OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Keegan Bradley’s impending decision on whether to pick himself as one of the 12 members of the United States Ryder Cup team stands as one of the most substantial storylines entering the 2025 BMW Championship. Given Bradley is in a rare position as a 39-year-old captain who remains one of his nation’s best players, there has been no shortage of peers asked to weigh in about that looming call.
Bradley could become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963, and he recently received vocal support to that end from Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay, the latter of whom is fighting for one of those captain’s picks. While the Americans seem to be behind Bradley taking a dual role, European star Rory McIlroy has a different viewpoint as to whether it can be done effectively.
McIlroy was asked this week whether he had any desire to perform as a playing captain at some point in his career. He noted that such a concept has been floated to him before, but he immediately declined to discuss the idea.
“No, I’ve been asked to do that, and I’ve turned it down,” McIlroy said. “The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon coming up has come up, and I’ve shot it down straight away.”
When asked why, McIlroy simply replied: “Because I don’t think you can do it.”
McIlroy explained that performing in the dual role requires too much being put on one person’s plate during an important event.
“I just think the commitments that a captain has the week of — you think about the extra media that a captain has to do, you think about the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, in Keegan’s case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony — just 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,” McIlroy said.
“If you’d have said it 20 years ago, I’d say, ‘Yeah, it was probably possible to do,’ but how big of a spectacle and everything that’s on the line in a Ryder Cup now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in.
“Then the captain isn’t going to be on the course all day, so really, the captain’s only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday,” McIlroy added. “Would you rather not have a player that has the flexibility to go twice if he’s playing well? There’s a lot of different things that go into it, and that’s why I think — look, it’s just my opinion, but I think — it would just be very difficult to do.”
The latter point is particularly fascinating as a playing captain does remove roster versatility by only being available for three of five sessions — or risk not seeing any of their team all day. The challenge for the Americans and Bradley this year, as McIlroy noted, is that Bradley has put together a tremendous season and would almost certainly be playing on the team based purely on his on-course production.
“I definitely think he’s one of the best 12 American players right now,” McIlroy said. “That’s why everyone is so interested and it’s such a compelling case. I’m just as interested as everyone else to see how it all plays out.”
McIlroy is a smart golfer and no stranger to rousing international team competition. There’s no doubt that he’s offering honest insight into the concept of a playing captain while simultaneously taking an opportunity to sow a bit of discord into the opposing side going into the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
The Europeans are trying to become the first team to win a road Ryder Cup since they pulled off the miracle at Medinah in 2012, and the Bradley situation offers a nice opportunity for Rory to stir the pot with the Americans six weeks out.