Team USA captain Keegan Bradley’s impending decision to play at the Ryder Cup is already being derided in the world of golf.

Bradley is heavily rumoured to both play and captain at the New York tournament against Team Europe, a feat that has not been done since the 1960s.

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The 2011 PGA Championship winner had already accepted the job of captain, but with his form accelerating ahead of the tournament’s start on September 23, speculation is increasing that he’ll take the rogue step of also playing.

The 39-year-old has done little to put the speculation to bed, saying he’ll ‘do what’s best for the team’ while competitors like Rory McIlroy have said it would be ‘very difficult’.

Former Team Europe captain Sam Torrance has now gone even further, saying such a decision would be the worst he’s ever seen.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, the retired Scot said: “It would be the worst decision a captain has ever made if he was a playing captain. 

“I don’t believe you can do it. There are things the captain has to do. He has to put the pairings in Friday and Saturday and he’s the only player in the American team that can talk to his team.

“You can’t have someone else going onto the 16th saying ‘he hit a five-iron, he hit a six-iron’ – it’s only the captain that can do that. 

“He also can’t glean enough information about his other teams that he’s had out that morning to get out in the afternoon.

“It’s a very difficult scenario. I mean, he should play, but the proper thing to do is play and give the right of captaincy to [Jim] Furyk or someone else.”

Bradley hasn’t won a major since his one and only in 2011, but his stunning recent form has seen the Vermont native re-emerge as one of the best golfers in the world.

Re-entering the top ten this year, he ranks higher than several of the players set to qualify for Team USA, but talkSPORT’s Rupert Bell has explained why doing so would be so difficult.

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“He’s talking like he wants to [do it],” the golf expert said. “He was part of the team that suffered the defeat in the Miracle at Medinah [Europe’s comeback win in 2012] and there’s a lot he wants to prove. 

“It’s a tough ask – Arnold Palmer did it back in the 60s when the Ryder Cup was no more than a glorified exhibition where the Americans turned up and won but this is a different beast. 

“It is very difficult to win away in the Americas as Europe did back in 2012 and since then it’s basically been a home side benefit.

“It was an odd choice to make him captain in the first place, but if he does it’s going to put a lot of pressure on his six vice captains. 

“And when does he play? He could do it if he doesn’t play the morning matches, then he could help with the selections and in the afternoons he could make himself play then, or he could just sit it out until the singles.

“He is one of the form players on the PGA Tour, so if it was any one of the other captains he’d be a shoo-in to play as a player, but now he’s got the added burden.

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“I think he’ll do it, he’s a strong character and he has things to prove, it’s a brave call.”

Further explaining why the dual-role is so hard, Team Europe hero McIlroy revealed he’d previously been offered the job but instantly rejected.

“I’ve been asked and I’ve turned it down,” the Northern Irishman said. 

“It’s come up and I’ve shot it down straight away because I just don’t think you can do it. 

“The commitments a captain has the week of, the extra media, the extra meetings with the vice captains and PGA of America, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony. 

“There are a lot of things people don’t see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now it’s become so big. 

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“If you’d said it 20 years ago I’d have said yeah it’s probably possible, but with how big of a spectacle and what’s on the line now I think it would be a very difficult thing.”