The Ryder Cup was founded almost 100 years ago, in 1927, and the 45th contest will take place at the end of September, at the somewhat infamous Bethpage Black Course, in Farmingdale, New York. With the four majors done and dusted for another year, there is still the conclusion of the FedEx Cup for fans and players to focus on.
However, after that mega payday is completed, almost all attention in the world of golf will switch to the Ryder Cup, an event where, despite the best efforts of some players, pride, honour and teamwork are what matter far more than any financial reward. For a long time now it has been clear that the player the US decided on to be their captain, Keegan Bradley, would almost certainly merit a place on their team as a player. He is currently ranked number 12 in the world, but the highest he has ever been is seventh, and he was ranked there as recently as the end of July.
Even now, the man from Woodstock, who turned 39 in June, is the eighth-highest ranked American, according to the official global standings. The US team will be made up of six automatic qualifiers, based on a ranking system that includes points won at the conclusion of the upcoming BMW Championship, which finishes on the 17th of August.
Three players have already qualified but Bradley is one of a number of golfers who could yet make the top six. If he does not earn an automatic spot, he will then face the very tricky decision of whether or not to give himself one of the captain’s – which is to say his own – picks.
It will be truly fascinating to see what happens but this week European legend Rory McIlroy was quick to rule himself out of ever taking on a role as a playing captain. The Career Grand Slam champion could have been considered for that task in the Ryder Cup’s 100-year anniversary event, which will be held in Ireland, at Adare Manor.
Rory has shown himself to be a fabulous leader as a player at the Ryder Cup and more generally in his opposition to LIV. Playing as the captain in Ireland would have been another fairytale twist in a career that has spanned sporting tragedy and also the highest of highs. However, the Holywood man recently said “I don’t think you can do it”.
He said “I’ve been asked to do that and I’ve turned it down. The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon has come up and I’ve shot it down straight away”. He added that it “would be very difficult to do”. We would say that is an understatement, but have we ever had a player attempt it before?
No Playing Captain in the Modern Era
So it isn’t for Rory and we will soon know if it is to be a reality for Bradley. But has anyone ever attempted to be both one of the 12 players at a Ryder Cup, and also the team captain, before? In the many years since the USA’s opposition expanded to become Europe, neither side has fielded a playing captain. That is almost 50 years of golf, with the Ryder Cup first being contested between USA and Europe in 1979. We have seen some incredible players and captains on both sides over the years but nobody has seen fit to attempt both roles.
What’s more, as the media attention and public interest in the Ryder Cup has grown, and golf in general has become increasingly professional, the role of the Ryder Cup skipper has become much bigger. So certainly to do it now would be far more difficult than it would have been even 20 or 30 years ago.
Even though teams now routinely have multiple vice-captains, the main man remains the figurehead and leader. For Europe, the buck will stop with Luke Donald and he will get most of the glory if things go well and carry the can if they don’t. He will undertake the bulk of the media duties and have the biggest say in how the team is made up, what pairings are used, the order of the singles and more.
Bradley has stated that he believes he can let his vice-captains have a bigger role if he is to play but quite how that would work remains to be seen. Bradley is surely one of the best 12 US players as the Ryder Cup approaches. However, if he does not make the top six and qualify automatically, selecting himself to play will surely only heap more pressure onto his shoulders.
If he plays and doesn’t win, he will be heavily criticized, especially if he selects himself for a lot of the matches. On the other hand, if he only decides to use himself in the singles, or perhaps that and one other match, he will be challenged about whether it would have been better to have a more active player among the 12.
That said, on home soil the US will be clear favourites, despite the strong season many Europeans have had on the PGA Tour. And if Bradley leads his side to victory, the questions of how many points he won and how often he played just won’t get asked.
Who Was the Last Player-Captain?
The last player to simultaneously perform a dual role was the charismatic legend, Arnold Palmer. The seven-time major champion did the job when a win for the US was virtually a given and they competed against a team comprising just British players.
In 1963 he helped America to a win by a massive 23 points to nine. Two years earlier, on this side of the Atlantic, he had been his side’s top points scorer in a 14.5-9.5 win. As captain he won even more points, earning four, though two others got four and a half. He played six matches in 1963 though, when the format was different, recording four wins and two defeats.
More Common in the Earlier Days
Prior to Palmer’s successful campaign in 1963 it was far more common for a player to also captain the side. There was so much less to do, with media duties limited and the captain’s role not all that much more than selecting who played with who and giving a bit of a pep talk. Not only that, but finances were limited, so the idea of flying a whole entourage of non-playing captains and vice-captains to the Ryder Cup was simply unfeasible.
Players like Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead regularly acted as both player and captain for the US. Equally Charles Whitcombe and Dai Rees were among those to do so for Great Britain. In the 1920s and 1930s it was the norm to do so but the Ryder Cup has changed beyond recognition, so Bradley may face some very interesting choices in the weeks ahead.