Win or lose, Keegan Bradley will not go down as any ordinary Ryder Cup captain.
His surprise appointment by the PGA of America has ensured that at Bethpage Black he’ll either go down as a Ryder Cup legend or as a huge failure – there’s just no middle ground.
Many feel he shouldn’t have been put in this position, as the youngest captain since Arnold Palmer and one still able to make the team as a player there’s been plenty of baggage already.
From the will he, won’t he saga of toying with being a playing captain to his lack of leadership experience, there’s been doubt cast on him before a golf ball has even been struck.
Bradley’s a fighter, a scrappy New England underdog so will relish the challenge, but with also a changing of the guard dependent on his stewardship he’s carrying an awful lot on his shoulders.
And given he’s also got a huge home advantage, perhaps the biggest ever, it’s why his tenure is a boom or bust scenario.
A changing of the guard rests with a second choice?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Perhaps unhelpfully, it’s well known that Tiger Woods was the preferred choice as Team USA captain but turned it down this time due to his involvement with shaping the PGA Tour’s future.
So Bradley was a bold and surprising back-up choice – but a back-up choice nonetheless.
At 39 he’s the youngest Ryder Cup captain since a 34-year-old Palmer led the Americans in 1963, and he’s got zero experience in a leadership role either as skipper or an assistant.
And he’s not got much experience to lean on in his backroom team either aside from Jim Furyk, who will extend his incredible record to 14 straight Ryder Cups as a player, vice-captain and captain.
Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker are first-time Ryder Cup vice-captains, but at least they’ve played in the event, as for Gary Woodland and Kevin Kisner it’s their first Ryder Cup experience of any kind.
With Snedeker Presidents Cup captain next year this could signal the start of a new age for USA leaders, but if they are to start a succession plan similar to Europe they can’t afford to lose at Bethpage Black.
So the entire plan rests on Bradley being successful. No pressure there then.
The Player-captain sideshow didn’t help
Bradley insisted the PGA of America were aware and actually encouraged him to try and make…
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