The enduring Ryder Cup storyline right now is whether U.S. captain Keegan Bradley will only have one job. Might he also play?
If he does, he’ll need all the players’ gear. Like a bag with his name on it—or, more accurately, a bag with his name again on it.
The 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team bags have been designed by edgy equipment/accessory company Swag Golf, with details not before seen on U.S. team bags. Among the little “Easter egg” details to be found on the bag is indeed the captain's name, on the Great Seal of the United States.
You know the seal, with the bald eagle and “In God We Trust.” This version has “In Keegan We Trust.”
“We wanted this bag to be to be pretty clearly patriotric from a distance,” says A.J. Getz, Swag’s executive creative director. “But when you get up close with it, there’s just a rich amount of deep, real depth of storytelling of the American story and just something that tonally matches the energy that Keegan wanted to bring with his captaincy.”
Swag couldn’t have it any other way. The Chicago-based company is best known for its headcovers, adorned with everything from skulls and mobsters to dolphins—“flippers” in Swag parlance, with a nod to how the covers are often sold for profit on secondary markets. Its popular money covers, imitating U.S. currency, made it to the Ryder Cup in 2021, when U.S. captain Steve Stricker wanted to present a captain’s gift to his players before the matches began and got a tip that Swag made cool products.
Those money covers featured Stricker’s signature in place of the United States Treasurer’s signature, and player signatures instead of the U.S. Secretary of State’s. The serial number was the opening date of the matches. The Americans dominated in that Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and the covers were used for years by some players in regular PGA Tour events.
Captain Zach Johnson also used Swag for player gifts in 2023, after which company officials wondered if they could get involved with the 2025 matches in a more official capacity. A relationship with PGA of America chief operating officer (now LPGA commissioner) Craig Kessler led to a deal to do the team bags, but with a caveat.
For years, U.S. team bags from Ryder Cups to Presidents Cups to Solheim Cups shared the same styling cues with little creativity. They would have a big “USA” on the side and the requisite stars, stripes and red, white and blue; serviceable bags that could be recognized from afar but were hardly iconic as unique team items.
Swag reps told the PGA of America—an organization not known for being provocative—that it couldn't follow that template.
“We were very adamant in the process, we absolutely needed to feel different and feel Swag,” says Griffin Glatt, the company’s chief revenue officer.
The result is a bag that has the familiar USA elements of previous years, but with character in the details.
The company worked through several iterations of designs for the bag and had Bradley’s input often along the way. (Another company, Vessel, is manufacturing the bag.)
On the inside of the main ball pocket there's a mantra that Bradley wrote: “Play for your country, play for your family, play for your legacy,” signed with his initials. The side panels have Mount Rushmore depicted. Another panel says “Liberty & Justice Fore All.”
The aforementioned Great Seal of the United States has several golfy tweaks, with the eagle's talons holding not olive branches but golf clubs and even a “Quiet” sign as a nod to the Ryder Cup's notoriously boisterous crowds. Also, the 13 stars of the original Seal (for the 13 original U.S. colonies) are 12 stars on the bag, for the 12 players.
And the boldest design tweak of all: “In Keegan We Trust.”
“Keegan is not a self-aggrandizing individual, all the concepts that we put in front of him that singled him out in particular he typically said ‘no, we're not doing that. It's not about me,’” Getz said. “This was something I had baked into that sort of presidential-style seal that just kind of squeaked through.”
On the bottom of the bags sold at retail is a reproduction of the famous “Warning” sign at Bethpage's first tee, the players’ bags will have something different that the designers say we’ll have to wait and see in September.
A September that Swag hopes will be victorious for the home team.
“I think the bag has a long longer legs if it’s a bag you win with,” Griffin says. "From the storytelling perspective and a financial perspective, we want them to win, and being American golf fans, there’s that piece of it as well.”
The captain wouldn’t argue with that.
The Ryder Cup staff bag ($600) and a stand-bag version ($400) are for sale at swaggolf.com.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The U.S. Ryder Cup Team Bag Got a Refresh, and It’s Like No Other Before.
