Fred Couples :: Players want me as captain

• Former Masters champ tipped for captaincy
• Tells Golf Digest players want him to take the lead
• However, he adds: “I’m not a PGA of America guy”

Fred Couples has claimed that he has the backing of the American players to become the next US Ryder Cup captain.

Couples, who has led his side to victory in the last three consecutive Presidents Cups, told Golf Digest that the side that lost at Gleneagles in September – along with the sidelined Tiger Woods – reached out to him in the aftermath of that defeat to give him their endorsement for the 2016 match at Hazeltine.

“When they all got home, they said, ‘We need you to do this’,” Couples told the US-based mag.

The 55-year-old, however, added that his appointment as Tom Watson’s successor is far from cut and dried, adding: “You know, I’m not a PGA of America guy.”

“I make the players released because I’m just another guy” – Fred Couples

Even so, the PGA and its new Ryder Cup ‘Task Force’ would be foolish to overlook both the credentials of the formers Masters champion. As well as his success at the helm of the Presidents Cup side, Couples is also enormously popular with the players.

“I make relaxed because I’m just another guy,” he said of his own brand of captaincy.

Couples is one of a number of candidates in the running to replace Watson as the American skipper.

Paul Azinger, pictured above, who steered the side to victory in 2008, has been widely tipped for a second stint, whilst Steve Stricker – one of Watson’s assistants at Gleneagles – is also reckoned to be in the running. David Toms, Mark O’Meara and former world No.1 David Duval are others believed to be under consideration.

Whoever does get the job will be expected to end a wretched run of results that has seen the US lose the last three Ryder Cups in succession, as well as eight of the last ten.

Fred Couples: The man for the job?

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor