The Ryder Cup has always been more than just a golf tournament— it’s a world stage for national pride, where captaincy and strategic leadership play an important role in the final win. So, when the PGA of America announced Keegan Bradley as the captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup, the golf fraternity was surprised, and social media lit up with one question: Why Keegan?

And now, with Keegan saying he wants to play and captain at the same time, it has really started to feel a bit off. Not because Keegan lacks passion and capability, but because this feels like yet another “let’s try something different” move by the CEO of the PGA of USA, Derek Sprague, and his team.

A recent No Laying Up podcast episode hosted by Soly and TC featured sports journalists Kyle Porter and Jamie Weir showcasing their thoughts behind this appointment. Porter put it bluntly, “It feels a little bit like Europe always has a plan for the next three Ryder Cups, and I was actually pro-Keegan as captain…. but, I just don’t, now that it feels like a one-off thing.”

Drawing the key difference, he stated, “On the European side, the plan and the whole culture is bigger than the captains and the captains are there to serve the culture,” and as an American, he admitted, “I’m very jealous.”

And who can blame him? Just look at what Luke Donald achieved as captain of Team Europe. He didn’t split his attention between playing and leading. As the team captain for over three years, he lived and breathed the Ryder Cup — analyzing data, building rapport with the team, mapping out pairings, and setting a tone of unity and professionalism. The result?

A commanding 16½–11½ victory over Team USA in Rome in 2023.

Meanwhile, Jamie Weir pointed out that Team USA has had the correct formula in the past, but keeps abandoning it. “I think they had it right in 2012. Davis Love was an exceptional captain.” After the freak loss to Team Europe, they seemed to panic and brought in Tom Watson, but it did not work, and led to a disastrous defeat in 2014. Weir continued, “So what do they do? Lo and behold, they go back to Davis Love,” and magically, in 2016, Team USA won the Ryder Cup at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.

This cycle repeated: Jim Furyk in 2018 — failure. Steve Stricker nailed it in 2021 on home soil for success. About Zach Johnson’s leadership in 2023 that led to the latest loss, Weir said, “I think Zack Johnson was just a weak captain who allowed the ‘boys club’ to bully themselves into the team. And then got painted as this awful captain.”

So, after another loss, what did the PGA of America do?  Jamie Weir continued, “And then the PGF America again went, ‘Oh my gosh, right. We need to do something radically different. We need to think left field. Let’s have Keegan Bradley.’ And it just came out of nowhere altogether. And they’ve created a rod for their own back now because he’s a good enough player to be on the team.”

And that’s where it gets tricky — Keegan is still a strong enough player to make the team on merit. But now, if he qualifies, does he pick himself?

Ryder Cup Question: Can Keegan lead and play at the same time?

At the center of the current controversy is the dual role Keegan Bradley plans to play in the Ryder Cup. While he is a great guy and definitely motivated, will he also be able to concentrate on qualifying and picking himself to play while also leading the team?

If he does, he’d be the first US playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Even Palmer’s dual role came in a very different era, when the Ryder Cup wasn’t the global spectacle it is today. Weir nailed the core issue. “The fact is his full focus is not on being the US Ryder Cup captain right now. And Luke Donald’s full focus for three and a half years has been on how do I prepare this team as best as possible for the Ryder Cup. And that’s not a criticism of Keegan. He can’t do both jobs to the same level that Luke Donald is doing one job.”

At the end of the day, we all want to believe there’s a plan behind the madness. But right now? Team USA looks like it’s reacting, not building, and this needs to change!