Should Keegan Bradley Pick Himself For The Ryder Cup

And so we now know the identities of the six automatic qualifiers for the USA’s attempt to wrestle the Ryder Cup from Europe at Bethpage Black.

They are Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.

US captain Keegan Bradley will announce the names of his six captain’s picks after the Tour Championship, and there is only one real question to be answered: will he pick himself?

Bradley, who won the recent Travelers Championship, easily made the field for East Lake and finished the Ryder Cup qualifying process in 10th place. He is currently ranked 13th in the world. There are only seven Americans ahead of him on the world stage.

On the face of it, the decision is a no-brainer. Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton are all ranked below him but are certainties to make the European team.

If Bradley was not captain I believe it is a certainty that he would be elected, especially after being controversially overlooked by Zach Johnson two years ago when most people expected him to be selected.

If you were to draw up the perfect identikit Ryder Cup player you would almost certainly come up with Bradley. He is a passionate American who loves representing his country, he makes lots of birdies and his ability to find fairways makes him an ideal foursomes partner. And, of course, he is in form.

But he is captain and the last man to combine playing and captaincy duties was Arnold Palmer way back in 1963. The Ryder Cup was a very different animal all those years ago. To be frank, the Americans did not take the contest very seriously because they believed that all they had to do to win it was to turn up - and they were right.

The demands on the captain now are huge. Rory McIlroy told the media last week that he had been approached about the possibility of being a playing captain in the future and immediately dismissed the idea. The 2027 Ryder Cup will be held at Adare Manor in the Republic of Ireland. 

McIlroy 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. I don't think you can do it.

"There's a lot of things that people don't see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big," he said.

"The captain isn't going to be on the course all day, so the captain is only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday. Would you not rather have the flexibility to go twice if he's playing well? There's just a lot of different things that go into it.

"That's why, and it's just my opinion, I think it would be very difficult to do."

There is a clamour for Bradley to name himself, and he almost certainly will do so, but he is going to face some huge challenges. 

For starters, the captain will be expected to perform extensive media duties during the three days of the contest and in the days leading up to it. How can you do that and focus on your game?

And what happens if Bradley goes out on the first morning and shoots the lights out? He will then surely feel obliged to name himself to go again in the afternoon. But if he is out there playing, how does he keep tabs on the rest of his players and how they are faring? It seems pretty obvious that he would have to rely heavily on his vice-captains - and if he is doing that then you have to ask if it would not be better for the American cause for him to stand down as captain?

Bradley has consistently made it clear that he has absolutely no intention of giving up the captaincy, describing it as the greatest honour of his career.

The problem is that he is on a hiding to nothing. If the Americans lose, and lose badly, he is certain to be the scapegoat. Bradley is not a man who is short on confidence. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be playing at Bethpage Black - and I cannot help but feel that is only going to be good news for Europe’s chances. There are simply too many distractions and too many demands on his time for him to be able to do both jobs properly.