A Ryder Cup Masterstroke Or Disaster? Why There's No Middle Ground For Keegan Bradley At Bethpage

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?

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 his own team, and he responded with some of the best golf of his career.

He looked like a lock for the team for some time, and if he wasn't captain he'd most likely have received a wildcard - so there's a sense that he never really thought it was possible.

Maybe the pressure of the neighsayers got to him, but now it just looks like the entire situation was a sideshow that could've distracted him from his number one job as captain.

For instance, instead of getting some experience as a vice-captain at the Presidents Cup he was out on the course slugging it out with the team - that could be great for bonding with his players but was it a missed opportunity?

He could have been heavily involved with Furyk's pairings and tactics - he may well have to some degree - but the chance was there to have somewhat of a dress rehearsal for the big one and really learn the ropes.

Only time will tell if this entire playing situation has cost him dear.

Hero or flop - no middle ground for Bradley

As ever with the Ryder Cup it all rides on the result - captains can be labelled heroes or villains just on the back of a few putts made or missed here and there.

The home sides have dominated recently and home advantage in New York will be greater than ever, so only a win will make the Bradley experiment a success.

Given that weight of expectation, and the questions already raised by his appointment, there's no chance of him being judged as just OK or a plucky, unlucky second best, coming up just short despite his best efforts.

Rightly or wrongly, there's just no grey area in defining his captaincy.

Win and the PGA of America have pulled off a masterstroke, Bradley will be a genius, a natural born leader and talk will instantly be of him serving a second term in Ireland in 2027.

If the unthinkable happens though, and USA lose in their own backyard, in the toughest away day in the event's history having been second choice to Woods, toyed with playing captaincy and picking a hugely inexperienced backroom staff - the critics won't spare his feelings.

For Keegan Bradley at Bethpage Black, the stakes really couldn't be any higher.