When the golfing world tuned in to Keegan Bradley’s press conference on Wednesday to learn his six captain’s picks for the US Ryder Cup team, the “will he, won’t he” question still hung in the air unanswered. Would Bradley pick himself as the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963?
In the end, the cat slipped out of the bag accidentally, halfway through a rather awkward process of Zoom-calling each player to hear their thoughts. Bradley’s fourth pick, Cameron Young, was asked if his Ryder Cup teammates knew he had won the junior Ryder Cup in the past. “Sam played with me, so he will remember it,” said Young. “Sam” referred to Sam Burns, who hadn’t yet been announced. With Burns therefore included, and Patrick Cantlay highly likely to be on the team, that left no room for Bradley to choose himself.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Bradley smiled, once Burns was confirmed, as golf’s biggest talking point of the past few weeks was finally put to bed.
In truth, Bradley made the decision not to play some time ago. Yes, he had considered himself a genuine option to play, he admitted, particularly earlier in the season and after his win at the Travelers Championship got tongues wagging. But the late-season form of Cantlay, Young and Burns made the call much simpler to make.
“These guys stepped up and played their way onto the team,” he said. “I’m extremely proud of that. It was a difficult decision but one I’m happy with … If the team was better with me on it, I’d do that. I know 100 per cent this is the right choice. They played incredibly down the stretch to make my decision easier.”
Bradley could have shut down the noise far sooner, ruling himself out of the running days or even weeks ago to give some certainty to his selection process. He knew the practical and logistical challenges of playing in a Ryder Cup while making decisions about pairings: the two tasks are impossible to focus on simultaneously, and he would have ended up delegating much of his role to vice-captain Jim Furyk.
But perhaps he was savvy in allowing the rumour mill to swirl a little longer, to let the idea of picking himself fester a while. The role of a Ryder Cup captain can be overblown, but one very real responsibility is to foster team unity. By raising the idea of selecting himself, Bradley was able to turn this rather mundane press conference into a display of selflessness, in which he gave up his personal ambitions for the good of the team. It must have been oh so tempting to play after the disappointment, and arguably injustice, of missing out in Rome two years ago, an emotional moment captured by the Netflix series Full Swing. And yet the captain put his own desires to one side.
“It broke my heart not to play,” he said. “You work forever to make these teams, but I was chosen to do a job. This was the way I could be the best captain for the team.”
Time will tell whether this was the right decision, but the American team looks a formidable one on home soil as it aims to wrestle back the Ryder Cup from European hands.
Bradley had warm words to say about his six automatic picks. Scottie Scheffler is “a natural born leader”. JJ Spaun is “likeable and genuine, a great guy”. Xander Schauffele is “humble and mentally tough, universally loved – our glue guy”. Russell Henley: “one of my favourite people, nice on the surface but super competitive, gutsy”. Harris English is “so tough mentally and plays really well on tough courses” – and we know Bethpage Black is one of those. Bryson DeChambeau qualified while also playing on the LIV tour, which Bradley saluted, saying “he’s gone above and beyond what I’d ask of a player”.
Each automatic selection had their bag lined up on stage with their name embroidered on the front. Then came the captain’s picks: Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa were always likely to be included, having had solid seasons and plenty of Ryder Cup experience to call upon – this is Thomas’s fourth and it makes the 32-year-old the veteran of the team. They were both invited to a recent dinner hosted by Bradley, along with the six automatic picks.
Young was always an inclusion, given he is a New Yorker who knows Bethpage Black well and once set a course record of 64 (since beaten by Brooks Koepka’s 63). Cantlay finished the season well, tied second at the Tour Championship, and is a fierce competitor. He will have the chance to exact a degree of revenge on Team Europe after the haranguing he received in Rome.
That left really left Burns or Bradley, and perhaps the brutal truth is that any other captain would have picked Bradley. “We will never know,” he said. Burns is hardly a great risk: he will bring experience, nerveless putting and a close friendship with Scheffler, of the kind the US team seemed to lack in Rome.
Others, like Maverick McNealy, came close but fell short, with Bradley admitting a lack of experience in team competition counted against him. “That was very, very difficult to call Mav. He’s an incredible kid, played well all year long. It’s difficult to get a pick in your first event. I’m impressed with his game. I said it’s OK to be angry, you can use this as fuel. Be angry with me and make the next team.”
So America has its 12 players, and after months of talk about player captaincy, of wondering how it could even be done, Bradley has decided he shouldn’t be one of them. “I was interested in being the best captain I could be. I don’t care if I play or don’t play, as long as we win on Sunday.”
US Ryder Cup team 2025
*captain’s picks
