With Keegan Bradley playing well enough to contend to make USA’s 2025 Ryder Cup team, there appears to be so many questions that the captain is going to have to answer in the coming months.
The PGA of America appear to have taken a real gamble by appointing Keegan Bradley as the captain of the Ryder Cup team. The 38-year-old was in the top 20 in the world rankings when the announcement came, and he had not been involved in a Ryder Cup team in a decade.
Even when news emerged that Tiger Woods had turned down the captaincy role, few would have ever imagined that Bradley would be the figure they would turn to. It really did appear that it was going to be the perfect time for the 15-time major champion to captain the side.
Woods led USA to Presidents Cup glory in 2019. And Bethpage is arguably going to give the Americans an even bigger advantage than normal given the passion of the New York fans. However, the 48-year-old decided that he had too much on his plate to lead the team this time around.
Tiger Woods backed to potentially take key role for 2025 Ryder Cup
Bradley has confirmed two of his vice-captains, with Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker involved. With that, there is certainly space for Woods to join the backroom team once again.
But Bradley has not shut the door on playing in the team either. He is arguably playing as well as he ever has right now. Should he make the team as a player, that may pose a problem given how demanding the captaincy is.
And speaking on Golf Channel, Mark Rolfing has suggested that there could be one real upside if Bradley makes the team as a player – if Woods is open to being involved.
“Well, certainly you would think that the vice-captains ought to be prepared to be a captain in the event that Keegan couldn’t do it, but I’m actually thinking in another direction. You know me pretty well, the ultimate relentless romantic, and I keep thinking ahead, the two most important people I believe that were kept in mind when Bethpage was named as the site, that decision, were Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods,” he said.
“Phil Mickelson is not going to be involved in this Ryder Cup, but because Tiger Woods was so busy he couldn’t take on the role as a captain. So to me, being the hopeless romantic, what would be the case if Keegan kind of did all the work with John Wood, who’s been hired, for the next few months, get everything ready and then when he plays his way onto the team, he says, ‘you know what, I’m going to pass the mantle to Tiger Woods’?
“I think if it did and Tiger didn’t have to do all the work, he would be comfortable doing it, and I don’t know, it’s a difficult one to pull off.”
Woods will surely have no interest in taking on the baton
Surely there is no way that Woods is going to be prepared to take on such a role – unless he is on board from the start and being consulted over some of the decisions that Bradley is having to make.
Every captain looks to perform the job in their own way, and there may be decisions Bradley wants to make that Woods would approach in a different manner. He will certainly not want a defeat on his resume when he has been in charge for most of the process.
It would be fantastic for the 2025 Ryder Cup if Woods was involved in one way or another. However, it is hard to see him being willing to step into the role if Bradley makes the team as a player.
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