'This Might Be His Only Chance' - Why David Howell Believes Keegan Bradley Should Exclusively Focus On Captaining Team USA At The Ryder Cup

Team USA captain Keegan Bradley is days away from making one of the biggest decisions of his life, one which could affect the fate of the Ryder Cup either way - should he include himself in the home side's playing dozen at Bethpage Black?

The 39-year-old is 10th in the Americans' Ryder Cup standings and would, in any other year, be a near-certain pick from whoever the captain is given he won recently and has shown impressive form all season long.

However, Bradley himself has refused to be drawn on Team USA's personnel plans, leading to plenty of debate around whether it is logistically possible to perform at his peak while retaining 100% commitment to the managerial position.

The man at the centre of the debate has explained before that, should he end up as one of the 12 pros hoping to wrestle the little gold trophy back from the Europeans, there is a plan in place to avoid any disruption on the US side.

But, speaking ahead of the BMW Championship, Rory McIlroy insisted it is no longer possible to be a player and captain in the modern game due to the stresses and strains involved in leading alone.

And that is a view largely shared by two-time Ryder Cup winner, David Howell.

Speaking to Golf Monthly, the member of Team Europe in 2004 and 2006 said: "It's very possible to do both jobs, it's just whether it's possible to do them both well and be an addition to the team. Yeah, you can do both, but is it weakening you as a player and as a captain? You would have to think, yes."

So, if operating as a player-captain is impossible, what are the alternatives? Most people have suggested that Bradley must give up the leadership role and focus on being a player as he may never earn another opportunity.

But the former World No.9 believes the scarcity of opportunity regarding Ryder Cup captaincy means that, if anything is to fall by the wayside, it should be competing as a player.

He said: "I take a bit of a contrary view than most people that I talk to in the media or TV in that you should always choose to be a player. If I, as Keegan Bradley, had a guarantee that if he gives up the captaincy he'll get it again in the future then, sure, go ahead and play.

"I'm not so sure they're that likely to do that. In which case, this might be his only chance of captaincy.

"And, actually, from a legacy perspective, I think I certainly would much rather be captain than to play in another Ryder Cup because I think the experience is... clearly, it's wholly different. It's a much rarer thing to captain at the Ryder Cup rather than to play in it, and he's already experienced that twice."

Bradley played in the 2012 and 2014 Ryder Cups, losing both times. He then agonizingly missed out on a pick at the 2023 event - an experience which was documented in the second season of Netflix's 'Full Swing' show.

Despite the relative misery involving Bradley and the most famous team competition in golf, Howell - who secured 3.5 points from five Ryder Cup matches - is confident the current Team USA skipper is capable of putting himself in this position several more times moving forward, a la Justin Rose.

Howell also has a sneaky feeling that Bradley believes his theory, too.

The seven-time pro winner said: "Arguably, he's still good enough to qualify for the next Ryder Cup team and experience it as a full-on player. So, yeah, he finds himself in a very, very strange quandary, and I'm not sure what decision he's going to make.

"I think he might surprise people and not pick himself and just experience it as a captain. It adds a nice little bit of intrigue to this match, that's for sure."