Keegan Bradley chose not to select himself for the US Ryder Cup team and after announcing his picks, he responded to recent comments from Rory McIlroy regarding the difficulties of being a playing captain.
Bradley announced his Ryder Cup captain’s picks on Wednesday and the most surprising thing was the fact that he didn’t include himself on the team for Bethpage Black.
At 11am Eastern Time, Bradley named all six captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup, with Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam burns completing his team.
Those six players will join Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau at Bethpage.
That’s a fairly strong American team, but did something that Rory McIlroy said earlier this month affect Bradley’s decision?
McIlroy suggested to Bradley that being a playing Ryder Cup captain was not possible earlier this month.
The Northern Irishman made the admission after being asked to perform that exact role himself.
He said: “I just think the commitments that a captain has the week of… you think about the extra media that a captain has to do, you think about the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, in Keegan’s case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony… just there’s a lot of things that people don’t see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big.
“If you’d have said it 20 years ago, I’d say, yeah, it was probably possible to do, but how big of a spectacle and everything that’s on the line in a Ryder Cup now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in. So I just think it for those reasons.
“Then the captain isn’t going to be on the course all day, so really the captain’s only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday. Would you rather not have a player who has the flexibility to go twice if he’s playing well?
“There are a lot of different things that go into it, and that’s why I think… look, it’s just my opinion, but I think it would just be very difficult to do.”
Keegan Bradley hits back at Rory McIlroy’s comments after announcing his US team for the Ryder Cup
Many were surprised that the 39-year-old from Vermont did not pick himself for the Ryder Cup team.
It was put to Bradley after he selected his picks that McIlroy’s comments may have influenced his decision not to name himself as part of the team.
And the eight-time PGA Tour winner did not hold back with his answer.
He said: “I just did not worry at all about what they do or say. I care about our team. I am not quite sure how he would know if it’s not possible, nobody has ever done it.
“I sit through this process and wish I could call on a Palmer and get his advice, the simple fact is that the Ryder Cup is a completely different animal to what it was in the 60’s, so even that would be difficult.
“They can make comments on what I can and cannot do. Nobody would have known. I was confident that I had incredible vice-captains I could lean on and an incredible team.
“But I said through this process over and over and over I was going to do what was best for the team and this was the decision I thought was best.“
The problem for Bradley is that the PGA of America put him in an impossible position from the start really.
If the United States don’t win now, people will say he should have picked himself. However, if he did name himself on the team and America lost, he would have received equal criticism.
Rory McIlroy said if the US Ryder Cup team would be better with or without Keegan Bradley
McIlroy spoke to reporters back in July about Bradley’s 2025 season and responded when asked if he believed the 39-year-old should be on the team.
The 2025 Masters champion said: “Keegan has played great. He’s had a great year. He had the win at the Travelers. Obviously I’m not in those conversations and from an outside perspective, it’s going to be interesting to see what the U.S. Team does with that.
“I definitely think the U.S. Team is better with Keegan playing than not playing. I definitely think he’s one of the best 12 American players right now. It’s going to be an interesting couple months to see how that all shakes out.”
McIlroy’s comments about Bradley making the US Ryder Cup team stronger is one that most American golf fans also share.
Now if the United States do not beat Europe at Bethpage next month, Bradley will surely regret not picking himself and he will definitely be in line for some serious criticism.
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