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The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black could go down in the history books. Keegan Bradley could be Team USA's playing captain, the first captain to play since Arnold Palmer in 1962. If Bradley opens the door and succeeds, it could lead to more playing captains down the stretch. But Rory McIlroy says he won't be a playing captain in the Ryder Cup anytime soon, per The Athletic's Hugh Kellenberger.
“The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon has come up, and I’ve shot it down straight away,” McIlroy told reporters. per Kellenberger. “I don’t think you can do it.”
McIlroy did not say he was asked to captain the 2027 Ryder Cup team, but it is easy to assume that is what he is talking about. Those matches will be at Celtic Manor in Ireland, and McIlroy is from Northern Ireland. Even with the hometown connection, the five-time major winner wants to be on the playing side.
“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,” McIlroy continued. “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. 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.”
Will Keegan Bradley pick himself for the Ryder Cup?
The playing captain question has gotten louder since Keegan Bradley won the Travelers Championship in June. Despite not playing in the matches since 2014, he is tenth in the standings and would be primed for a captain's pick. But considering he is the captain, that makes it more complicated.
Does McIlroy think Bradley should play in the Ryder Cup? “I definitely think he’s one of the best 12 American players right now. That’s why everyone is so interested, and it’s such a compelling case, and it’s going to be — I’m just as interested as everyone else to see how it all plays out.”
The Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black begins on September 26th. Keegan Bradley could make history as the first playing captain in over 60 years for Team USA.
