Keegan Bradley insisted he is “100% certain” he has made the right decision in not playing at the Ryder Cup.
After a strong season that has seen him rise up to 11th in the world rankings, Bradley was left with the opportunity to name himself as the first player-captain at the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963.
However, when it came to naming his picks on Thursday, the 39-year-old did not include himself and will instead play the traditional role of captain at Bethpage next month.
Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas always appeared to be certain inclusions, while Ben Griffin and Cameron Young will make their Ryder Cup debuts for the US team.
The other two picks went to Sam Burns and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa.
Bradley revealed that there were points in the year when he was planning on selecting himself, but ultimately opted against it after being convinced by the form of his selections in recent weeks.
“The decision was made a while ago that I wasn’t playing,” Bradley said.
“The last 48 hours we had the team set, we weren’t scrambling at all.
“This was a really tough decision. I would say there was a point this year where I was playing, a while ago. All of these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way onto this time.
“That’s something that I’m really proud of and something that I really wanted. But it was an extremely difficult decision but one that I’m really happy with.
“Really happy with these six players and I’m glad it’s over.”
Had Bradley not been named captain in a surprise decision last year, he would have been expected to be on the team.
He won the Travelers Championship in June and ended a consistent season by finishing seventh at the Tour Championship last year.
Bradley has not featured at the Ryder Cup as a player since 2014, having been left devastated by Zach Johnson’s decision to not pick him two years ago in Rome.
Asked if he felt any other captain would have selected him for the team this time, Bradley responded: “How are we ever going to know that because I am the captain.
“I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups, I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play, it really did. You work forever to make these teams.
“But ultimately I was chosen to do a job, I was chosen to be the captain of this team. My ultimate goal to start this thing was to be the best captain I could be. This was how I felt I could do this.
“If we got to this point and I felt like the team was better with me on it, I was going to do that. I was going to do whatever I thought was best for this team.
“I know 100% for certain that this is the right choice. These six guys played so incredibly coming down the stretch here and made my decision a lot easier.”
