Ryder Cup Vice Captain Offers What May Happen If Keegan Bradley Plays on U.S. Team

Assistant captain Brandt Snedeker said there are several in the captain’s room who could “fill that void” if Bradley is Team USA’s first playing captain since Arnold Palmer.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley could become the first playing captain since 1963. / Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

The U.S. Ryder Cup team hasn’t had a playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. 

Keegan Bradley could end that drought this year. He’s currently No. 22 on the U.S. points list, with the top six automatically qualifying for the 12-man squad. Bradley has said he won’t use a captain’s pick on himself, but jumping into the top six isn’t out of the realm of possibility. 

That could throw the captain’s room into a tizzy. 

“I don’t think it’s possible to be able to do both just with how much stuff goes into being a captain,” said Brandt Snedeker, an assistant Ryder Cup captain who was named captain of the 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup team Tuesday. “I think Keegan will probably lean on Jim [Furyk], obviously, who’s going to be in that room as well. There’s a bunch of guys that can step up and hopefully fill that void.”

However, that doesn’t mean Bradley won’t be steering the ship at Bethpage Black in September. 

“With regards to who would be the captain in that scenario, we have four other guys in the room right now that are perfectly capable of it, and I’m sure there will be some collaboration between all of us to take over that role for Keegan even though this is going to be Keegan's team,” Snedeker said. “Our job as assistant captains will be to make sure that we carry out his wishes and carry out the team thing the way he wants it done.”

And if Bradley goes on a run during the second half of the season to earn his spot on the team, that will only help the Americans win back the Cup after a deflating defeat in Rome two years ago. 

“With regards to Keegan playing, I think everybody on the team wants Keegan to play great and make the team,” Snedeker said. “I think that’s something that the players have spoken about quite openly that they think Keegan is one of the 12 best players in the world now on the American side, and he needs to go prove that and play great leading up to the majors in the summer.”