Tiger Woods fired captaincy warning by Ryder Cup legend

With Team Europe once again locking up the captaincy services of Luke Donald, it is now all eyes on the PGA of America and Team USA.

Donald will return to the helm for a third-straight Ryder Cup, having captained his team to back-to-back victories in Rome and New York.

He becomes the first Ryder Cup skipper to take on the role in three successive editions since Bernard Gallacher led the Europeans throughout the 1990s.

It remains unknown who Donald will face in terms of opposition, with the US setup still yet to confirm its leader for 2027. Reports suggest Tiger Woods is the front runner, with the PGA of America setting the 15-time major winner a soft deadline of this year’s Masters to make his decision.

While Woods has seemingly earned the right to decide whenever he is ready to take on the role, Ryder Cup stalwart Gallacher believes he is running the risk of a ‘generational gap’ building between him and his players.

Referencing Tom Watson coming across a similar issue at Gleneagles in 2014, Gallacher told bunkered.co.uk: “Tom Watson, perfect guy to be captain, but it didn’t work.

“Tiger I think will have to be careful that there’s not a generational gap by the time he wants to be captain. He’s 50 now, he’s got to play in the Champions Tour, and guys are now coming in at 25, in their late 20s to be in the team.

“Obviously they know Tiger Woods, but that American team at Gleneagles knew Tom Watson too, but they didn’t have the same empathy with him as they have with somebody who’s maybe playing today, so it is a difficult one.”

Keen to see the 82-time PGA Tour winner take on the role this time around, Gallacher added: “Fingers crossed that Tiger does it.

“It would be good for the Ryder Cup. I think the PGA Tour and the American PGA would probably want Tiger to do it, but who knows what Tiger does.

“He seems to do whatever suits him, which I suppose is fair enough, when you’ve done everything in the game [he has], but I think America in general, golfer or non-golfer, would like Tiger to be a captain, sooner rather than later.”

If Woods does not step up though, the European believes Keegan Bradley, who is so close to the current crop of US stars, deserves a second shot. “I think there’s a strong possibility if Tiger doesn’t want to do it, Keegan Bradley will do it again,” said Gallacher.

“For the most part, I thought he did a good job, he’s very passionate about it. The top players might get together and say, ‘well, let’s give Keegan another chance, he’s a bit unlucky in New York, let’s give him another chance to redeem it’. So if Tiger turns it down, that’s got a very good chance of happening.”

As for the Europeans, the 1995-winning captain believes the decision to bring Donald back was an easy one, describing the current skipper as ‘one of the greats’.

Gallacher also believes Donald’s own decision to comeback would have been a simple one. “I think it was a fairly easy decision as well for Luke,” he explained. “The players wanted him to do it. He’s done such a great job so far, so I’m very pleased.”

Despite slotting back into the job with ease, the coming months are going to be far from simple for Donald. The Englishman could well be leading his team at Adare Manor without one of his key players in Jon Rahm.

Having rejected a recent offering from the DP World Tour, Rahm will press on with his appeal against the sanctions handed to him by his home circuit for playing conflicting events with LIV Golf.

If Rahm is to lose the appeal and not abide by the result he will be suspended from the Tour and thus not be eligible for the upcoming Ryder Cup clash in Ireland.

Despite this, Gallacher is confident the Tour have the right men in place in Donald and CEO Guy Kinnings to find a solution that will see Rahm back in European colours come next September.

“If I were Luke, I wouldn’t want to play the Americans without Jon Rahm,” Gallacher said. “He’s such a great player. You’re getting three points off him, a minimum…

“I would be very surprised if Luke and Guy Kinnings can’t find a route forward here to allow Jon Rahm to play.” Gallacher continued: “Guy Kinnings inherited this issue. The conflict with LIV and the European Tour.

“I am very hopeful that Guy, together with Luke will resolve this problem.” As for the importance of Rahm to the European setup, the Scot added: “Luke knows his job will be much harder if Rahm isn’t there, so he will be bending over backwards to find a resolution.”