CHARLOTTE – Following his best opening round in a major championship in nearly two decades, Luke Donald was playfully asked if he would consider a mano-a-mano match with U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley this fall if the matches ended in a 14-14 tie.
“I’ll grab the trophy and go back to Europe,” laughed Donald, who will captain the European team at Bethpage following his successful turn two years ago in Rome.
The Englishman’s 4-under 67 at the PGA Championship left him just a shot off the lead and in a position that surprised most observers, including Donald.
“It’s always fun, bogey-free in a major championship on a course that you wouldn’t have thought would be ideal for me,” said Donald, who is playing this season on the PGA Tour with limited status and is 0-for-3 in cuts made.
Bradley, who is playing some of the best golf of his career and has created the very real possibility that he could be a playing captain at the Ryder Cup, was also impressive on Day 1 at Quail Hollow with a 3-under 68.
“I’m excited to shoot [Donald] a text when we’re done here. I was pumped to see Luke up there. I know how hard he’s been working back home,” Bradley said. “I’ll give him a little s–t.”
Although no one expects Donald to create a similar playing-captain narrative, despite his first-round performance at Quail Hollow (he hasn’t had a top-10 finish on Tour since 2019), he is uniquely qualified to understand the challenges Bradley would face if he did attempt to wear both hats.
“It’s more the demands during the week. If you’re playing yourself, you’re going to be on the golf course and so you’re going to have to give the choice-making, the decision-making, to someone else,” Donald explained. “Then obviously you have to instruct that person what to look for, what you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re trying to play as well, that’s a little bit distracting, I suppose.”
With both Donald and Bradley inside the top 10 after the first round it is likely they would become the first sitting Ryder Cup captains to make the cut at the PGA Championship since Padraig Harrington and Steve Stricker in 2021. The only time both sitting captains have finished any major inside the top 10 was at the 1937 Open Championship (Europe captain Charles Whitcombe and U.S. captain Walter Hagen).
