Employee No. 2 - So, after this, when's the next important golf event?ME: April.Employee No. 2 - Nothing until then?ME: Well, there is the Father-Son in December.
In the immortal words of Emily Littella, never mind:
“After experiencing pain and lack of mobility in my back, I consulted doctors and surgeons to have tests taken,” Woods’ statement said. “The scans determined that I had a collapsed disc in L4/L5, disc fragments and a compromised spinal canal. I opted to have my disc replaced yesterday and already know I made a good decision for my health and back.”
No timetable was provided for Woods to make his return to competitive golf.Tiger Woods has not played on the PGA Tour this season after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon in March. Last September, Woods underwent a procedure on his lower back that he described as a microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement.The 49-year-old has had six prior back surgeries, starting with a microdiscectomy for a pinched nerve in 2014. He had a second microdiscectomy surgery in September of 2015 and then had a follow-up procedure to relieve discomfort in October of 2016. He had another microdiscectomy in 2017 and then another in 2021. Woods has also undergone numerous surgeries on his legs both pre and post-car accident.
Hey, everyone knows that the seventh back surgery is always the charm....
The TC panel showed admirable restraint in speaking of actual golf before getting to the object of their obsession:
Tiger Woods announced he had a seventh back surgery Friday, this one replacing a disk in his lower back that caused pain and mobility issues. Do you think we’ll see Tiger in 2026?Zak: Not as a player. Hopefully as a very comfortable, walking-18 golf dad/coach! And very likely as a TGL non-playing captain. For all the Tiger obsessives desperate to see Woods as the next American Ryder Cup captain, I think we’re forgetting that his main priority in 2027 will be watching/traveling alongside Charlie Woods’ burgeoning college career.Piastowski: I don’t see it, and it’ll also be a bit disappointing not to see him and son Charlie at this year’s PNC Championship. But then again, that’s his call and he knows his body best. Champs tour golf also allows for carts, you know.Sens: Not in competition. But he’s got other roles to play in the game and in life. Seems long past the time for us all to let go of expecting anything more.
I knew they wouldn't have anything trenchant to add, as there isn't anything. But they worked in far more crazy than I thought possible....
Because, Josh, Tiger could have, nay, should have had an important role in 2025, but the dick just couldn't be bothered. Despite weeks of Ryder Cup recriminations, nobody, these very writers most especially, are asking where Tiger was that last week in September.
And, yes, of course Tiger might be interested in his kid's college golf career, although we also might note that the Ryder Cup intrudes on that for exactly one week. The answer is one I think we're all coming to grips with, to wit, that Tiger will be at Adare Manor only if J.P. McManus makes it worth his while to do so.
Your humble blogger usually waits until the event starts to switch his rooting allegiance the the far more likeable Europeans. On the day Tiger is announced as U.S. Captain , I will beat the Christmas rush and start acquiring blue and yellow swag.
Speaking of Which.... - Did someone mention Ryder Cup recriminations?
Bob Harig has the skinny:
Woods's stalling in 2024 led to Keegan Bradley getting the job at Bethpage. Bob Harig explores whether a different outcome could be in the works for the 2027 Ryder Cup in Ireland.
Complicated? Really, that's what you're going with?
Tiger Woods will almost certainly be offered the position as the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain, with plenty of questions surrounding such an appointment in the aftermath of another U.S. defeat.Does he even want the job? Is he capable of doing it in this climate? Can he make a decision sooner rather than later?
What climate is that? You mean one where the PGA of America begs him to help. but he's worried about taking time out from Call of Duty?
So they want the mythical creature called Tiger Woods, yanno, the fictional character that these guys saw on TV:
It was Woods’s stalling on the offer to captain the 2025 team in the spring and summer of 2024 that led to the surprising decision to offer the job—without even an interview—to Keegan Bradley in July of last year.
Whereas, the flesh and blood Tiger can only wonder what's in it for him.
