Keegan Bradley reveals what’s ‘strange’ about his relationship with European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald

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Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald have already spent plenty of time in each other’s company ahead of September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

As is tradition, captains must embark on multiple ceremonial trips and ensure all the formal events run smoothly. What’s more, there’s also the small issue of selecting a team capable of winning golf’s most prestigious trophy in New York.

The USA captain has also had to deal with the PGA of America’s decision to pay its players ahead of the Long Island showdown. Bradley will donate his entire wage to charity, but it remains to be seen what the rest of the USA team will decide to do.

Discussing the payment saga, Donald believes the Wentworth authorities won’t follow suit.

What is ‘strange’ about Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley’s relationship

Bradley – still a competitive member of the PGA Tour – is competing at The Sentry this week.

After shooting a nine-under 64 on Friday, the American was asked to discuss his relationship with the European captain, who lives in close proximity to him in Florida.

Bradley was asked: “As the crow flies, Keegan, how far away does Luke live from you?”

“Two minutes, three minutes,” he replied. “I see him at The Grove all the time. He’s legitimately a friend of mine. So it’s actually been really great; there’s no weirdness or anything; we both know we’re going to try our hardest to beat each other.”

A reporter added: “Do you guys ever go out to dinner?”

“Yeah, yeah. We were talking about playing a couple of weeks ago,” Bradley revealed. “Luke is a legitimate friend of mine, so it’s certainly strange but fun at the same time.”

• READ MORE: What Jordan Spieth said about Ryder Cup payment before making his debut in the USA’s heavy defeat in 2014

Current 2025 Ryder Cup standings

The race to make Bradley and Donald’s Ryder Cup teams is now on. In 2024, USA players could accrue points at five events—the four majors plus The Players—with each player earning one point per $1000 they make.

With Bradley maintaining the six captain’s picks, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Brian Harman, and Billy Horschel are the players currently set to qualify automatically – although there’s a long way to go.

The European qualification period started at the 2024 British Masters after Donald opted to streamline the qualification system by removing the European/World points list.

Rory McIlroy, Rasmus Hojgaard, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Wallace, Paul Waring and Niklas Norgaard are the six currently occupying the automatic spots. However, this list promises to be volatile over the next nine months.