By Frank Pingue
(Reuters) – Davis Love III, who has succeeded Tiger Woods as captain of the U.S. team for the 2022 Presidents Cup in North Carolina, said on Tuesday his predecessor can have any role on the squad he wants but hopes to see him return from injury and make it as a player.
Woods, who has not competed since he suffered serious leg injuries in a February car crash, won all three of his matches at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne where he served as a playing captain for the victorious U.S. team.
Love, speaking to reporters at Sea Island Resort where he is host of this week’s RSM Classic, said he had conversations about the Presidents Cup captain’s role with Woods before the former world number one’s car accident.
“It would have been a great captaincy for Tiger to continue on,” Love told reporters at Sea Island Resort.
“At the time we were discussing it, he said, ‘No, I’m playing really good, I’m gonna make the team, and I enjoyed Australia being playing captain, but I want to be a player on the team’.
“So his role is whatever his role wants to be. If Tiger calls me up and says, ‘Hey, you’re kicked out, I’m taking over’, that’s Tiger’s role. If he wants to be an assistant, you know.”
Love, a 21-time winner on the PGA Tour, said it would be great to see Woods regain his form in time for the Presidents Cup but knows he can offer support in other ways having done so in an unofficial advisory role at the last Ryder Cup.
“I would hope that he comes back and starts playing and can make that a goal, to be on the team,” said Love. “He was a big part of our Ryder Cup. It took us a while to get him to the point where he would engage.
“Obviously he had a rough start to the year, but once we got him in the loop, he was a big help and a lot of fun for the Ryder Cup and for the team.”
The Presidents Cup is a biennial event which pits a 12-man team from the U.S. against international players from outside Europe.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