But here's where he gets to the crux of the Tiger conundrum:
The U.S. Team Needs Answers, Which Then Makes Woods a QuestionAre those reasons why the U.S. lost? Not directly. But the American side does likely need to do a deep dive and come up with some answers.All of which makes a Woods captaincy somewhat problematic. Due to injury, he didn’t play in any PGA Tour events this year. He didn’t attend the Champions Dinner at the Masters. He was never amongst the players.He cited his duties as a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board for passing on the job this time. Wouldn’t those get in the way again? Will he play more to try and be around more? If not, will he attend events?Also the idea of a captain just showing up is, obviously, not ideal. Woods is revered and can expect buy-in and players wanting to play for him. But there are no guarantees. Nicklaus lost a Ryder Cup as captain (and lost a Presidents Cup). So did Lee Trevino. Nick Faldo, one of Europe’s greatest players, lost as a Ryder Cup captain.Those are clearly questions that would need to be asked, and amazingly for someone of Woods’s stature, perhaps his appointment is not the slam dunk you’d expect. Doesn’t he need to commit to the process? Does he need to be an assistant for Brandt Snedeker next year at the Presidents Cup?
At some pnt they'll realize that they're asking the wrong question. They keep thinking in terms of what might be best for the U.S. team, whereas the issue is quite obviously what's best for Tiger Woods. Harig does at least acknowledge that 600 lb. elephant in the corner:
Then there is his friendship with J.P. McManus, the owner of Adare Manor, site of the 2027 Ryder Cup. That is said to be a factor in Woods’s decision.So, too, could the idea of there being less pressure. The U.S. has not won in Europe since 1993, when Woods was in high school and had yet to win the first of his three U.S. Amateur titles. He could be the one to break that streak, and be lauded for it.But it seems there needs to be some buy-in from him, too.
Perhaps Luke Donald will provide necessary contrast. In 2023, Henrik Stenson pulled quite the fast one. No sooner was the ink dry on his contract to be Ryder Cup captain (including a clause in which he specifically committed to not sign with LIV), then he proceeded to screw his friends at the DP World Tour. The last thing in the world that Luke Donald wanted to do was become Ryder Cup Captain like THAT.
So, why did he do it? For a very simple reason, it wasn't about him. Notice the resemblance to Tiger? Exactly, there isn't any. For Luke Donald, the Ryder Cup is about the European Team. For Tiger, the Ryder Cup is about Tiger. Any remaining questions?
Doug Ferguson is also on the case, with this amusing header:
US Ryder Cup a mess that not even another task force could fix
Buckle up:
The best news out of the American camp since losing the Ryder Cup again to the Europeans is that no one has suggested another task force.The path forward is no less muddled than it was leaving Scotland in 2014.An Indiana club pro — Ted Bishop, the PGA of America president — decided that Tom Watson should be the U.S. captain for those matches at Gleneagles. That didn’t go well, ending not only with another loss but with Phil Mickelson in a most awkward takedown of the captain.That led to the vaunted task force, and Mickelson was far more optimistic five months later when the work was completed.“We are looking forward to not just 2016 ... but really laying a foundation and a blueprint for the years to follow of continuity and success,” Mickelson said.The Americans have won two of the five Ryder Cups since then — that could be called success considering they had won only two of the previous 10 times.
Doug is one of the better observers of our game, but I do think that here he falls into a common trap. One can't assess the success of any initiative without understanding its objectives. The problem for Doug here is that that Task Force wasn't designed to win Ryder Cups, rather it was a mechanism for Phil to seize control and to stick that shiv further into Tom Watson. In that regard, it's been quite the success.
Ferguson provides this back story, although he seems to be eliding a third event:
But these issues go further back than the illustrious task force. This takes root in 1968 when the touring pros lost faith in the PGA professionals who were running the sport, a split that led to the modern PGA Tour.There were two golf tournaments that needed to be divvied up. One was the old World Series of Golf, which was becoming a lucrative event at Firestone. The other was an exhibition called the Ryder Cup — that’s what it was at the time — that could barely sell a ticket.The previous Ryder Cup had been at Champions Golf Club in Houston. Peter Alliss, the late incomparable British commentator who played in those 1967 matches, once recalled, “The opening ceremony began with hundreds, not thousands of spectators.”Tour players took the World Series of Golf, which eventually became a World Golf Championship and now no longer exists. Imagine if they had taken the Ryder Cup.
There's also a little event called the PGA Championship that the PGA of America retained, one that's more important than the other two combined.
Mickelson thought the task force would create a blueprint not just for the next one, but for the next 10 Ryder Cups. That didn’t go as planned. It led to a buddy system, and then continuity fell apart when Mickelson led a breakaway to LIV Golf.Perhaps the next move is for the PGA of America to consider turning over management to the PGA Tour, which has more stability, more expertise running big events and a stronger relationship with the players who perform.It might not be enough to turn the tide. But it can’t hurt.
There is no logic to that other PGA owning the event, but it's also fanciful to think that the Tour couldn't screw it up. Remember, the first thing the Task Force did was t take the architect of the Meltdown at Medinah and to give him a mulligan. So it's never been about the best and the brightest....
But in all the second guessing and name calling after the Bungle at Bethpage, Tiger's name barely merits a mention.
Other TC Bits - Obviously not pushing myself too hard, so let's just draft on others' work.
Xander Schauffele won the first two majors of his career last season but was winless in an injury-plagued 2025 — until this weekend, when he won the Baycurrent Classic in Japan by beating Max Greyserman, who has now finished runner-up on Tour five times and is still without a victory. Who needed Sunday’s trophy more — Schauffele or Greyserman?Sean Zak: The correct answer is probably Greyserman, as we’ve seen when it comes to guysneeding to get over that first-victory hump. But Schauffele had genuinely battled some confidence issues throughout this year. Remember, it was Xander who we counted on to mount any serious defense to Scottie Scheffler’s war on pro golfers. Schauffele considered himself a couple pegs below Scheffler at the beginning of 2025 and that had to grow and grow as the season wore on, without any wins or even real moments in contention. This was massive for him just to remind himself — you’re one of the five best golfers in the world.Nick Piastowski: I think the answer comes down to what you like more — a breakthrough or a re-breakthrough. Greyserman has put together a solid couple of years on the PGA Tour and is one of pro golf’s hardest workers, and you get the feeling one win would lead to three more quickly — so you could argue that he needed it more, as you’d like to see him keep rolling. But if you’re a fan of stars and players who play at the highest levels, then the answer is Schauffele. This season, the two-time major winner has been battling back from injury, and for him to start next year with a win at the top of his mind is no doubt beneficial.Josh Sens: That’s a good way of framing it, Nick. Greyserman is still looking for that first W, so he needed it more. But the game as whole is more compelling when a guy like Schauffele is in synch.
What, you thought Silly Season was just for the players?
Obviously the X-Man's season was affected by his injury, but ask stupid questions, get stupid answers. Xander still qualified automatically for the Ryder Cup, so in no way did he "Need" the win.
Jeeno Thitikul won the LPGA Shanghai in a playoff to become the LPGA Tour’s first two-time winner this season, ending a surprising streak in which the 26 previous events this season were won by 26 different players. This comes just one year after Nelly Korda won seven times last year. Which is better — the parity or a player or two dominating?
Better for who?
Zak: It is not the parity. I promise you it is not the parity. TV ratings, overall interest, etc. will back it up. The LPGA needs at least one, if not two or three front-runners that are locking horns against each other and setting some standard for players 5-30 to fight for.Piastowski: The depth of talent on the LPGA is stunning — but greatness sells. You tune in for Tom Brady. For Michael Jordan. For Nelly Korda. The hope, I would think, is that the players around her will push her to even greater heights.Sens: A fiery rivalry is best. That obviously requires a rare kind of talent, but also certain personality types. I’ve heard some grousers complain of Scottie Scheffler’s “Pete Sampras” effect–dominance without flash or a full embrace of the spotlight can have a dulling effect. As Sean says, the LPGA needs a player like Korda at her best–ideally with a few foils around her.
Not only does the LPGA desperately need star power, they need some of it to be American. Or is that Xenophobic? Because they won't survive if they can't draw a U.S. audience, and that's hard to do with a rotating cast of unknown foreigners. Don't get me wrong, Anika and Inbee are great, but there's no benefit to denying the obvious.
