American Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has been trying to motivate his players by showing them an old clip of something that Rory McIlroy said back in 2023.
McIlroy caused somewhat of a stir earlier this month ahead of the Ryder Cup by suggesting that he didn’t think that Bradley would be able to successfully act as a playing captain.
Before the BMW Championship, McIlroy claimed he had been asked to captain for Team Europe but refused because he wanted to keep on playing and he didn’t think it would be possible to perform both roles.
Bradley has already hit back at McIlroy ahead of the Ryder Cup by suggesting that the Northern Irishman wouldn’t know whether it was possible or not because nobody has actually done it in the modern era.
The tension at Bethpage Black next month will be tangible.
McIlroy has clearly tried to get in the American players’ heads on more than one occasion already, and now Bradley has admitted that he is using something the Northern Irishman said two years ago to get his team fired up.
Keegan Bradley says he has used Rory McIlroy quote to motivate his Ryder Cup team
Bradley was interviewed by Colt Knost after he made his six captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup.
Knost shared with the man from Vermont something that McIlroy said about the Ryder Cup at Bethpage just after Europe beat the United States in Rome in 2023.
He said: “Winning a Ryder Cup away from home is very difficult, it hasn’t been done since 2012. After the last Ryder Cup in Rome, Rory McIlroy had some very interesting comments about that.“
Knost then played McIlroy’s quote to the Ryder Cup captain: “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.“
Interestingly, Bradley was well aware of the quote.
He replied: “The boys have seen that clip a few times, yeah. Yeah, they may have seen it once or twice, yeah.“
The mind games have clearly already started ahead of the Ryder Cup and the anticipation for the 45th edition of the famous competition is building by the day.
How Rory McIlroy reacted after playing with home favourite Keegan Bradley at the Travelers
Back in June, Bradley won the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
The 39-year-old played alongside McIlroy during the first two rounds and he received huge support from the galleries.
After the opening round of the Travelers, McIlroy responded when asked what it was like playing with someone who received such vociferous support throughout the round.
He said, “There was definitely a lot of “Captain America” and “USA” chants out there, which is cool. It’s cool for Keegan to be here, be the U.S. Ryder Cup captain and obviously get all that support.“
The 2025 Masters champion was clearly very impressed by the support the fans gave Ryder Cup captain Bradley at TPC River Highlands.
However, that will be nothing compared to what the crowd at Bethpage have in store for Bradley and his players next month.
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