Tiger Woods brings a lot of uncertainty to Valhalla for the PGA Championship. Some of that has to do with his achy body. And some of that involved the Ryder Cup.
The PGA of America still has not settled on a captain for the 2025 matches at Bethpage Black, with Woods as the most obvious candidate. Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America, had said he would be speaking to Woods.
“We’re still talking,” Woods said Tuesday. “There’s nothing that has been confirmed yet. We’re still working on what that might look like – also whether or not I have the time to do it.”
The PGA of America typically announces the Ryder Cup captain well before the Masters of the preceding year. Zach Johnson was announced in February 2022 for last year’s Ryder Cup.
Woods, who has teed it up only twice this year going into the PGA Championship, is keeping plenty busy off the golf course. He was appointed to the PGA Tour board last summer and has been a central voice in meetings. Woods also is on the committee that is meeting with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia about becoming a minority investor.
The U.S. Ryder Cup captain, whoever that is, has a lot of promoting to do, which includes a “one year out” event at Bethpage Black in September.
“I need to feel that I can give the amount of time that it deserves,” said Woods, who won his second U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in 2002.
Woods had mixed memories when he returned to Valhalla. He played a practice round late last week and was on the course the past two days. Heavy thunderstorms shut the course for a few hours on Tuesday.
There was 2000, where he made what he still considers the most pressure-filled putt of his career. He had a fabulous duel with unheralded Bob May, ending with Woods having to make a 6-foot birdie putt on the last hole to force a playoff.
And there was 2014, when he was trying to recover from the first of four back surgeries. Woods had to withdraw the previous week at Firestone, and he didn’t come close to making the cut at Valhalla.
“At that time I was maybe one back procedure into it. Now it’s a hell of a lot more than that number,” he said. “Back is now fused, as you know. Yeah, coming into 2014, I wasn’t feeling very good. But I’m always going to feel soreness and stiffness in my back, but that’s OK. Just need other body parts to start feeling better.”
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce after seven years of marriage, according to court records in Palm Beach County, Florida, a stunning development going into the PGA Championship.
McIlroy and his wife, Erica Stoll, had a storybook meeting during the Ryder Cup in 2012, began dating two years later and were married in 2017. They have one daughter, Poppy, born in September 2020.
TMZ first reported on the filing, which was made Monday. There were no documents immediately available from the petition for dissolution of marriage.
McIlroy’s attorney was listed as Thomas Sasser, the same attorney who represented Tiger Woods when his wife divorced him in 2010.
“Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed. They stressed Rory’s desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and amicable as possible,” said a statement from his manager, Sean O’Flaherty.
He said there would be no further comment.
McIlroy arrived at Valhalla on Tuesday. He has gone 10 years since winning a major, the last one at Valhalla in 2014 for the PGA Championship. His pre-tournament news conference was scheduled for Wednesday.