McIlroy says that Ryder Cup is too big to be a play captain
Rory McIlroy acknowledges the crowd as he rises the 18th Green during the last round of the British Open Golf Championship in the Royal Portush Golf Club, Noord -Ireland, Sunday 20 July 2025.Francisco Seco/The Associated Press
Rory Mcilroy believes that the Ryder Cup has become too big an event for a captain to play in the games and said on Wednesday that he already shot the idea when he once approached it to do it himself.
But he is no less fascinated by the mystery to the American captain Keegan Bradley.
“I definitely think he is one of the best 12 American players at the moment,” said McIlroy on Wednesday prior to the BMW championship. “That is why everyone is so interested and it is such a fascinating thing. I am just as interested as everyone to see how it all is doing.”
That includes Bradley, who is not an ordinary captain of Ryder Cup.
He is 39, the youngest American captain since Arnold Palmer at the age of 34 in 1963. He is also the defending champion of the BMW championship, one of his two PGA Tour titles in the past year that brought him into position to make the team alone.
He should win in Caves Valley to earn one of the six automatic places. Then he makes six Captain’s Picks after next week’s tour championship.
The Ryder Cup is 26-28 September at Bethpage Black.
“I can really sit here and say that I don’t know what is going to happen,” said Bradley. “I have to look at myself, just like any other player trying to make the team.”
The Ryder Cup did not have a play captain 62 years ago since Palmer in East Lake, when the king was still in his prime (he won the Masters the following year) and matches were not really a competition against players from Great -Britain and Ireland.
Keegan Bradley plays his shot of the 18th Tee during the last round of the Fedex St. Jude Championship Golf.Steve Roberts/Reuters
Bradley is no. 10 in the ranking of Ryder Cup. He is no. 12 in the world, with only six other Americans arranged for him. He is also no. 14 in the FedEx Cup, with only eight other Americans on that list.
“If I were the captain, I would choose Keegan. I think he played great,” said Patrick Cantlay.
Scottie Scheffler, the number 1 player in the world who held his place in another American team long ago, said that Bradley could only add to what he regards as a strong team.
“If that is something that Keegan wants to be part of the team and wants to play, I think he is a man we would all like to have in the team,” Scheffler said.
McIlroy played with him for two days in the Travelers Championship – Bradley won that week – and then said: “If he doesn’t end in the top six and he does not choose himself, you could say that America is not going with their very best.”
Yet McIlroy has its doubts.
The Ryder Cup has become the biggest spectacle in Golf. Bradley is called up every week for planning and other logistics involved. There are daily media managements during the Ryder Cup. There are setup to consider.
“You think of the extra media that a captain should do, you think of the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, who prepares your speech for the opening ceremony,” said McIlroy. “There are many things that people don’t see that the captain is doing the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so large.
“If you had said it 20 years ago, I would say, yes, it was probably possible to do,” he said. “But how big a spectacle and everything that is now at stake in a Ryder Cup, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in.”
He also suggested that Bradley would probably be limited to playing one of the two sessions on Friday and Saturday, which could harm the American team if Bradley had a hot hand that week.
Tiger Woods played Captain on the 2019 President Cup – much less intense, and an event that the Americans have not lost since 1998 – and only played one session a day in Royal Melbourne.
“There are many different things that go in, and that’s why I think … look, it’s just my opinion, but I think it would just be very difficult to do.”
Bradley has also considered this. He finally said that he would look at himself as he makes another potential choice, with advice from his assistant captains and the six players who automatically qualify.
“He may be right,” Bradley said about McIlroy’s opinion. “We don’t know. Nobody knows. Yes, as everyone tells me that I have to start the year that a player cannot be a leader and have a good year. For me I feel that this is one of my best years I have ever had.”
Bradley said he spent a career on people for advice on preparing Majors, dealing with the media, fulfilling business obligations, all elements of professional wave.
“In this case there is no one to call,” said Bradley. “So nobody knows how this could work.”
