Arnold Palmer was very special, and Keegan Bradley is attempting to emulate the golfing great in this Ryder Cup year.
Bradley will aim to captain Team USA,and make a third playing appearance in the event, and one former Ryder Cup captain has reiterated his doubts.
“It’s very, very difficult – the amount of work that goes into the captaincy now…” Team Europe captain and player Paul McGinley told Sky Sports during coverage of the third round of the Players Championship.
McGinley made the European team three times as a player, sinking the winning putt in 2002, before returning to captain the team to victory at Gleneagles in 2014.
He is as qualified as any to speak on the demands that both roles require, let alone doing them at the same time.
It is something that hasn’t been done since 1963, when Arnold Palmer did both.
Palmer helped lead Team USA to a dominant victory over a then Great Britain team, by a score of 23-9 in 1963.
Bradley will be looking to do the same having been surprisingly named as captain in July last year, and making no secret of his desire to carry out both roles in September later this year
The 38-year-old from Vermont is currently 15th in the US points list, outside of the top six automatic qualifying places which are held by Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau and Maverick McNealy.
McGinley is not convinced, citing returning European captain’s own playing schedule in managing the captaincy workload.
“I know how much work Luke Donald is doing and he is not playing, he is playing a very sparse schedule,” McGinley added.
“Unless someone else is doing the world for him behind the scenes, which I am sure they are, it’s really really difficult to get your mindset.
“There’s a reason why nobody has done it since, uh, Arnold Palmer way back in the 60s.”
This year, the Ryder Cup takes place at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York in late September over the course of three days.
However the preparation begins in earnest two years out, and their are sponsorship and partner commitments, huge demands from the media.
For Bradley to consider juggling that with players is unprecedented given the explosion in popularity over the last 20 years of the matches.
“It’s going to be really hard for me to make that team, but if I make the team, I’ll play,” Bradley said last week
“I don’t see myself being a captain’s pick. But I’ll be proud to just be the captain.”
Europe are defending the trophy they won in 2023, beating Team USA 16.5-11.5 in 2023 in Valderrama, and Bradley has already made no secret that he is gunning for victory.
He made headlines last month following the release of the latest series of Full Swing, the behind the scenes Netflix documentary that tracks the PGA Tour season.
Cameras caught Bradley saying he was out to kick the European’s butt, and admitted afterward that he was unaware of the cameras being present.
European players, including Shane Lowry have taken the comments well, but it has already lit the blue touch paper for what will be an intense build up before the matches get underway.
Bradley, who looks set to make the cut in Florida at the Players Championship after rounds of 70 and 72 left him at two-under-par, nine shots adrift of the leaders.
He is already balancing a lot – he may be balancing even more.
