Keegan Bradley “would love” to be a Ryder Cup playing captain

Fresh from winning the BMW Championship, Keegan Bradley has outlined his desire to be a playing captain for the USA in next year’s Ryder Cup. 

Bradley, 38, held off Ludvig Aberg, Adam Scott and Sam Burns to win the second of the PGA Tour’s three FedEx Cup Playoff events, vaulting himself to 11th on the Official World Golf Rankings in the process.

Should he maintain that form over the next 12 months, he will be in a strong position to qualify automatically for the United States side he will lead into the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

No American has been a playing captain in the biennial contest since Arnold Palmer back in 1963 but Bradley – surprisingly picked for the job last month – is keen to be the man to break that mould.

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“I would love to be a playing captain,” he said. “No one has really had the opportunity that I’ve had.

“I think you could have given Phil or Tiger a chance to be captain at my age and they would have played on the teams. But it’s never really had a chance to happen.

“It’s going to be really hard for me to make that team, but if I make the team, I’ll play. I don’t see myself being a captain’s pick. But I’ll be proud to just be the captain.

“If I have to go out there and play, I’d love to do that, too.”

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More immediately, Bradley has a chance to make the US Presidents Cup team for next month’s clash at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada.

“I can’t even wrap my head around it,” he admitted. “I don’t know where that’s going to go, but I’m happy to do whatever and play whatever role they want me to play.

“One of my goals was to make that Presidents Cup team. So we’ll see.

“I hope I didn’t throw a huge wrench in everybody’s plans, but I’m proud to be in consideration.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor