Rosaforte: Watson To Be Named '14 Ryder Cup Captain

Golf World's Tim Rosaforte, always wired in but especially when it comes to PGA of America news, Tweets that his reporting has Tom Watson landing the 2014 Ryder Cup Captaincy.

Considering other candidates Larry Nelson and David Toms haven't gotten phone calls and Fred Couples is helming the 2013 Presidents Cup squad, the odds do seem to favor Watson who was surprisingly up-front in recent comments from the Australian Open expressing an interest.  And he's the frontrunner in our poll here.

The announcement will be made in the 8:30 hour of Thursday's Today show. This would probably be the "different" part PGA President

Update on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 05:53 PM by Geoff

**Rosaforte fleshes his Tweet into a story at GolfDigest.com.

Comments

[jjshaka]

Shameless Watson lover checking in, hoping it's true.
Sadly it is also an acknowledgement that he truly feels his competitive days are well behind him.
Poor elf :)

[fyg]

A small part of me is holding out hope that Watson is a smoke screen and Larry Nelson will be the deserving and surprise nominee.

[DTF]

Sweet!

[ol Harv]

Happy for Tom, disappointed for Larry Nelson. What the hell did that guy do to piss off the PGA? There has got to be a reason that he has gotten iced.

[Pat Burke]

Not that Watson would be undeserving,
But the PGA snub of Nelson needs some comment.
Why does the PGA not want THIS former champion?

[Stord]

Nelson seems to be some sort of cult hero on this blog.

Watson is by far the better choice. His performance at Turnberry a few years ago, alone, warrants this appointment.

[Golfgirlrobin]

Nelson isn't getting the nod because he's boring and doesn't drive television ratings. He deserves it, but nobody gets jazzed up looking forward to seeing Larry Nelson do anything. The Ryder Cup has become big business and they're not entrusting it to anybody that 99% of the non-golfing public has never heard of.

[Bobby D]

"doesn't drive television ratings."


ratings? you're talkin bout ratings? not golf, but ratings?

[Ghillie]

You haven't been watching golf on TV since 1997?

[Pat Burke]

Yeah, Davis Love is a real needle mover

[Roger]

Now just take Ray Floyd and Lanny Wadkins with the Captain's picks and we may have a chance to win this thing!

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

Nelson earned a captaincyship with his clubs.

But the captain's true role is to get the PGA of America on the front page of the sports page as often as possible. Watson beats Nelson or Toms 5 and 4.

[Tighthead]

I'm a Watson fan, but his letter to ANGC about McCord has always bugged me. Same with the menu thing and Torrance.

[Amen Coroner]

Watson it is - so says a friend at PGA HQ. Al Roker is excited to get some KC BBQ!

[digsouth]

Ratings-yes. It is all about te money, and has been for the last 15 years or so. Since the PGA learned what they had, they have been about the money/ratings/show bidness, and Watson sells, and Willie Nelson does too, but not Larry, sadly.

David Toms leaves me flat, FWIW.

Since I'm not a RC guy, I get no vote, but my score on Watson is -

McCord/Masters- -2,
Helping David Feharty +4,
pulling the rug out from Larry Nelson's post -3
virtually winning The Open, even with Sink's ice job, +2

So Watson gets a +1, but I hope Europe pulls the rug out from his axx, unless the American team show me some reasons to care.

[DTF]

fatgoalie, there just is not a plausible explanation....but Week 2 of the live a happier life program revolves around finding the silver lining and just maybe this selection of Tom Watson (assuming the info is accurate) signals a sea change of a magnitude that just may allow for Captain Nelson to set sail some time in the next 6 years! Bad news is that by the 2016 event Larry will be 69. I think the fact that Watson is still active in regular tour events helped his cause significantly.

[fyg]

digsouth,

You'll get your wish (and mine), the Euros will handle Watson in Scotland. He should have quit while he was ahead and I think it would have been far classier for him to suggest Nelson to finally get his turn.

I wonder if Watson's selection will have any bearing on who the Euros choose. I think McGinley might get overshadowed by Watson and therefore Clarke might be a better choice.

[DTF]

"...far classier..."

What a load of BS.

[digsouth]

I'll go with the ''classier'' comment, but Watson only shows occasional flashes of class IMO.

Sometime the truth *is* BS.

[Abu Dhabi Golfer]

I am a bit surprised that Watson wants the job - which might be a good indication that he will get it.

I remember a golf writer covering the 1982 LA Open when Watson sunk a bomb to beat Johnny Miller in a playoff after a number of dramatic holes and wrote "Watson is the only golfer in the world who could get away with such shenanigans." Looks like he might get away with some shenanigans one more time. He is one of the greats!

[Larry In Minnesota]

Want to spice up the ratings? How about David Feherty for USA captain (he is an American citizen). So what if he hasn't won the PGA...that hasn't proven to be a difference maker for our captains! OK, so this is only partially tongue in cheek :)