It was supposed to be Tiger Woods.
A raucous home crowd, Bethpage Black, New York, the 2025 Ryder Cup - and Woods in charge of a US team in pursuit of a recapturing the trophy they lost so convincingly in Italy in September 2023.
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However, earlier this week, the United States confirmed that it will be Keegan Bradley, not Woods, who will spearhead their attempt to win back the cup on home soil.
A chastening defeat at Marco Simone, in a Ryder Cup match as memorable for it’s off-course headlines as much as events on the fairways and greens was meant to be the catalyst for a US reset.
Woods was going to be the man to do it. Fresh from captaining the USA in the Presidents Cup in 2019, and on the course that he won the 2002 U.S. Open.
But maybe the writing was on the wall.
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As recently as May the 15-time major champion admitted that talks were ongoing as he worked out his priorities, juggling business interests with added responsibilities to the PGA Tour and it’s talks with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
"We're still talking. There's nothing that has been confirmed yet," Woods told NBC Sports.
"We're still working on what that might look like. Also whether or not I have the time to do it.
"I'm dedicating so much time to what we're doing with the PGA Tour, I don't want to not fulfill the role of the captaincy if I can't do it.”
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Alas, the American Tiger Woods dream was not to be. Almost as soon as the Bradley news became public, Woods released a statement confirming he opted out.
“With my new responsibilities to the Tour and time commitments involved, I felt like I would not be able to commit the time to Team USA and the players required as a captain,” Woods said in a statement released through the PGA of America.
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“That does not mean I wouldn’t want to captain a team in the future. If and when I feel it is the right time, I will put my hat in the ring for this committee to decide."
Instead it will be Bradley, who remarkably admitted that he had not even been consulted about the captaincy until he was offered it by Zach Johnson.
Johnson was the man who captained the US in Italy, and the man who called Bradley to tell him he wasn’t going to be part of the 2023 team.
It was a moment captured by the Netflix cameras, and saw Bradley make plenty of headlines for the grace with which he accepted the decision.
"There were no conversations until Zach phoned me and told me I was going to be captain," Bradley said of the unusual move.
"I was in complete shock, especially as some of my golfing idols were overlooked.
“I'm so honoured it was Zach who told me. I feel terrible for what happened to him in Rome.”
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Bradley, with two previous Ryder Cup appearances and one major victory at the PGA Championship in 2011 was part of losing teams in 2012 and 2014 but he will be the youngest captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 and as of last week was not remotely in the reckoning to lead his country - at least publicly.
It is a strange sequence of events for a USA team who are in need of a plan to get back to the sort of performances that saw them resoundingly win the last two Ryder Cups on home soil by 10 and six points.
Once Woods turned the offer down, reportedly at the end of June, the United States could have turned to Matt Kuchar or Stewart Cink who were names suggested at the start of the week.
They could have turned to Fred Couples who has never captained the team, or they could have turned to one of their last two winning captains - Steve Stricker and Davis Love III - to face a European team that will be led again by Luke Donald.
It is a challenging time for both teams, as they battle the emergence of the LIV Golf circuit and how not having some of the best players on the planet playing a huge amount of qualifying events affects the team.
Bradley can begin his preparations knowing he has the three major champions of 2023 available to him. Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler appear locks to make the team, and U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau currently sits second on the points list despite playing just three events.
Bradley will be able to select the number of picks he has, and has already suggested the LIV circuit will not be a barrier for him - even claiming he will be attendance to watch the Saudi-backed league.
"I want the 12 best players and I don't care where they play," Bradley told reporters in his first public comments since his surprise appointment.
"We have a mission to win this tournament, I'm not worried about the LIV stuff.
"By the time we get to Bethpage in 2025, we have no idea how the layout of the golf world is going to be.
"As it comes to going to LIV events, if there's guys that are going to be on the fringe, I'm willing to do that."
He has suggested he wants make the team himself via his performances. It’s a lot to take on for one man, with the demands of the captaincy well known
In the meantime, Woods will return to the negotiating table, aiming to find a solution to the PGA-LIV merger, invigorate the Tour and it’s way forward as well as trying to being competitive on the course.
He also has the launch of his TGL venture alongside Rory McIlroy to support - so perhaps it’s understandable his priorities lie elsewhere - at the moment.
It seems inconceivable that someone of Woods’ standing will not captain the US, but maybe the unstable nature of the golf landscape means he would rather take on the role at a more suitable time
Instead it will be Bradley’s balancing act.
Despite the apparently random nature of his elevation to the position, Bradley’s commitment can’t be questioned, he has promised to give his all.
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"After that clip [in a Netflix documentary] that showed I was crushed at not being picked by Zach [as a wildcard], you also saw me and my family cheering on the American team on TV.
"I love the Ryder Cup and bleed red, white and blue."