McIlroy Suggests Bradley Being A Ryder Cup Playing Captain ‘Would Be Just Very Difficult To Do”

3 months ago by Comments Off on McIlroy Suggests Bradley Being A Ryder Cup Playing Captain ‘Would Be Just Very Difficult To Do”

As Keegan Bradley inches closer to deciding if will he become a first USA Ryder Cup playing captain in 62-years a certain future European Ryder Cup team leader in Rory McIlroy has dosed cold water on any such thought.

Bradley will annouce his full 12-man Bethpage Park team on Sunday August 24th and soon after the end of the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship.

McIlroy returns to competition later today for a first time since last month’s Open Championship and teeing-up at 11.16am local USA time alongside current PGA Tour No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in the BMW Championship on the host Caves Valley course in Maryland.

The Grand Slam winning Northern Irishman was asked his thoughts on Bradley being a playing captain ahead of the $20m event.

“I just think the commitments that a captain has the week of — 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 — just 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,” said McIlroy.

“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. So I just think for those reasons.

“Then the captain isn’t going to be on the course all day, so really the captain’s only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday. Would you rather not have a player that has the flexibility to go twice if he’s playing well? There’s a lot of different things that go into it, and that’s why I think — look, it’s just my opinion, but I think it would just be very difficult to do.”

McIlroy had been asked earlier in his press conference his thoughts on being a future European playing captain but he quickly shot down that notion.

Q. As you try to figure out kind of new goals, I’m curious is being a Ryder Cup playing captain something that you aspire to? Is that something you want?

RORY McILROY: No, I’ve been asked to do that, and I’ve turned it down.

Q. You’ve already been asked to be the captain?

RORY McILROY: No, I’ve — the idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon coming up has come up, and I’ve shot it down straight away.



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