To their credit, they did offer a take on this curious phenomenon:
2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur champ Brandon Holtz joined GOLF’s Subpar podcast to break down his mid-am title and playing Augusta, and he also discussed the controversial topic regarding former pros regaining amateur status. At the U.S. Mid-Am, 14 of the final 16 players were former pros. Do you have any issue with this? Should it be harder for pros to regain amateur status?Zak: The problem with the phrasing of this question is it makes all 14 cases seem the same. They’re not! I do think the USGA could do a much better job of publicizing its criteria for former pros regaining am status. What does a cup of coffee on the PGA Tour mean on that journey? To answer the question, I’m mostly conflicted without good, hard information and context. Dear USGA, help us out and maybe we’ll stop talking about it!Piastowski: I just wonder if this can’t be solved by another category — let those who’ve always played as amateurs play in one category, and have those one-time pros play in another. Just a thought.Sens: I’m not sure exactly what the answer is, but the issue needs to be addressed as events like the Mid-Am are losing touch with their original identity. A similar issue reared its head at this year’s Walker Cup, which featured a guy who’d been playing pro golf only a year before. Remember the Pub-Links, which got away from its roots and became so overrun by college standouts that it became unrecognizable and was cast into the dustbin? No one wants to see a repeat. A smart friend of mine suggests that as with so many things in golf, Augusta National holds the cards in this: if the green jackets put a foot down and said something like, we don’t want to see former pros getting into the Masters on the strength of an amateur win; it’s not in the amateur spirit of Bobby Jones. So, do something about this or we’re going to stop extending April invites to some of your amateur event winners.
I haven't put any thought into this and Mid-Ams are a bit of fringe category, but that is quite weird and somehow seems not quite right. That said, nobody cares about Mid-Ams, so two categories is a non-starter. About the only relevance is that Masters invite, so not sure where this goes.
Two TV-centric announcements came last week: the full schedule of season 2 of TGL and the news of Netflix’s Full Swing coming back for season 4. Now with sample sizes at our disposal, have these two supplementary productions succeeded in expanding the sport’s reach? Anything you’d like to see different from either?Zak: As much variability as possible in results of shots from TGL. Whatever you think is a lot, I want more. And as for Full Swing, my attention span for that show is pretty minimal now. I’m not the audience they’re chasing, though! So if I were asking for something, it would be hyper-narrow focus on all the ways the PGA Tour is DIFFERENT from F1 or the ATP Tour. Because the same company has produced a lot of the same docu-follows on pro sports, these world tours all seem like slightly different cousins when in reality they’re very, very different.Piastowski: To the first question, the answer is yes. Golf on a Monday night in the dead of winter, as TGL provides, is something additive. Golf stories on demand, as “Full Swing” offers, are something additive. Here are some requests. To TGL, fewer house ads; we don’t need constant reminders why we’re tuned in. (And I like Sean’s idea — gimme the funky.) As for “Full Swing,” you’ve established your ‘stars,’ so now let’s go deeper. I don’t mind the season yearbook approach, but, as my editors say, tell me something I don’t know.Sens: I’m not sure whether to think of these shows as engines of change or mirrors that capture how the game is evolving. Probably a bit of both. Personally, I have a hard time getting very excited about either. But I’m not the target market, and based on my anecdotal experience (getting paired with strangers on the course; listening to friends’ kids talk about golf), I’m not the best barometer of success. In fact, if I find it boring, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve got a runaway success.
Have either of these efforts created a single new golfer or golf-viewer? If so, please provide names and addresses....
The Korn Ferry Tour season ended Sunday at French Lick in Indiana with 20 players earning PGA Tour membership for 2026. Who is one player casual fans should have on their radars?Zak: Casuals love to obsess about the longest golfers in the pro game — I’m excited for them to be in awe of Davis Chatfield, who doesn’t hit it far but just knows how to get the damn ball in the hole. He was 140th in driving distance but 1st in accuracy. On the KFT — the ultimate mash-it-and-chase-it tour — that’s not necessarily a recipe for success, but he found plenty of it with three top-3 finishes. That’ll get you to the big leagues. No,w what can you do with it?Piastowski: Neal Shipley. He’s a personality. He’s a player. He’s a Waffle House enjoyer. The PGA Tour needs all of that.Sens: Christo Lamprecht. Crazy tall. Crazy long. Far from another robopro in appearance and playing style. We’ve seen flashes of him, like when he briefly held the lead at the Open a couple years ago. It will be fun to see more.
Shipley, for sure. Although I have a good golf buddy that tells me the answer is Blades Brown (who earned Korn Ferry playing privilege's, but didn't likely have enough opportunities for a Tour card. But, don't cry for him, Argentina, he's only eighteen.
That's it for today. Not sure what the rest of the week will hold, as blogging may be dependent on content. Have a great week.
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