Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley facing HUGE Ryder Cup dilemma at PGA Championship

What happens if Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley qualify for their own Ryder Cup teams?

The 2025 Ryder Cup captains topped the PGA Championship leaderboard during the major’s first round at Quail Hollow, leading to the inevitable question: What happens if they qualify for their own teams?

It’s the time of the Ryder Cup year when we all start debating who will represent Team USA and Team Europe in the biennial clash. But, as we head towards the match at Bethpage in September, we face the very real possibility that at least one of the two captains could qualify for their own team.

Both teams for New York will be formed of six automatic qualifiers based on results across the qualifying periods, and six players whom the captains will pick.

But what happens if US captain Keegan Bradley or Team Europe leader Luke Donald find themselves in one of the automatic spots when qualifying ends? Can they lead the team and play in one of the biggest events in world sport?

The short answer is, yes… if they want to.

Donald got the year’s second men’s major off at 7am on Thursday morning, firing a stunning bogey-free four-under par 67 to sit atop the leaderboard as he signed his card five-and-a-half hours later. But, despite performing admirably in the first round at Quail Hollow, victory in the major seems an even longer shot than some of those the former World No.1 faced into the greens on this long and soft golf course.

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“A great score for me, haven’t really been trending towards this, but that’s golf,” he said afterwards. “Putted really well today. 67 on a course that isn’t exactly suited to my game, I’m very happy with.

“It’s nice to throw in a good round to show these young guys the captain has some golf left in him.”

The Englishman came into the week with low expectations having missed the cut in the four events he’s played in 2025 and knowing the length of the Charlotte layout would be against him. Plus, for all his victories on the PGA and DP World Tours, the now World No.871 has never won a major. If he were to do so here, at the ripe age of 47 while playing on a special invite due to his Ryder Cup role, it would be one of the most incredible victories ever.

Even then, it feels unlikely that Donald, who won the Ryder Cup in all four of his playing appearances and led Europe to victory in Rome as captain in 2023, would qualify for the side. He’s currently 163^rd in the standings and, while it would be unusual for a reigning Major champion not to be in the team, Donald is unlikely to accept the spot if he makes it. And if he’s on the cusp, the wealth of talent he has to choose from, coupled with his knowledge of what the captaincy entails, makes it unthinkable that he’d pick himself.

It is, however, far more realistic that Bradley could face the dilemma. In choosing a relatively young captain (once Tiger Woods decided he didn’t want to role, of course) who is active and competitive on tour, it was always a possibility and one Bradley, whose only previous Ryder Cup appearances came in the US defeats at Medinah in 2012 and Gleneagles 2014, has welcomed.

His counterpart also believes he could be facing a playing captain.

“Keegan is top 20 in the world. He can have one good week out here, win, which he’s very capable of, and he’s absolutely in the conversation of being a playing captain,” Donald said at Quail Hollow.

“I don’t think that’s quite in my future, but Keegan, we live very close together. I see where he practices, and he practices very hard. He’s still one of the top players in the world.”

The 38-year-old sits 22^nd in the US rankings and is arguably playing the best golf of his career. Since being appointed, Bradley has claimed his seventh PGA Tour title – at the BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, no less – and finished 5^th at the Hero World Challenge, T6 at the Sony Open and T5 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He also has another four top 20s to his name this season and has missed just one cut since The Open Championship in Troon last July, although that came at The Masters.

With the Majors holding such significance, that MC could prove decisive for the man from Vermont, but, the skipper sits just one shot back of Donald after the opening round at Quail Hollow and has his eyes firmly set on winning a second PGA Championship, 14 years after his maiden major success.

Players to win a Major at the first attempt

Francis Ouimet: 1913 US Open (The Country Club)

Ben Curtis: 2003 Open Championship (Royal St George’s)

Keegan Bradley: 2011 PGA Championship (Atlanta Athletic Club)

His team matchplay record is solid (4-3-0 in the Ryder Cup, 4-3-1 in the Presidents Cup) and he speaks openly about his passion for the format and representing his country. Most recently, Bradley played for the US in their Presidents Cup success in Canada in September 2024, two months after he’d been named Ryder Cup captain.

Bradley was openly disappointed at missing out on a pick from his old friend and predecessor Zach Johnson’s team for the last Ryder Cup match in Rome – the heartbreaking phone call between the two forming a key part of the second season of Netflix’s Full Swing – and while he says “”I don’t even think about me as a player at this point,” he hasn’t ruled out playing if he gets the chance.

“If I get to the end of the year and I’m in that conversation, I’ll change that,” he said during his press conference at the PGA Championship.

“For now, I have to operate every day as if I’m the captain and make decisions as the captain. I’m not thinking of myself as a player on the team at the moment.”

But if Bradley does end up balancing both roles, could that hand an advantage to Europe?

“If you’re playing yourself, you’re going to be on the golf course and so you’re going to, you’re going to have to give the choice-making, the decision-making, to someone else,” Donald said as he delved further into the challenges of being a playing captain.

