone involved understands that this is an issue we need to focus on.” 

The Ryder Cup captain for 2025 will likely be announced in late February or early March, however, so the wait shouldn’t be much longer. Zach Johnson was announced as the 2023 U.S. captain on Feb. 28, 2022. 

Woods met with the media at his host event, the Hero World Challenge, for the first time since the Masters in April.  :: David Cannon/Getty Images

Just because Woods didn’t want to give any hints about the next installation of the biennial event doesn’t mean he couldn't address what transpired this year. 

The score wasn’t close, but the 2023 Ryder Cup was a dramatic one. Issues of player compensation stole the spotlight when an unconfirmed report circulated that Patrick Cantlay was protesting his lack of pay by choosing not to adorn the U.S. team cap. Cantlay denied the rumors, but the discussion of pay for play persisted. 

Plus, Woods’s former caddie Joe LaCava, who is currently on Cantlay’s bag, was involved in a confrontation with Rory McIlroy and the European team on the 18th green. After the crowd started taunting Cantlay by waving their caps at him, LaCava used the same gesture with his own hat to celebrate his player’s match-winning putt. But the veteran looper did so before McIlroy could finish his own hole, and the Europeans were not pleased with his actions.  

Woods, who was not in attendance at Marco Simone, was asked about “HatGate” and the intense aftermath on Tuesday. The 82-time PGA Tour winner stated that the rumors were all “noise,” but the emotion surrounding the incident was understandable.

“Well, what transpired there, it was media, it was just noise,” Woods said. “Then the—obviously the fact that everyone now carries a mobile device and that was able to spread. You’re on—you’re not on home soil, so any time someone ... they’re going to try to get in your head and that’s what they tried to do.

“I totally get it. Emotions. We all want to win. You have a home side and opposing side, you’re going to get heat and that’s what happened.” 

As for pay-for-play issues, Woods made his stance clear. When asked if he was ever worried about receiving compensation for playing in the Ryder Cup, the five-time Masters champion didn’t hesitate. 

“That wasn’t an issue.” 

The Hero World Challenge kicks off Thursday in the Bahamas.