Tiger Woods has thrown his support behind Steve Stricker as the Americans plan revenge when they host the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

Stricker becomes the first US Ryder Cup captain never to have won a Major championship, but that is of little concern to the players, according to Woods.

‘The players were unanimous, they wanted him on as their team leader and we felt the same way on the committee,’ said Woods, who is in action this week at the WGC-Mexico Championship.

The 51-year-old has been playing a behind-the-scenes role in recent editions with three vice-captain nods to his name. He was part of the controversial 2014 task force that revamped the US team, with Europe now stretching their current record to four wins in the past five editions after their 17.5-10.5 mauling of USA in France last September.

‘What he has done as the leader, both in the Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups, has been tremendous and we just thought that with his leadership and the way the guys follow Stricks, that he would be the best captain there is for 2020.

‘Everyone knows he’s such a nice guy, but beneath all of that exterior is this fieriness and this competitiveness and he’s also one of the more detail-oriented guys that we know of.

‘He’s very good at communicating with the guys, getting their opinions, but putting his foot down when he has to.’

Stricker immediately named 2018 losing captain Jim Furyk as one of his assistants.