With the way it’s going, Keegan Bradley could well end up playing his way into this own team for Bethpage Black next year, but he would not be the first playing captain in Ryder Cup history.
The modern-day Ryder Cup captaincy is a huge undertaking, being responsible for almost everything – from wildcard selections and team pairings to designing the uniform and setting up the course.
There are non-stop functions, meetings, public appearances and player stats to consider – and that’s even before getting to the course.
From there it’s studying how his side are playing, any problems or issues and how best to line-up, so many feel it’s impossible to play while captaining the side at a modern Ryder Cup.
So there’s a reason why nobody has been a playing Ryder Cup captain since Arnold Palmer led Team USA in 1963 – but although he was the last he was by no means the first.
How many Ryder Cup playing captains have there been?
From its inception in 1927 until the Ryder Cup was first extended to three days for Palmer’s captaincy in 1963, playing captains were very much the norm with just two days of action and matches taking place over 36 holes.
In those 15 Ryder Cup meetings (including 1963) only seven of the 30 captains did not play in the matches, and only one in those 15 Ryder Cups saw both captains being non-playing skippers.
So overall we’ve had 23 instances of playing captains in Ryder Cup history from a total of 13 Ryder Cup players over the tournament’s illustrious history.
Team USA has had eight Ryder Cup playing captains taking charge in 13 Ryder Cups, while Great Britain had five playing captains leading them in 10 Ryder Cup renewals.
All of these Ryder Cup playing captains occurred before Great Britain joined forces with Ireland and then later Europe to form the modern team we see in today’s Ryder Cup.
Who has been Ryder Cup playing captain the most times?
Walter Hagen wins the Ryder Cup as USA playing captain
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Walter Hagen was USA captain for the first six Ryder Cups and was playing captain for the first five of those – winning three and losing twice before going on to win in his sixth and final captaincy as a non-player.
Welshman Dai Rees holds the record for Great Britain with four appearances as a playing captain, winning one Ryder Cup during his…
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