What happens if Keegan Bradley makes his own Ryder Cup team?

Keegan Bradley has been in the form of his life since being handed the Team USA captaincy for the Bethpage showdown. So how will it work if he heads to New York as a player as well as a leader?

There is only one certainty about Keegan Bradley at this year’s Ryder Cup. And that is that he will be there.

Whether that’s as a captain or playing captain remains to be seen.

Bradley was the surprise choice to lead Team USA into the firepit that is New York’s Bethpage State Park this September. When Tiger Woods turned down the role, the PGA of America felt they had few options.

Just months before, Bradley had been publicly humiliated by his predecessor Zach Johnson, who opted not to take his old friend to Rome for the 2023 matches in a heartbreaking scene that was played out for all the world to see on Netflix’s Full Swing documentary.

The announcement was made more peculiar when you consider that Bradley’s last involvement in the Ryder Cup was more than a decade ago – when the American team was thrashed at Gleneagles – two years after he top-scored for his side in the Miracle at Medinah. He has not even served as an assistant.

But his passion for the tournament has never wavered. Bradley was so disheartened by that defeat in his debut, when Europe overturned a four-point deficit in Sunday’s singles to retain the trophy, that he still hasn’t unpacked his suitcase from that week. “I promised myself I wouldn’t open it till I won a Ryder Cup,⁣” he explained.

There’s a good chance that zipper’s being pulled later this year. Luke Donald’s Europeans have an almighty task to overcome a US side that’s been so dominant on home soil since that famous weekend in Chicago.

There’s also the very real possibility that Bradley is pulling on the red, white and blue as a player once more.

So what happens if US captain Bradley – or, indeed, 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.

The US team hasn’t had a playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Not that it seemed to affect the King, who went 4-2-0 that week in a whopping 23-9 victory for his side. But the Ryder Cup was different back then. It’s a different beast these days, and the role of captain requires so much more.

And with Bradley, it’s a very real possibility – even Donald thinks so.

“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 the PGA Championship.

“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.”

Since being appointed, Bradley has claimed his seventh PGA Tour title – at the BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, no less – and finished 5th 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 in Troon last July, although that came at the Masters. A tie for 8th at the PGA Championship was followed up by a T7 at the Memorial.

Ahead of the US Open, Bradley is 16th in the US Ryder Cup standings.

“I don’t even think about me as a player at this point,” he said at Quail Hollow.

“If I get to the end of the year and I’m in that conversation, I’ll change that. For now, I have to operate every day as if I’m the captain and make decisions as the captain,” he said at Quail Hollow. “I’m not thinking of myself as a player on the team at the moment.”

His team match play record reads 4-3-0 in the Ryder Cup and 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.

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 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.”

Snedeker concluded: “He’s got to play great golf the rest of the year. I know he will. He’s working hard at it. We’ll see how it all shakes out.”

Aside from Snedeker and Furyk, Bradley has appointed Kevin Kisner and Webb Simpson as vice captains. 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