Keegan Bradley appears to be closing in on making his own Ryder Cup team after winning the Travelers Championship for a second time this past week.
There was always a good chance that Keegan Bradley would end up making his first appearance as a Ryder Cup player in more than a decade at Bethpage this year. The 39-year-old won the BMW Championship last year.
And he is now up to seventh in the world rankings and ninth in the qualification standings. Given that he has won the final signature event of the year, it is hard to imagine Bradley not teeing it up in New York.
But of course, the big concern will be how well Bradley will be able to handle being both the captain and a player in an event as mentally-exhausting as the Ryder Cup.
US Ryder Cup team manager suggests how many matches Keegan Bradley could play at Bethpage
There has not been a playing captain in the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1962. Rory McIlroy meanwhile, once said, in comments reported by Sky Sports, that he does not think that he would ever be able to be a playing captain.
Tiger Woods was a playing captain at the 2019 Presidents Cup. However, the Ryder Cup is a different animal, and played over a shorter period of time.
There is no denying however, that Bradley is in form right now. And Bradley did confirm that he has no plans to stand down as captain after winning at TPC River Highlands.
John Wood is the team manager for the Ryder Cup. And speaking on 5 Clubs, he suggested how Bradley playing at Bethpage would be handled, while also outlining the most he thinks the skipper could play if he makes the team.
“He’s been amazing with the players in terms of communication with the caddies, the potential players on the team. To compartmentalise those two things, I think ultimately if we’re getting down to the nitty gritty and it looks like he’s going to be a pick, I think what Keegan will do is probably have a big meeting with his vice-captains, with myself, maybe a couple of people from the PGA, and say, ‘guys, I’m going to play, and here’s how we’re going to do things’. And I think he’ll probably maybe glean more information from us, who’ve watched the other matches and then he’ll ultimately be the decision-maker, he’ll be the ultimate guy who ends up making that final decision. But maybe it’ll be other people who gather more information for him: ‘so and so is playing really well’, ‘so and so’s a little tired’. And then from that, maybe we can make some decisions,” he said.
“If he makes the team, my personal opinion, the most he would play is three matches, maybe even two depending on how he’s playing at the time. But I think that would be the key, to get as many key people involved once the week gets here to take stuff off his plate and simplify most of the decisions he’s going to have to make.”
How many matches Tiger Woods played as playing captain at the 2019 Presidents Cup
Woods was victorious when he captained USA at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.
The 15-time major champion went on to play in three of the five sessions that week, sitting out the entirety of Saturday.
He won on Thursday and Friday alongside Justin Thomas, while he also clinched a vital point for the visitors in the top singles match up against Abraham Ancer as the US came from 10-8 down to win 16-14.
It was one of the closer matches the Presidents Cup has seen in recent years. So perhaps some would be tempted to put that down to Woods having to juggle two roles that week.
Certainly, it is hard to imagine anyone else taking on being a playing captain in future if Bradley does so this year and Europe leave Bethpage with the trophy.
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