NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Jim Furyk sat in the friendly confines of a media interview tent adjacent to the Aronimink clubhouse Wednesday speaking passionately about the Ryder Cup — the upcoming 2027 matches and beyond.
The 56-year-old Furyk was born 10 miles down the road from this week’s PGA Championship venue, in the Chester County Hospital, and he was raised about 90 minutes up Route 30 in Lancaster, Pa.
“It’s nice to be back, see some friends, familiar faces,” Furyk said.
Ryder cup captain Jim Furyk talks with the media during a press conference before the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 13, 2026. Getty Images The atmosphere in 18 months’ time for Furyk, who was recently named as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for a second time, will not be as welcoming at Adare Manor in Ireland, where the Europeans will try to defeat the Americans for a third consecutive time for their captain, Luke Donald.
Furyk, who captained the U.S. side in a 2018 loss outside Paris and has been a vice captain four times, Wednesday all but described the U.S. Ryder Cup system as a house in disrepair.
He described his task as both one of short-term and long-term goals, building one that more emulates the model Europe has followed.
He referred to the “task force” that was set up after the 2014 loss in Scotland largely on ideas from Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III and several other players.
That “task force” was all about creating continuity for the U.S. team the way Europe does in bringing along its players from vice captains into captains.
“I’m not going to point a finger at anyone,” Furyk said. “We’re all in this together from the PGA of America to Team USA to our captains to our players. But I believe we had a vision in ’14 that got us to a certain point. I just don’t think we evolved along the way.
“We need to create a blueprint. We need to create more continuity for our players and for our future captains. And we really need to start making the Ryder Cup more of a priority each and every year, year in and year out, and focus on growing and evolving into the future. That’s something that I really take seriously, and I think it’s at the top of the list.
“I don’t think the idea is much different than 2014, but I think we could grow, we could evolve at a much better rate. Obviously in 2016, a huge success at Hazeltine, and 2021, a huge success at Whistling Straits. I think we pull and we grab the foundation from those events.”
Furyk said he began thinking about ideas and writing them down the moment the 2025 U.S. team, on which he was a vice captain to Keegan Bradley, ended in bitter defeat.
“We brought Keegan in even later than this last year,” Furyk said. “He had less than 18 months to prepare. And that’s a guy who never even served as vice captain. So, he played a lot of catch-up, if that makes sense.
“The idea of more continuity, more continuity for future captains, more continuity for the players year in and year out, and that includes Presidents Cup in my mind as well.”
Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk talks with reporters after a press conference before the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 13, 2026 in Newtown, Pa. Getty Images Among the areas Furyk said the U.S. must improve is in the use of analytics and figuring out how to play better in foursomes, which is the alternate-shot format the Europeans routinely dominate.
“It’s no secret that foursomes has been a glaring problem,” he said. “In our team play the last two Ryder Cups on Friday and Saturday, we’ve dug massive holes. There’s a lot of stones to be unturned, our analytics, and just how we grow and how we evolve in all those areas. This is something that I quite honestly have been thinking about for years because I’ve been involved with so many teams.”
Another thing Furyk has been thinking about is involving Tiger Woods.
He said he hasn’t yet reached out to Woods “out of courtesy” as Woods has been in rehab for addiction to pain pills. But he said he has plans to include Woods in whatever role he chooses.
“I enjoyed serving as a vice captain with him a number of times,” Furyk said. “And I think [Woods] brought a lot to the team room, and a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience.”
