Tiger Woods withdraws from 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy: Five who could lead United States into Adare Manor

With Woods no longer a candidate following his DUI arrest, the U.S. Ryder Cup team will have to pivot to Plan B

Robby Kalland

Apr 1, 2026

8:50 pm ET

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6 min read

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Tiger Woods will not be the United States captain at the 2027 Ryder Cup following his recent arrest for DUI with property damage from a rollover car crash in Jupiter Island, Florida. Woods issued a plea of not guilty to the charges but announced he would seek treatment and was granted permission to do so outside the country.

Considered the primary option to captain the Americans at Adare Manor in Ireland, Woods was in the process of deciding whether to take the gig. The PGA of America reportedly told him it wanted an answer before the 2026 Masters next week.

On Wednesday, the PGA announced that Woods formally withdrew his name from consideration following his accident.

> "The PGA of America stands in full support of Tiger Woods as he steps away to focus on his health and well-being. ... We commend Tiger for prioritizing his long-term health and deeply respect the courage it takes to make such a personal decision. Tiger has shared with us that he will not serve as Captain of the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup Team and we support his decision. The PGA of America will share further updates regarding the Ryder Cup Captaincy when appropriate."

While it's likely the PGA had already considered Plan B scenarios, the organization now has no choice but to pivot.

The challenge? There is no obvious answer for who to select as captain beyond Woods. The United States does not have a recent history of success at the Ryder Cup; if it did, plucking and promoting vice captains into the prominent role would make sense. (The U.S. is 3-9 in the Ryder Cup since the turn of the century.)

This will be an incredibly daunting task. The United States has not won a Ryder Cup in Europe since 1993, and now, it must face a European side captained by Luke Donald for the sixth straight year. That level of continuity is unheard of in the Ryder Cup, and the U.S. is in desperate need of a cultural shake-up to at least get back on level footing with an increasingly dominant Euro side.

The Americans attempted to do so last year when Keegan Bradley was surprisingly named captain without knowing he was under consideration for the role. Unfortunately, despite Bradley's immense passion for the Ryder Cup, a bevy of mistakes led to the U.S. fighting from so far behind that a thrilling Sunday of singles victories was not enough to overcome the Europeans in New York.

As for who will take on this Herculean challenge, here are five names who might fit the bill.

Brandt Snedeker

The current U.S. Presidents Cup captain is certainly an option to maintain a leadership role for the 2027 Ryder Cup. He'll have some captaining experience coming out of Medinah, and many of the players who make up his squad in Chicago will also be part of the 12-man team heading to Ireland in '27. Snedeker is also one of the few modern Americans who finished his career with a winning Ryder Cup record, going 4-2-0 in his two appearances, including a 3-0-0 week in the U.S. victory at Hazeltine in 2016.

However, one of the challenges the United States faces is that its dominance in the Presidents Cup has sometimes masked shortcomings that show up in the Ryder Cup. Furthermore, choosing Snedeker now, before the Presidents Cup, is risky should the Americans not live up to expectations at Medinah. A strong captaincy in the 2026 Presidents Cup seems more likely to set him up for the 2029 Ryder Cup, but perhaps he will get fast-tracked given the need for fresh blood.

Webb Simpson

Simpson is an incredibly popular figure among PGA Tour players, and he was a member of three U.S. Ryder Cup teams, going 4-4-1 as a player in those appearances. Those were all U.S. losses, but again, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone with a positive team record from any recent U.S. squad.

Simpson was a vice captain in 2025 for Bradley, so he has some understanding of the role and working the team room from that side. Of the possible options, there's no one with better relationships with the players who would make up his team than Simpson. Given what we've seen from the European side in terms of how building those interpersonal relationships under Donald has led to tremendous success, perhaps Simpson could finally create that kind of culture for the U.S. side.

Steve Stricker

The last captain to lead a winning U.S. Ryder Cup team, Stricker's squad at Whistling Straits buzzsawed the Europeans in 2021 and proved individual playing success isn't all that important to success as a captain, as Stricker went 3-7-1 as a player in three appearances.

With a general lack of strong options, the PGA of America could do worse than calling Stricker back into duty to see if he can work some magic again. The challenge, o