The lie which every single Ryder Cup captain tells before the event, ‘it’s never been true’

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The upcoming Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black is one of the most eagerly anticipated showdowns in recent memory.

Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald are set to face off at Bethpage for the 45th edition of the Ryder Cup in just seven weeks’ time.

All the talk right now is revolving around whether the 39-year-old from Vermont will act as a playing captain in September.

Davis Love III has insisted that Bradley can captain the Ryder Cup team as well as play at Bethpage Black.

Many journalists, fans and PGA Tour players have been urging Bradley to play on the Ryder Cup team, and the way he has performed this season, he most surely will.

However, he has plenty of other big decisions to make, including which six players he picks to join the six automatic qualifiers.

The lie which every single Ryder Cup captain tells before the event

It’s common for leaders in any industry to try to build up confidence before a big event.

It’s like the struggling salesman who turns up in a newer, much nicer car in order to project an image of success. It’s all about perception isn’t it?

However, The Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch has highlighted how Ryder Cup captains always tell another big lie to the public.

And it concerns wanting good characters in the locker room, rather than purely just the 12 best players.

He said: “It does raise this interesting question over are we going to get the change we were promised. Keegan Bradley was the change agent. It was the old guard and the buddy system was put to rest. Now we just heard that part of the consideration would be the culture of the team and who fits well.

“Every captain comes out and tells you they want the 12 best players. It’s a lie. It’s never been true. They want the 12 best players that everyone can tolerate in the locker room.

“That’s a lesson the Americans have learnt in a pretty hard way in the last 12 to 15 years. It’s why they had a task force and why the players took control of the system.

“We are going to see some changes this year, more so on the American side. If you look at the European guys who were playing in Rome for Luke Donald two years ago, almost every one of them is in the mix again.

“You talk about Rory and Rahm and Hovland and Aberg and Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood. The only one who is borderline at the moment is Nicolaj Hojgaard and his twin brother is in the mix.

“You look on the American side and the only guys who are pretty much locked who were there last time around are Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas I would argue.

“Everyone else is in pretty poor form. Just look at the list of names who were there a few years ago. Cantlay, Homa, Spieth, Burns, Koepka, Harman, Clark. It’s a very spotty record with form for those guys. And there are guys who are not part of the buddy system you can make a case for like Ben Griffin, Maverick McNealy, Chris Gotterup. There are a lot of questions to be answered on the US side. Whether Keegan is playing might not be the most revealing one of all.“

Previous Ryder Cup results

There is no hiding the fact that Europe have been totally dominant in the Ryder Cup over the past 30 years.

A real power shift began in the mid-90s, and the Americans have gone on to win just four Ryder Cups since 1993.

Here are the results since 1995:

Europe have won 10 out of the last 14 Ryder Cup meetings with the United States.

And Bradley will be desperate to turn the tide this year, whether he plays or not.