Ryder Cup captaincy, Charlie's college recruiting, a YouTube take and other nuggets from Tiger Woods' Hero press conference

Tiger Woods sightings are rare these days, making his annual appearance at his Hero World Challenge a de facto state-of-Tiger address. Historically, that means updates on his health and this year was no different, as the 15-time major winner didn’t seem remotely close to a competitive return from his latest surgery. Tuesday was also dominated by talk of Woods’ involvement in a potential seismic transformation of the PGA Tour, with the league weighing proposals that would significantly reduce the amount of events played.

However, Woods covered several other wide-ranging topics during his press conference, and though he didn’t go in much depth on any of them, we’ve compiled the highlights for those who missed his remarks below:

It doesn’t sound like Woods is going to be Ryder Cup captain soon

Woods was deep in talks to become the United States captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, to the point where the PGA of America delayed its appointment as long as possible to accommodate Woods’ schedule. Ultimately, the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement, which spurred the PGA to surprise everyone and tap Keegan Bradley as manager. There was a belief that Woods would be interested in the 2027 match, specifically due to his relationship with J.P. McManus (who owns Adare Manor, site of the next Ryder Cup). However, Woods was blunt when asked if he would pursue the ’27 job. “No one's asked me about it,” Woods said. He added that he did watch the Bethpage proceedings and said he was in communication with the American players and captains during the match.

TGL remains a possibility for 2026 …

Woods only recently got the greenlight from doctors to begin chipping and putting again, putting to rest any notions that the soon-to-be 50-year-old will be competing on the PGA Tour or Champions circuit soon. However, to those rabid Jupiter Links fans, Woods isn’t closing the door on making a few appearances in his golf-simulator league. “I won't be able to play in the first part of the TGL season, but I will be there at every match that Jupiter Links competes in,” Woods said. “Now, hopefully that will be able to maybe play at the end of the season here and there, but I don't know. There's a few drives I might have to hit.” Place your TGL futures bets accordingly.

… but no PNC Championship

The parent-child silly-season event has become must-watch for those clamoring to see Woods in action, as he’s played with his son Charlie over the past several years. There was hope that, even with his recent surgery, Team Woods might be in the field later this month, after finishing runner-up a year ago. Unfortunately, that is a no-go. “No, it wouldn't be fair,” Woods said. “Not only it wouldn't be fair to my son, but it wouldn't be fair to another team that could play and could have that experience that we've had for a number of years.”

Update on his son’s college recruiting process

Charlie continues to be a fascination for golf fans, particularly as the younger Woods rises up in the junior ranks. Tiger was asked what it’s been like to watch Charlie, a high school junior, as he considers where to play college golf. “It's been very different, the recruiting process. Now you have cellphones. We didn't have cellphones. We would have written letters that would show up in the mailbox. ‘Oh, my God, I got a letter.' It's just very different how fast coaches can communicate with the family members and the player that they're trying to recruit,” Woods explained. “It's just a different world. Not saying it's good or bad, it's just different. It's fun to be a part of the process with Charlie and go through it and see where the opportunities that he has, that he has created for himself by playing better, places that he could play, wants to play and ultimately we'll decide where he wants to go play.”

Tiger’s YouTube take

Woods explained the shifting dynamics in professional golf, specifically how the game is getting younger and faster, which is producing newer stars at a different rate than during Woods’ prime. When asked what is spurring that change, Woods credited YouTube. “I think a lot has to do with YouTube, seeing swings. Before, I had VHS tapes. I would tape a weekend round of golf and then watch it on … hoping the tracking worked halfway decent and try and get a swing,” Woods said. “Sometimes the swings didn't even look good, I didn't even know who that was. [Now] seeing so many different swings over and over again, and the instruction level has gotten better, the curve it took to understand how to play the game's gotten faster. You didn't have to necessarily go out there and dig it out of the dirt. Now you can watch it on your mobile phone and learn that way. It's gotten faster and younger. Just like all kids, they're sponges for information and they can make changes on the fly.” No word on Woods’ thoughts on the Internet Invitational cheating scandals.

Thumbs up on the tour’s new leader

As part of his chairman role with the Future Competition Committee, Woods has been working side-by-side with new tour CEO Brian Rolapp. In Woods’ estimation, he’s been impressed from what he’s seen from the former NFL executive. “Brian's been fantastic. I was part of the search committee that was part of finding him and going through all the different interviews of about nine months to finally land on Brian. An amazing CEO, an amazing leader,” Woods said. “What he's done so far in a short time in his leadership skills and his personality and how he handles situations, his calmness, his thoughtfulness, his directness, transparency, all the things that we were looking for and we needed on the tour he has delivered in spades.”

Don’t get your hopes up for a comeback

That’s what this always amounts to, yes? Even as that has long become an unreasonable ask, it is still being asked: When, or if, Woods can be Woods again. On Tuesday, Woods tried once more to reset expectations. “Come back to what point? I'd like to come back to just playing golf again,” Woods said. “I haven't played golf in a long time. It's been a tough year. I've had a lot of things happen on and off the golf course that's been tough. And so my passion to just play, I haven't done that in a long time. Just play. So I've had to sit on the sidelines for a number of months, and most of this year and quite frankly end of last year.”