How Many Ryder Cup Playing Captains Have There Been? And What Is Their Record?

With the way it's going, Keegan Bradley could well end up playing his way into this own team for Bethpage Black next year, but he would not be the first playing captain in Ryder Cup history.

The modern-day Ryder Cup captaincy is a huge undertaking, being responsible for almost everything - from wildcard selections and team pairings to designing the uniform and setting up the course.

There are non-stop functions, meetings, public appearances and player stats to consider - and that's even before getting to the course.

From there it's studying how his side are playing, any problems or issues and how best to line-up, so many feel it's impossible to play while captaining the side at a modern Ryder Cup.

So there's a reason why nobody has been a playing Ryder Cup captain since Arnold Palmer led Team USA in 1963 - but although he was the last he was by no means the first.

How many Ryder Cup playing captains have there been?

From its inception in 1927 until the Ryder Cup was first extended to three days for Palmer's captaincy in 1963, playing captains were very much the norm with just two days of action and matches taking place over 36 holes.

In those 15 Ryder Cup meetings (including 1963) only seven of the 30 captains did not play in the matches, and only one in those 15 Ryder Cups saw both captains being non-playing skippers.

So overall we've had 23 instances of playing captains in Ryder Cup history from a total of 13 Ryder Cup players over the tournament's illustrious history.

Team USA has had eight Ryder Cup playing captains taking charge in 13 Ryder Cups, while Great Britain had five playing captains leading them in 10 Ryder Cup renewals.

All of these Ryder Cup playing captains occurred before Great Britain joined forces with Ireland and then later Europe to form the modern team we see in today's Ryder Cup.

Who has been Ryder Cup playing captain the most times?

Walter Hagen was USA captain for the first six Ryder Cups and was playing captain for the first five of those - winning three and losing twice before going on to win in his sixth and final captaincy as a non-player. 

Welshman Dai Rees holds the record for Great Britain with four appearances as a playing captain, winning one Ryder Cup during his spell in charge which ended with the big expansion in points in the 1961 edition.

Englishman Charles Whitcombe had the honor three times of leading the Great Britain team as playing captain but lost all three.

Ted Ray was the first Great Britain captain while George Duncan held that honor for the first home Ryder Cup for the British - where he thrashed none other than USA captain Walter Hagen 10&8 in the singles during a 7-5 victory at Moortown in Leeds.

That was the first of two times playing captains met in the Ryder Cup singles, with Hagen getting a manner of revenge by beating opposing captain Whitcombe 4&3 in in the following 1931 Ryder Cup.

Sam Snead did it twice as the only other multiple playing captain, joining the likes of Ben Hogan, Henry Cotton and Arnold Palmer.

Ryder Cup playing captains & their records

Unsurprisingly given he did it five times, Walter Hagen has won the most matches as a Ryder Cup playing captain with seven wins from nine, one half and just the one defeat.

But what a defeat, with George Duncan the only man to beat Hagen in the Ryder Cup  and that being his stunning 10&8 success at Moortown - albeit coming over the longer 36-hole format.

Dai Rees held an even 5-5-0 playing record over four Ryder Cups while Arnold Palmer was busy, and successful, in his one outing as player captain wining four of his six matches.

Rees and Charles Whitcombe both lost three Ryder Cups as playing captains, but Rees did manage to win one - and his 1957 victory meant that Jack Burke Jr is the only American player captain not to win a Ryder Cup.

Sam Snead was unbeaten as a player captain both in terms of winning both of his Ryder Cups and also winning three and halving one of his four matches.

Ryder Cup results with player captains