The 17 words that show Keegan Bradley will not pick himself to play in the Ryder Cup

The American captain faces a mammoth decision as he prepares to finalise his 12-man team for Bethpage showdown

Keegan Bradley admits he’s going to have to live for ever with the biggest decision of his golfing life.

But 17 words amid a blizzard of sentences he offered during the FedEx Cup play-offs finale surely offered the clearest guidance.

In the midst of the event at East Lake, Bradley was pressed again on the upcoming Ryder Cup selections call as he attempted to concentrate on his tournament effort.

He said: “It’s very difficult. I’m having a really hard time separating right now my captaincy and my playing.”

If that was the case at East Lake, it would surely be the same tenfold at Bethpage.

And, in a Ryder Cup which could come down to miniscule margins between two top teams, a fractional eye of the ball could be all it takes to win or lose the trophy.

Bradley has been inspirational throughout his career and constantly delivered at times when people have said he couldn’t. Fair play, that back catalogue suggest he might just do it again in New York and there's no argument his play this season has been sensational.

Without question, he’s amongst the 12 best Americans available and, if he were not skipper, he’d be a certain starter.

But that’s the whole point. He is the captain. Speeches, pairings, team talks, decisions. Even Rory McIlroy reckons he couldn’t do both as, in this modern era, it’s a huge job.

Ninety nine per cent concentration on playing might not be enough. It needs to be all-in for America because, home soil or not, they are facing a formidable outfit in Luke Donald’s team.

The players say they want Bradley in the team as a player, but, be honest, what else would they say? They are not going to deride their captain or doubt his capability in public.

Also, common consensus listening to experts and ex-pros after East Lake seems to point to the fact that he may, indeed, choose to play and lean heavily on his vice-captains to do extra.

But that is a dangerous game and he’s got it all to lose.

Not playing is surely his safest option. If America wins anyway, he’ll be hailed the selfless hero. If they lose and he’s not playing, fans will say he should have done and it was the others on the course who let him down.

Bradley admitted after East Lake the situation is wild. Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau are locked into the team as six automatic qualifiers.

Now Bradley needs to find six more and can choose the likes of Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Ben Griffin, Sam Burns, Cameron Young, Maverick McNealy, Patrick Cantlay to allow himself to concentrate solely on the skipper duty.

In selecting six outwith himself, he’ll give the half-dozen an added shot of confidence in the fact he has enough belief in them to do the job without him.

Bradley’s now in deep dialogue with vice-captains such as Jim Furyk to resolve the issue and has admitted it’s the biggest choice of his career.

Bradley said: “I think no matter what decision that I make here, I could have gone the other way easily, no matter what. The only thing I care about is on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, that we win the Ryder Cup. Then I’ll know I made the right decision. Until then, I won’t know.

“It’s going to be pretty wild. Whatever decision we make, we’re going to have to live with it. I love the guys on our team. They’re all playing great. It’s just really something else. It’s awesome.

“I would say for me, this is the proudest season I’ve ever had. My rookie season I won twice with a major. That’s up there. But this was my favorite of all of them.

“When we get inside the ropes, this is what we were born to do. When you can separate the noise when you’re inside the ropes, that’s when you play your best. I was able to do a great job of that the entire year. I didn’t do a good job of it the last few weeks.

“I went through something this year that no one has really ever gone through. I’m proud of the way that we did. But I’m really glad it’s done.

“I’ve gone through a lot of stuff this year, I didn’t know how I was going to handle it. Proud of the way I did. This is a whole another animal. I have no clue. This is going to be really difficult.

“We’re going to talk to my vice captains. We’ll get in touch with them and get our final decisions together.

“I’m sure they have some of their opinions that they want to tell me what they think.”