Keegan Bradley will forever be remembered as a losing Ryder Cup captain.
As harsh as that may sound, it’s the truth, and what’s more, Bradley would have been fully aware that he was putting his reputation on the line when he signed up to be the US Ryder Cup team captain.
Bradley bemoaned the Ryder Cup envelope rule after his US team lost to the Europeans, but he will surely be fully aware that Viktor Hovland getting a half point for Luke Donald’s side without playing made no difference to the end result.
Bradley was actually appointed as Ryder Cup captain without even having to partake in an interview, and that is a sad indictment of everything that’s wrong with the American set-up.
Many believe the 39-year-old was only given the captaincy because he was perceived to have been unfairly overlooked for a place on the 2023 team in Rome.
Despite his failure at Bethpage, Bradley insisted that he wants to play in a Ryder Cup team again in the future.
The really frustrating thing for him, and indeed for American golf fans, is the fact that he should have been playing at Bethpage this year, and never should have been made captain in the first place.
Golf fans convinced who’s to blame for Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup failure
Bradley will be the first to admit that he made plenty of mistakes both in the build-up to the Ryder Cup and during the week at Bethpage.
However, certain American golf fans are now convinced that there were existential circumstances which made his job an impossible one.
Many US golf fans have taken to social media platform X to suggest that the PGA of America are solely to blame for Bradley and his team’s struggles at the Ryder Cup.
One said: “He got so screwed in all of this – 1. Got snubbed last time, 2. Was given captain to make up for it, 3. Didn’t pick himself (would’ve been chosen by any captain) and 4. Got crushed & will be blamed for the loss. Keegan is the biggest loser in all of this and none of it is his fault.“ While another made a great point, saying: “Maybe listening to others on the course set up was your first mistake. Well actually the clowns at PGA of America made the initial mistake saying at the time a 37 yr old Keegan Bradley won’t be good enough to play in two years.“
This sentiment was supported by lots of others. With comments stating: “He deserved to picked in Rome and was then strangely given the captain’s role despite clearly being capable of making the team as a player this year – and was undoubtedly one of the top 12 American golfers when the event took place – every chance he can still make the next team.“
And “The guy has been tortured by the last 2 Ryder Cups. He absolutely should have been on the 2023 team.. but because he was left off he was made 2025 Captain when he ABSOLUTELY should have been playing.”
Others were equally passionate in their response.
“Every part of this is very sad to read / hear. Keegan Bradley is beating himself up for basically being used as a pawn to make up for Zach Johnson’s mistake in Rome. The world knows Phil Mickelson should’ve Captained at Bethpage & Keegan should’ve played. Politics ruined Team USA,” one exclaimed. While another added: “I feel bad for Keegan. Good guy set up for failure. Bumped from the 2023 team because he wasn’t part of Zach’s posse (but deserving of a pick). PGA tries to appease oversight and awards captaincy despite his poor record as a player. Now remembered as a loser for the rest of time.“
The views continued, with the PGA of America being blasted for selecting Bradley as the US captain. “This is what being on a Netflix reality show can do. You get all the sympathy as the audience watches you receive that brutal call saying you’re not going to Rome. Then, to make it up to you, they make you captain when you should just be a player. Now, you might not play in ’27.“
They are all very valid points.
However, we simply cannot gloss over the fact that Bradley made some horrendous decisions during his US Ryder Cup captaincy as well.
Keegan Bradley’s three biggest mistakes as US Ryder Cup captain
It all started for Bradley when he named the woefully out-of-form Collin Morikawa as one of his captain’s picks.
Morikawa had finished inside the top-10 only once on the PGA Tour since March and his lack of length off the tee and his poor putting meant that he was a poor fit for Bethpage Black.
Maverick McNealy, Chris Gotterup or even Bradley himself would all have been better options than the 28-year-old.
Morikawa was picked for his name alone, and that was Bradley’s first big mistake.
Continuing along the Morikawa theme, Bradley’s decision to pair the two-time major winner with Harris English for the Friday morning foursomes was a genuinely bizarre one.
However, to stick with the same partnership on the Saturday was simply unforgivable. The Morikawa and English duo were ranked 132nd out of 132 potential partnerships in Data Golf’s ‘optimal pairings’ list.
Bradley was either aware of the data and chose to ignore it or he was completely ignorant of it in the first place. Either way, it is not a good look for the 39-year-old from Vermont.
Finally, Bradley’s other major mistake was allowing Russell Henley to take the tee shots on the odd numbered holes during the Friday morning foursomes, rather than Scottie Scheffler.
All the data pointed towards the longest hitter in the pairing taking the odd numbered tee shots, with a strong bias towards those who play with a left to right shot shape.
The data being ignored by Bradley once again cost the US Ryder Cup team dearly.
So despite the fact that the PGA of America perhaps shouldn’t have appointed Bradley as the Ryder Cup captain in the first place, the man from Vermont definitely could have performed a lot better in the role than he did.
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