Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were part of the first Ryder Cup committee that came out of the task force following the infamous 2014 matches. Woods has been among the three players on the six-member committee ever since as part of a veteran crew.
Now the committee is going younger.
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have been added to the committee that includes PGA of America president Jim Richerson, vice president John Lindert and CEO Seth Waugh.
Thomas, who has played on the past two teams, said he was surprised to be approached and considered it an honor.
“I feel like it’s important to me,” he said. “I hope to be playing the Ryder Cup the next 20 years. At least if I’m not playing, which I hope to be, I want to be part of it somehow to help us win.”
Spieth has played every Ryder Cup since Gleneagles in 2014.
“Very excited,” Spieth said. “The job is mainly more helping to pick the captain, talk about the players’ experience on and off the golf course, how it can be improved, what frees us up to play our best golf. It was nice having the last Ryder Cup, being on the side of knowing what was successful. I think I can provide useful input having been on four teams.”
Spieth said the first meeting was two weeks ago during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
“A lot of them were asking questions to me and Justin,” he said. “The cool part about it was the questions they asked of us, and we were blatantly honest, from clothes we were wearing to ceremonies to how many dinners we’re doing, what kind of recovery tools and methods we had and access to that. It was a good start.”
The PGA Tour will also be listening to some new voices as Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati were voted co-chairs of the Players Advisory Council, which advises and consults the PGA Tour board of directors on tour issues.
They were elected over Patrick Cantlay and Billy Horschel, and they will join the board next year to serve three-year terms.
“I feel like these are important times on the tour and I care a lot about the direction of the tour,” Malnati said. “We’re making decisions that are affecting the direction of the PGA Tour for decades. I want to have a seat in that room. I was thrilled that enough of my peers wanted me to be there as well.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.