Report: Former Open champ ghosted after US Ryder Cup captaincy interview

Former Open champion Stewart Cink said he interviewed for the United States Ryder Cup captaincy but never received a phone call back.

Ben Smith

02 Oct 2025

Former Open champion and multiple PGA Tour winner Stewart Cink has revealed he had an hour-long interview about succeeding Zach Johnson as US Ryder Cup captain but never received a call back.

Cink was widely expected to be named as the next man to lead the red, white and blue following the United States' five-point defeat in Rome two years ago.

Tiger Woods had turned down the opportunity, citing his commitments to the PGA Tour's policy board amid the LIV Golf schism.

And in the absence of other credible candidates, Cink was widely viewed as a decent option to lead the team at Bethpage given his experience in the biennial dust-up.

Cink has played in the Ryder Cup on five occasions and also represented the stars and the stripes at four Presidents Cups. He also has leadership experience at both events.

He told Golfweek that he had an interview about succeeding Johnson and felt like he was going to get the nod.

Only he never received a cursory call back.

Keegan Bradley was named as the surprise choice last July and never even interviewed for the role, according to the man himself.

Despite a stunning fightback in the Sunday singles, Bradley's team were defeated 15-13.

The inquest into what went wrong is well and truly underway.

Bradley told reporters he made a mistake with the course set-up, though he stopped short of acknowledging any issues with his pairings.

Despite watching Collin Morikawa and Harris English get dismantled by Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy 5&4 on day one, Bradley elected to send out the duo again on day two and were swept aside once again.

Elsewhere, rather remarkably, the caddies of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley pointed out they were playing off the wrong tees.

Cink told Golfweek that he still wants a crack at the main role. The Ryder Cup heads to Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027.

Opening up on his interview, he said: "I thought it went well, but I haven’t received one word since then.

"Never got a call back that said we're going in another direction.

"All I know is at the end of the conversation it sounded like, 'Things looks pretty good for you.' Never heard another word."

Cink added: "I was gutted. I thought I had a pretty good shot at it.

"It's not a selfish thing though; I want the team to be the best team it can be.

"I thought the PGA got themselves into a mess this year because Keegan was one of our top 12 players and because he was captain, they kind of prevented him from playing.

"I don't have any desire or designs to think that I will be on the next team. So, we can remove that topic right away.

"But I'm not that far removed from playing out there every week and the majors and even winning tournaments."

European skipper Luke Donald was expected to step aside from his position regardless of the result at Bethpage.

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Now, there are calls for him to retain the captaincy.

Justin Rose has made no secret he wants to captain the team one day, but is showing no signs of slowing down.

On Thursday, Rose told his X followers he's already started his prep to qualify for the next team on merit.

Cink said: "Europe is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to getting ready for this thing with partnerships, with course setup, with game plans, with choices for assistant captains.

"I think we need to do a little more of what they're doing.

"I don't know what that is yet but we have to do some things differently.

"I would just love a shot at it and get in there and re-work some of the stuff and figure out what is working for them."

Bradley is still the bookies' favourite to retain the captaincy, despite what happened last week.

Brandt Snedeker, Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner, Steve Stricker and Woods are alternative options for the PGA of America to consider.

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