Tiger Woods named one of three 2017 U.S. Presidents Cup team vice-captains

Tiger Woods got a taste of being a vice-captain at the Ryder Cup and loved it so much that he’s willing to do it again.

On Wednesday, current U.S. Presidents Cup captain Steve Stricker, who, like Woods, was also a vice-captain under Davis Love III at Hazeltine National, announced Woods as one of his three vice-captains for the biennial matches against the Internationals next September at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J.

“It’s just a tremendous honor,” Woods said in a statement. “Steve is one of my best friends. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know him and Nicki and the kids, so for him to have the confidence in me, to be part of the crew and help him in any way I possibly can. I’m thrilled to be his assistant.”

In addition to Woods, Stricker also named Love and three-time winning Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples as his other assistants.

International captain Nick Price, back for a third stint as captain, named Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy and Tony Johnstone as his vice-captains, acknowledging that Els and Ogilvy could conceivably make his team. Stricker said the same of Woods, whose performance as a vice-captain was “perfect” in Stricker’s words.

“Tiger certainly could play his way onto the U.S. team and if that happens, replacing him as a captain’s assistant will be a great problem for me to have,” Stricker said in an event at the Oculus in New York. “I hope Tiger’s playing, but what he showed last week was impressive as well.”

It’s evident that the U.S. players have realized there’s a benefit in using the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup in tandem to groom captains and vice-captains, allowing the leadership to craft strategies and pairings that can work no matter the opponent.

“I think the two of them are starting to go hand in hand, I really do,” Stricker said. “I believe that it’s important that they go hand in hand, and that’s kind of the advantage that we have as the U.S. team. They are playing it every other year, international competition. We get to play it every year.

“So our players play it more. You know, the captains get to experience that side of things a lot more, which makes it a little bit tougher I think for those guys, that we have just a slight advantage because we are doing it more often and get to do the pairing process more and being with our players more often.”

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports

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