U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley should absolutely play in the Ryder Cup

Golf is a sport of tradition. That much is obvious.

Beyond tradition, golf is a sport of honor and integrity. That is well-known.

If you somehow believe that Keegan Bradley, the United States Ryder Cup Captain, playing in the event violates either of these two principles then I am not sure what you are tethered to reality with.

Many are well-aware of how there is precedent for a captain to play in the Ryder Cup. These people point out that it hasn’t happened in a long time, though. That plays to the traditional aspect of things.

But does this make the idea of Captain Keegan playing wrong? He just won the Travelers, albeit partly thanks to Tommy Fleetwood being unable to seal the deal, and has absolutely been playing like one of the best players and specifically Americans in the world at the moment. What logic is there to deny him from playing while he is also coordinating things for the American side?

We have reached a point with July in striking distance where Keegan’s status, partly thanks to his win in New England, more than justifies a spot on the team. If he weren’t the United States captain then we would be demanding his inclusion.

The best part about this idea is that Keegan seems well aware of it all. That is how a captain operates.

Bradley, now an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, is expected to move to ninth in the Ryder Cup standings. While in the year since he was named captain, he’s insisted that he would only play if he were among the top six automatic qualifiers, he deviated from that following the win.

“This changes the story a little bit. I never would have thought about playing if I hadn’t won. This definitely opens the door to play,” Bradley told reporters. “I don’t know if I’m going to do it or not, but I certainly have to take a pretty hard look at what’s best for the team and we’ll see.”

The 39-year-old was an unorthodox selection to be captain in the first place — he had never served as an assistant captain, and was still playing very competitive golf. Now the public debate about his position on the team will only grow as Bradley is clearly among the 12 best American players by all metrics.

It would be doing the United States team a disservice for Keegan to remove himself from consideration at this point. He likely knows this, too. With all due respect to the players who are going to be borderline captain’s picks... it is hard to see how any American would make more sense (talking about the players at that point in the decision-making process) would make more logical sense than him.

Keegan Bradley was partly chosen to lead the red, white and blue because of his unique passion for the Ryder Cup and the American side of it all. Isn’t his making this whole thing weird by playing so well part of that? In hindsight I am upset that nobody predicted it.

This is Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup in more ways than one. He deserves to play in it.