How Phil Mickelson turned into Keegan Bradley for Ryder Cup

“In the very beginning, when the announcement was made that Bethpage was going to be the host of the 2024 Ryder Cup, I mean there was no question Phil Mickelson was going to be the captain at Bethpage, and then, of course, obviously that changed,” past president of the PGA of America Ted Bishop explained in an exclusive interview for The Golf Show 2.0.  

Phil Mickelson defecting to LIV changed all that, as well as many other things.

“They (PGA of America) probably assumed Tiger Woods was going, from talking to him, they must have assumed he was going to take the job. Then Tiger got all these other duties, and he's busy with the rest of the PGA Tour player committee giving themselves millions of dollars for stuff, so he's too busy for this,” Bishop said adding that it appeared the committee didn’t have a plan B.  

No one ever accused Bishop of holding back. But there were two other behind-the-scenes facts that nobody knew or didn’t put together, he said.

The first is that Seth Waugh, outgoing CEO of the PGA of America, and Tiger Woods are well acquainted. They knew each other because Woods often played the Deutsche Bank event when it was the first tournament of the PGA Tour Playoffs. The Deutsche Bank tournament was one that Waugh worked to create in conjunction with the PGA Tour. 

Last March, Woods and Waugh played as partners in the Seminole Pro-Member, that very quiet golf event where titans of business and industry play in the winter. It was Woods’ first time participating in the contest. (They finished T44.)   

Then, Seth Waugh’s contract with the PGA of America was coming to its endpoint. Sometime between March and now, the PGA of America decided not to renew it, according to Bishop. But when it was announced, it was said that Waugh was retiring. It was probably mutually agreed upon to announce it that way.

Before taking the head position for the PGA of America, Waugh was CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, a rather lofty position with great business contacts. He was a breath of fresh air for the golf community. He is well-spoken and is a guy who got things done.

So now Woods’ friend, Waugh, Is no longer with the PGA, and it begs the question, did that have anything to do with Woods deciding not to accept the Ryder Cup captaincy? We don’t really know.  We can only suspect.

In addition, according to Bishop, Waugh never was going to move to Frisco, the new PGA of America HQ.

“I just think, over time, that's probably been somewhat of an impediment for him in his relationship with the board of directors and the officers,” Bishop posited. "That's just my opinion on the subject, but I would think that in large part probably was one of the things that kind of led to his separation with PGA of America.”

Waugh simply said during a press conference at the end of his tenure, that his wife wanted to spend the rest of the summer on the beach. Everyone is guessing she probably meant Cape Cod or New York or someplace near West Palm Beach, not Frisco, Texas, where the nearest beach is probably near Houston.