It seems remarkable that there appears to be a genuine chance that this year could see a change of captain for the second Ryder Cup in a row, with Keegan Bradley seemingly on course to make his own team as a player.
Keegan Bradley winning the Travelers Championship has seemingly thrown the cat among the pigeons when it comes to the USA Ryder Cup team. The 39-year-old is now seventh in the world rankings, while he sits ninth in the qualification standings.
Given that Bradley has won the final signature event on the PGA Tour this year, it is hard to see him not making his return to the Ryder Cup for the first time in more than a decade.
Bradley has insisted that he is not standing down as captain. And the good news for Team USA is that he does have Jim Furyk as a vice-captain. Furyk is no stranger to the top job.
But Bradley is not on the team yet. There is a chance that he is wary of getting carried away at a time when a loss of form would potentially see him fall out of the top 12. So there is next to no chance of him standing down at this stage anyway.
The comment about Henrik Stenson being stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy which saw Rory McIlroy come in for criticism
Should he decide to step aside closer to the time, it will be the second Ryder Cup in a row in which a captain has had to be replaced.
Of course, Europe appointed Luke Donald in 2022 after Henrik Stenson decided to join LIV Golf. The Swede was stripped of the captaincy before his move to LIV was even confirmed.
Donald went on to oversee an outstanding win in Rome. His captaincy was so impressive that his players were chanting for the Englishman to stay on for Bethpage as they celebrated their victory.
And Rory McIlroy made his feelings about Donald’s captaincy incredibly clear just a couple of months later when asked about the prospect of Stenson getting another shot in the future.
Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter among those left baffled by Rory McIlroy’s comment
Unsurprisingly, McIlroy’s comments led to criticism. Ian Poulter seemingly joked that it must be a post from a fake account, replying: ‘Guys calm down …. This is a parody fake account.. Rory McIlroy wouldn’t say this. it’s fake I promise you. He is a class act and wouldn’t say that about a teammate’.
Meanwhile, Lee Westwood wrote: ‘Nice to see the season of good will in full swing! Merry Christmas!!!‘
DP World Tour stalwart Pablo Larrazabal wrote: ‘Really? I don’t really like where this is going. Rory didn’t say that.‘
McIlroy has not been afraid to vent his feelings about LIV Golf over the last few years. But it was definitely an unnecessary comment when he did not even need to respond to the question he was asked in the first place.
Obviously, the circumstances would be completely different if Bradley did decide to step down to concentrate on playing at Bethpage.
But the events which led to Stenson’s removal just show that so much can change in no time at all in the game of golf.
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