Xander Schauffele will be one of the 12 American players in the Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black in September, but will Keegan Bradley play on the team as well?
Schauffele is currently sitting in second place in the U.S. Ryder Cup points list while Bradley is in ninth spot.
All of the talk ahead of the showdown with Team Europe is regarding whether or not the 39-year-old from Vermont will play as well as captain the United States side at Bethpage Black.
The possibility of Bradley acting as a playing captain at the Ryder Cup has been labelled as ‘startling’ and ‘extraordinary’ by those across the pond in Europe.
The problem is that he has been playing such good golf this season that leaving him off the team seems almost impossible right now.
Kevin Kisner has already suggested that Bradley should definitely play at the Ryder Cup, and that’s a view shared by many players.
However, Schauffele appears to be the only player who has highlighted a potential problem with serving the roles of both player and captain at the Ryder Cup.
Xander Schauffele on Keegan Bradley acting as playing captain at the Ryder Cup
Schauffele is clearly a very big fan of Bradley as a player.
But will it be wise for the eight-time PGA Tour winner to play as well as act as captain of the U.S team at Bethpage in September?
Performing both roles will place an awful lot of pressure on his shoulders.
Schauffele was asked about Bradley’s form this season and whether it would make sense for him to act as a playing captain at Bethpage.
He said: “Yeah, clearly he’s earning it. If you ask him, he’s playing the best golf of his career. We just want our best 12 playing. You know, I think that’s sort of what it really comes down to. So he is just flying up the qualifying, that standings leaderboard. Would I be surprised if he got into the top six and wasn’t even a conversation anymore? I don’t think I’d be very surprised and I don’t think he would, either.
“You know, if he does, it’s going to be a fun situation for himself but I think he’s surrounded himself with really good vice captains. I don’t think he’s going to make a decision he regrets.“
The 31-year-old was then asked whether he foresees any potential obstacles for Bradley, if he does indeed act as a player and a captain.
Schauffele responded: “I mean, you’d have to, the responsibility, you have to prepare and practise and get your head in the right place. It would probably be some sort of co-captaincy. It wouldn’t be that; on paper, he would still be but at the end of the day, they are big shoes to fill and to do it all alone would be really difficult, even if he wasn’t playing.“
It’s a fair point from Schauffele, and Bradley clearly has a contingency plan with a backroom team stacked full of seriously experienced vice-captains.
What Bradley said about Ryder Cup captaincy after winning at The Travelers
Many golf fans have suggested that acting as a playing captain at the Ryder Cup in this day and age could well be an impossible task.
However, there’s one thing that won’t be happening, and that is Bradley giving up his role as captain.
After the 39-year-old won the Travelers Championship last month, he was asked directly whether he would consider passing up the captaincy role in order to focus on playing at the Ryder Cup.
Bradley delivered a definitive answer regarding his Ryder Cup captaincy, and he highlighted the role that his vice-captains will have to play at Bethpage.
He said: “I’m definitely still going to be the captain. I’m not stepping down or any of that. I’ve put too much work into this, but I do have incredible vice-captains. Before I said where I definitely wasn’t going to play, I didn’t have any of these guys. Now that I’ve been around them, Jim Furyk, Sneds and Kisner and one more to come, I feel a lot more comfortable with that.“
So all that remains to be seen now is whether firstly, Bradley qualifies automatically for the Ryder Cup team or not and secondly, whether he decides to pick himself if he doesn’t end up inside the top six of the points list come September.
It seems like every top American tour pro wants Bradley on the team. Whether he should play and serve as the team captain still remains a hot topic of discussion though.
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