In the latest installment of "The American Captain presented by Mercedes-Benz," 2016 Ryder Cup USA Captain Davis Love III talked about the process that was involved when it came to selecting Tom Lehman, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker as his Vice Captains for the matches at Hazeltine National in September.
"In 2014, we changed the process," explained Love, who also Captained the U.S. side in 2012 at Medinah. "Internally, you can't see what we've been doing for the last year and a half, but internally it's a different culture. In the past, it was 'Davis brings his buddies to be assistant captains.' Now, we tell the Captain, 'here's your choices. It's past Captains and future Captains. We're going to have experience surround you this time.' We have an analytics guys hired this year, we have a doctor hired this year. We have a team now instead of, 'We're all going to meet in September and figure it out.'"
The name that pops out most from Love's backroom team is unquestionably Woods. A veteran of seven Ryder Cup teams (he missed the 2008 and 2014 matches while recovering from injuries), Woods is enthusiastic about his role as a strategist this time around as he again recoveries from another injury that has kept him away from the PGA Tour since the 2015 Wyndham Championship.
You can check out the entire "American Captain" episode below:
Tiger's inclusion in a leadership role for the 2016 Ryder Cup is one that Love sees paying dividends for years to come.
"Tiger was on the Task Force, he'll be a future Captain, so he's got to be a part of the decision-making process of this whole new, Ryder Cup committee," Love said. "Tiger is more interested in the strategy side of it -- rounding out the team with picks, or making small groups, making pairings. He's our tactician more than anything. And he's really been helpful on how to prepare for a major championship. He's like me. He's excited about it, he doesn't sleep much, he puts a lot of thought into it. There's a reason why he's arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He knows how to prepare, he knows how to think his way around a golf course, around a golf tournament. He's committed to being a part of it and he means it."
