Keegan Bradley made the surprise decision not to pick himself for his own Ryder Cup team, and Annika Sorenstam has delivered her verdict on whether he made the correct call by doing so.
Bradley addressed the media on Wednesday to announce his six Ryder Cup captain’s picks for the upcoming clash with Team Europe at Bethpage Black.
Since then, Bradley has been lauded for not playing at the Ryder Cup, after he put his country and team ahead of his own desires.
Ryder Cup captain Bradley went against what a lot of people expected him to do and his decision has been described as an incredibly selfless one.
The man from Vermont suffered heartache in 2023 when he was overlooked by Zach Johnson for the Ryder Cup team.
It would have been more than understandable had he picked himself for the team.
And if he managed to finish off the 2025 PGA Tour season in better form, perhaps he would have.
Annika Sorenstam says if Keegan Bradley should have played at the Ryder Cup
Back in 2017, Annika Sorenstam was the captain of the European Solheim Cup team at De Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa.
The United States won the contest by a score of 16.5-11.5.
So the Swede knows all too well just how difficult it is to perform the role of captain in a huge event.
Sorenstam was speaking on SIRIUSXM PGA TOUR Radio about Bradley’s decision not to play at Bethpage.
She said: “As a previous player, as a previous vice-captain, as a captain, this is hard work.
“The planning , the discussions, the strategy, the interviews, all of these things.
“But I’ve got to say, for Keegan not to pick himself, he’s a classy guy. He knows what it’s like not to be picked, if he wasn’t the captain, he would have been in right?
“He would have been a great teammate, no doubt about it, but like he said, they picked him to be the captain.
“He’s going to focus on that. If he picks himself and they don’t win, then they can’t win.
“It’s really hard, so I think he did the right thing there, and all the momentum that he will bring to the team as a captain.
“I think it was the right decision and if you look at the players, it’s another stacked team and I think this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage is going to be tremendous.”
The video clip Keegan Bradley has been using to motivate his Ryder Cup team
Rory McIlroy recently caused a stir by suggesting that performing the role of playing captain wouldn’t be possible.
However, it was something the Northern Irishman said two years ago that really got under Bradley’s skin.
After Europe won the Ryder Cup in Rome in 2023, McIlroy said: “I’ve said this for probably six or seven years to anyone who will listen, I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf is winning an away Ryder Cup and that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.“
And Bradley was asked about what he made of those comments earlier this week.
The Ryder Cup captain said: “The boys have seen that clip a few times, yeah. Yeah, they may have seen it once or twice, yeah.“
As if the Americans needed any more motivation to be pumped up for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
And McIlroy may well be made to regret those comments next month.
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