Ryder Cup Rumors: Will we see an “Outside the box” vice captain?

It’s official, many speculated who the USA Ryder Cup captain would be, but not many thought Keegan Bradley would be the guy. Well, that’s who the US selected to be their team captain and it appears most are very excited with that selection.

Rumors are swirling that Tiger Woods was the first choice but turned the offer down, so Bradley being the next best option is perfectly fine with me. He has a lot of experience playing in the Ryder Cup himself, and he’ll be motivated to help the US redeem themselves in 2025 because many thought he was unfairly left off the 2023 team.

The next question that has to be asked is who Bradley’s Ryder Cup Vice Captains will be. And let me tell you, there have been some interesting names thrown out already, even some guys that don’t have much to do with professional golf.

The idea of some college head golf coaches was tossed around and that makes a lot of sense to me as they coach teams instead of individuals already. Then the idea of an elite coach from a different sport like former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban was brought up; who’s highly regarded as one of the best coaches of all time.

But the wildest (and potentially most exciting) name tossed out is none other than one of the all-time great players in his respective sport… which just so happens to not be golf.

Could Michael Jordan be Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup Vice Captain?

SiriusXM host Jason Sobel recently talked about this idea on his show, and I’ll be honest, I don’t hate it.

For starters, it sounds like Bradley and Michael Jordan are very close friends, and we all know how important close relationships are to finding success at the Ryder Cup. Sobel shared, “Keegan and MJ play a lot of golf together. They play the member-member together at The Grove. I think you’ll see some presence from MJ.”

Sobel continued, “I don’t know about giving him the full captaincy. I don’t know if we’re turning over the reigns to someone who’s not necessarily a professional golfer.”

My thoughts on this align pretty closely with Sobels'. Would Michael Jordan being the Vice Captain be the best selection? Probably not. But it wouldn’t be the worst either.

There’s no denying that MJ is one of the greatest winners of all time in all of sports. He’s also one of the best motivators and always got the most out of each of his teammates during his playing career as well. So while he wouldn’t be able to help the guys on the course necessarily, he would have an immediate impact in the locker room by helping the guys mentally prepare.

So if I were Keegan Bradley, knowing I have a close relationship with MJ, I would ask him to be an unofficial member of the team to help out in the locker room. Then I’d probably go get one of the best college golf head coaches to be my Vice Captain because they already know how to manage a team.

It’s safe to say that Bradley’s selections are highly anticipated by the golf world. 2025 is a must-win year for the US, so Bradley has to make the right decisions that will help lead his team to victory.