By Tom LaMarre – Courtesy The Sports Xchange
Tiger Woods, rehabbing from back surgery, hopes to come back to the PGA Tour early next year and earn a spot on the United States team for the Ryder Cup next fall at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
If not, he hopes to be there as a captain’s assistant.
According to Golf Digest, Woods got so excited watching the U.S. play the International team last week in the Presidents Cup South Korea that he phoned assistant captain Fred Couples, who put Davis Love III, another assistant captain who is the 2016 Ryder Cup captain, on the line.
“(Woods) was watching at home and he just had to call,” Love said. “He was talking about all the things he thought we needed to do, and he had a lot of ideas. We’re already doing a lot of planning for next year, and it’s great.
“It’s part of the whole process that started after Gleneagles (last year). Everybody is thinking about it, which is great. … We’ve already been doing a lot of planning. And Tiger is just as interested as the rest of us to get going.”
Love has named only one assistant so far, Tom Lehman.
Tom LaMarre has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 50 years, including 15 years with the Oakland Tribune and 22 with the Los Angeles Times. He was the Tribune’s beat writer for the Oakland Raiders for seven seasons in the 1970s, highlighted by their 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and collaborated on a book, Winning Offensive Football, with quarterback Ken Stabler. He also covered the Oakland Athletics when they won three consecutive World Series during the 1970s and the Golden State Warriors when they won the NBA championship in the 1974-75 season. With the Times, he wrote columns on golf, football and skiing. These days, he is the Golf Editor for The Sports Xchange. LaMarre graduated from Skyline High in Oakland and attended the University of San Francisco.