It would appear that Keegan Bradley was as surprised as rest of the golfing world when it was decided that the 38-year-old would be named as the captain of the US team for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Even after Tiger Woods turned down the captaincy role, few would have imagined that Keegan Bradley would be the name the PGA of America turned to next, with Bradley inside the world’s top 20 when the announcement came, and himself very much in contention to play on the Presidents Cup team next month.
Justin Thomas claimed everyone involved was in favour of Bradley’s selection, but it really does appear, from the outside, that the US have taken a big gamble by selecting the 2011 PGA Champion.
Some doubters may need to be silenced, but it certainly appears that Bradley is taking his role as seriously as possible as the US look to regain the Ryder Cup following their dismal showing in Rome last year.
Keegan Bradley admits having sleepless nights since being named Ryder Cup captain
There is more than a year to go until America’s best host Europe’s finest in New York, but it seems that Bradley is feeling the strain already, as he told the Fore Play Podcast.
“This is such an incredible opportunity. I can’t tell you how many nights I am lying awake staring at my wall at 3 in the morning thinking of pairings, or Bethpage. That first feeling I had driving into Queens to go to St. John’s and being so overwhelmed with New York City,” he said.
“And then going to play Bethpage for the first time, it was shortly after Tiger had just won the US Open there, and being on the grounds of Bethpage and just being in awe. I had never played a course which had held a major in my life. Being out there it looked like a course that would hold a major. There are courses which have the look of a major and Bethpage had it.
“Going and hitting the shots we went and hit, Tiger hit a really famous, seven or six iron into the fourth hole, the par five. Up the hill, I remember on Sunday he cleared the bunker and we would all go hit that shot every time.
“To think 15 or 20 years later I would be leading a Ryder Cup team at that course is literally stuff you would see in movies. I do not take this lightly. This is really intense. It’s an intense moment in my life for everybody, my family, my wife, my kids. It’s a defining moment in my life and it’s heavy. It’s really heavy at times.”
Plenty of well-established pairings already
Bradley faces a difficult task because he will want to vindicate the gamble the PGA of America have taken on him, but he will also be aware that home sides are always the overwhelming favourites for the Ryder Cup.
He is set to be an assistant captain for the Presidents Cup in Montreal, so that will help him get some ideas and experience in a backroom role.
And he has the benefit of knowing that some pairings are well-established, whether that be Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, or Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
There are likely to be some surprise choices. Collin Morikawa spoke recently about how he would have never expected to be paired with Dustin Johnson before 2021.
But there is a core there that is already likely to make up the majority of the team at Bethpage, so Bradley has little excuse for being caught particularly off-guard.
Clearly however, that is doing him few favours when he is putting his head on a pillow at night.
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