{"id":361737,"date":"2025-08-21T09:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T09:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/361737\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T09:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T09:38:13","slug":"ryder-cup-captain-warned-not-to-make-worst-decision-in-history-by-golf-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/361737\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryder Cup captain warned not to make ‘worst decision’ in history by golf legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Team USA captain Keegan Bradley\u2019s impending decision to play at the Ryder Cup is already being derided in the world of golf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bradley is heavily rumoured to both play and captain at the New York tournament against Team Europe, a feat that has not been done since the 1960s.<\/p>\n

\"Bradley<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bradley may step out from the shadow of players like Bryson DeChambeau to step up and playCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The 2011 PGA Championship<\/a> winner had already accepted the job of captain<\/a>, but with his form accelerating ahead of the tournament\u2019s start on September 23, speculation is increasing that he\u2019ll take the rogue step of also playing.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old has done little to put the speculation to bed, saying he\u2019ll \u2018do what\u2019s best for the team\u2019 while competitors like Rory McIlroy<\/a> have said it would be \u2018very difficult\u2019.<\/p>\n

Former Team Europe captain Sam Torrance has now gone even further, saying such a decision would be the worst he\u2019s ever seen.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, the retired Scot said: “It would be the worst decision a captain has ever made if he was a playing captain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t believe you can do it. There are things the captain has to do. He has to put the pairings in Friday and Saturday and he’s the only player in the American team that can talk to his team.<\/p>\n

“You can’t have someone else going onto the 16th saying ‘he hit a five-iron, he hit a six-iron’ – it’s only the captain that can do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also can’t glean enough information about his other teams that he’s had out that morning to get out in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very difficult scenario. I mean, he should play, but the proper thing to do is play and give the right of captaincy to [Jim] Furyk or someone else.”<\/p>\n

Bradley hasn\u2019t won a major since his one and only in 2011, but his stunning recent form has seen the Vermont native re-emerge as one of the best golfers in the world.<\/p>\n

Re-entering the top ten this year, he ranks higher than several of the players set to qualify for Team USA<\/a>, but talkSPORT\u2019s Rupert Bell has explained why doing so would be so difficult.<\/p>\n

\"Torrance<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Torrance is sure Bradley would be left regretting the callCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Ryder Cup teams<\/p>\n

Players who have already qualified<\/p>\n

Team USA<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler
J.J. Spaun
Xander Schauffele
Russell Henley
Harris English
Bryson DeChambeau<\/p>\n

Team Europe<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy
Robert MacIntyre
Tommy Fleetwood
Justin Rose
Tyrrell Hatton<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s talking like he wants to [do it],\u201d the golf expert said. \u201cHe was part of the team that suffered the defeat in the Miracle at Medinah [Europe\u2019s comeback win in 2012] and there\u2019s a lot he wants to prove.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough ask – Arnold Palmer did it back in the 60s when the Ryder Cup<\/a> was no more than a glorified exhibition where the Americans turned up and won but this is a different beast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very difficult to win away in the Americas as Europe did back in 2012 and since then it\u2019s basically been a home side benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an odd choice to make him captain in the first place, but if he does it\u2019s going to put a lot of pressure on his six vice captains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when does he play? He could do it if he doesn\u2019t play the morning matches, then he could help with the selections and in the afternoons he could make himself play then, or he could just sit it out until the singles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is one of the form players on the PGA Tour<\/a>, so if it was any one of the other captains he\u2019d be a shoo-in to play as a player, but now he\u2019s got the added burden.<\/p>\n

\"Bell<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bell explained that the dual role has not been taken since the 60s with the legendary PalmerCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019ll do it, he\u2019s a strong character and he has things to prove, it\u2019s a brave call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further explaining why the dual-role is so hard, Team Europe hero McIlroy revealed he\u2019d previously been offered the job but instantly rejected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been asked and I\u2019ve turned it down,\u201d the Northern Irishman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s come up and I\u2019ve shot it down straight away because I just don\u2019t think you can do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commitments a captain has the week of, the extra media, the extra meetings with the vice captains and PGA of America, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of things people don\u2019t see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now it\u2019s become so big.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

McIlroy will likely be pleased if his rival makes the bold stepCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d said it 20 years ago I\u2019d have said yeah it\u2019s probably possible, but with how big of a spectacle and what\u2019s on the line now I think it would be a very difficult thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team USA captain Keegan Bradley\u2019s impending decision to play at the Ryder Cup is already being derided in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,4366,83247,4287,4321,84290,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-361737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-golf-news","10":"tag-keegan-bradley","11":"tag-rory-mcilroy","12":"tag-ryder-cup","13":"tag-ryder-cup-captains","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115066091381708047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}