Woods embraces captaincy

THE EARLY morning text messages flying from the phone of Tiger Woods are evidence enough that the greatest golfer ever is leaving no stone left unturned in pursuit of another Presidents Cup win.

When Woods took the role as captain of team USA he jokingly raised the prospect of being a playing-skipper, which became a reality on the back of his stunning on-course resurgence. It’s created a whole new element to an event the Americans have dominated in recent years, the last two victories coming without Woods hitting a ball.

But with one eye firmly on his own game captain Woods has dived in to his multitude of new jobs and Justin Thomas revealed the frequent communication was just one example of how seriously the first-time skipper had prepared for Royal Melbourne. “You definitely get more texts between 1am and 4am than any captain, that's for sure,” said Thomas, who is likely to play with Woods in tomorrow’s opening round of foursomes.

“He takes it very seriously ... he wants to be a captain that has a great winning record and ... he wants all of us to feel comfortable.

“And he wants there to be a lot of transparency, he doesn't want there to be a lot of unknowns and I think that's something that he's done very well with.

“It’s like any time we're together he's asking me questions, and I'm like, ‘Dude, we already talked about this. You don't need to go too into it.’ I mean, I know his competitive side. He's never done.” Woods’ playing role this week remains a mystery with original plans to play the minimum twice seemingly moving closer to playing as many as four times.