{"id":65984,"date":"2025-08-14T08:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/65984\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T08:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:38:10","slug":"rory-mcilroy-shoots-down-offer-to-be-player-captain-at-2027-ryder-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/65984\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy shoots down offer to be player-captain at 2027 Ryder Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

As golf waits to see if Keegan Bradley will become the first Ryder Cup player-captain for 62 years, Rory McIlroy has shot down the suggestion that he could take on the dual role for Europe because \u201cI don\u2019t think you can do it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last summer McIlroy said he had \u201ccontemplated\u201d a suggestion that he could be player-captain at Adare Manor in 2027 but, speaking before the second leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs, the Northern Irishman said: \u201cI have been asked to do that and I\u2019ve turned it down. The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon has come up and I\u2019ve shot it down straight away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about the extra media the captains have to do, the extra meetings with the vice-captains, with the PGA of America in Keegan\u2019s case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony
\u2014 there\u2019s a lot of things that people don\u2019t see which the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now it has become so big.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d said it 20 years ago I\u2019d say, yeah, it was probably possible, but [with] how big of a spectacle and everything that\u2019s on the line now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bradley will know his six automatic qualifiers for the US team for next month\u2019s Ryder Cup at Bethpage after this week\u2019s BMW Championship in Maryland, and speculation is intensifying about whether he will then include himself<\/a> as one of his six captain\u2019s picks.<\/p>\n

Bradley says he is leaning heavily on his vice-captains, and Jim Furyk will step up if the captain is playing on the course, but McIlroy suggested Bradley would also have to limit his appearances.<\/p>\n

\"NINTCHDBPICT000957907381\"<\/p>\n

Bradley could still automatically qualify for the US team or include himself as one of his captain\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

HEATHER KHALIFA\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThe captain isn\u2019t going to be on the course all day, so really he\u2019s only going to be able to play one session on Friday and one on Saturday,\u201d he said. \u201cWould you rather have the flexibility to go twice if he\u2019s playing well? Look, it\u2019s just my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy added that Bradley was one of the top dozen players in the United States \u2014 he is ranked tenth in the Ryder Cup points list and needs to retain the BMW title at Caves Valley to climb into a top-six berth. \u201cThat\u2019s why everyone is so interested and it\u2019s such a compelling case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter Bradley, who has actually had four middling tournaments since the win at the Travelers Championship in June. \u201cWe\u2019re ready for this if it happens,\u201d he said of taking on both jobs. \u201cI\u2019m not sure it\u2019s going to. I can truly sit here and say I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

When McIlroy\u2019s doubts were relayed to him, Bradley added: \u201cHe may be right. We don\u2019t know. No one knows. Everybody was telling me at the start of the year why a guy can\u2019t be captain and have a good year [but] for me, I feel like this is one of the best years I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Rose, the winner on Sunday in Memphis<\/a> and potentially Luke Donald\u2019s successor as Europe\u2019s captain, also added his thoughts. The 45-year-old, who has now guaranteed his place in Europe\u2019s automatic spots, said Bradley\u2019s form had created the dilemma. <\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/p>\n

Scheffler says if Bradley wants to play \u201cwe\u2019d all love to have him on the team\u201d<\/p>\n

ANDY LYONS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Rose said: \u201cIf he feels he\u2019s an absolute strategic brilliant mind then maybe he\u2019s focused one way. Or he thinks, \u2018Damn, I\u2019m playing well and I need to win points, I\u2019m going to do it that way.\u2019 He\u2019s obviously a charismatic and fiery competitor, and I think [he] will become a great captain. He\u2019s almost played too well for his own liking in a sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler, the world No1, then added the American take and did not mince words. \u201cWe have a really good group of guys and Keegan can only help that. If it\u2019s something Keegan wants [to play] I think he\u2019s a guy we\u2019d all love to have on the team.\u201d <\/p>\n

More Ryder Cup questions then strained his patience. \u201cThe Ryder Cup is over a month away,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you want to talk about this week let\u2019s talk about this week. If not, I\u2019ve got practice to do.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As golf waits to see if Keegan Bradley will become the first Ryder Cup player-captain for 62 years,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-65984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}