“You know, then obviously you have to instruct, I guess, that person what to look for, what you’re trying to accomplish. And if you’re trying to play as well, that’s a little bit distracting.

“I don’t think there would be much distraction up until the Ryder Cup. It’s just the week of. It’s just you’re not watching the guys. But you do have assistant captains, vice captains, to do all that and relay that message to you. It’s just an extra step you wouldn’t usually have to deal with.”

One of Bradley’s vice captains is Brandt Snedeker, who will also captain USA at the next Presidents Cup captain. He doesn’t believe it’s possible to carry out both roles without huge support, but is backing the captain to be one of the 12 men attempting to win back the famous trophy.

“I think Keegan will probably lean on Jim [Furyk], obviously, who’s going to be in that room as well. There’s a bunch of guys that can step up and hopefully fill that void [if he makes the team].”

“I think everybody on the team wants Keegan to play great and make the team. I think that’s something that the players have spoken about quite openly, that they think Keegan is one of the 12 best players in the world now on the American side, and he needs to go prove that.

“With regards to who would be the captain in that scenario, we have four other guys in the room right now that are perfectly capable of it, and I’m sure there will be some collaboration between all of us to take over that role for Keegan even though this is going to be Keegan’s team.

“No matter if he’s playing or captaining, his fingerprints are going to be all over it. Our job as assistant captains will be to make sure that we carry out his wishes and carry out the team thing the way he wants it done.”

Aside from Snedeker and Furyk, Bradley has appointed Kevin Kisner and Webb Simpson as vice captains. Luke Donald has opted for Jose Maria Olazabal, Thomas Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari as his right-hand men, with further additions expected.

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Should Bradley or Donald find themselves teeing it up in front of the enormous first tee crowds come September 26, they would be the first playing captains since the match changed to a clash between the US and Europe in 1979.

Before that, when a team of golfers from Great Britain and Ireland would take on the Americans, it had been a regular occurrence, with Arnold Palmer the last man to take on playing-captain duties in 1963. The King, as he was affectionately known, led his side to a dominant 23-9 victory at Atlanta Country Club, winning four of a possible six points on the course. While the modern format has changed, it’s safe to say that either of this year’s captains would snap your hand off for a comprehensive victory with or without them on the side.

How many Ryder Cup playing captains have there been?

There have been 13 playing-captains in Ryder Cup history, with many taking on the role on more than one occasion. 23 Ryder Cups have featured playing captains.

They were very much the norm from the Ryder Cup’s inception in 1927 until Palmer carried out the role most recently in 1963. That was the first time the Ryder Cup was extended to three days, with all previous clashes taking place across two days and just 36 holes, which explains why the playing-captain role was so normal.

In the 15 Ryder Cups between 1927 and 1963, only seven of the 30 captains didn’t play in the matches, and only one of the matches saw both captains solely carry out that role.

Team USA has had eight Ryder Cup playing captains across 13 Ryder Cups, while Great Britain had five playing captains leading them in 10 of the matches.

Who has been the Ryder Cup playing captain the most times?

Walter Hagen (above) holds the overall record. Of his six captaincies, the first five were all as playing captain. He won three and lost twice while carrying out the dual role, before leading his side to victory in his final captaincy.

Dai Rees holds the record for Great Britain. The Welshman made four appearances as playing captain, winning on one occasion between 1955 and 191. He captained the side again in 1967, suffering a 23½-8½  defeat.

Charles Whitcombe carried out the playing-captain role three times from 1931-1937, losing all three. The Englishman captained again in 1949, suffering a fourth defeat.

Ted Ray was Great Britain’s first captain, with George Duncan the first to lead the side on British soil. He famously thrashed USA captain Walter Hagen 10&8 across 36 holes in the singles during a 7-5 victory at Moortown in Leeds.

That was the first of two times playing captains met in the Ryder Cup singles, with Hagen opposing captain Whitcombe 4&3 in 1931.

Sam Snead did it twice as the only other multiple playing captain, joining the likes of Ben Hogan, Henry Cotton, and Arnold Palmer.

Who has the best record as Ryder Cup playing captain?

Given he did it five times, it’s no surprise that Walter Hagen has won the most matches as a Ryder Cup playing captain. He won seven from nine, with one half and just the one (big) defeat to George Duncan, detailed above.

Dai Rees won five and lost five across four Ryder Cups, while, as mentioned earlier, Arnold Palmer won four of his six matches in his one playing captaincy.

Rees and Charles Whitcombe lost three Ryder Cups as playing captains, but Rees did manage one victory. His win in 1957 leaves Jack Burke Jr as the only American player captain not to win a Ryder Cup.

Sam Snead was unbeaten as a player captain, both on and off the course. He led US to two victories while also winning three and halving one of his four matches.

Ryder Captain Playing Captain Records

Ryder Cup results with player captains