It is hard to imagine that Keegan Bradley has ever had a more turbulent year than he did in 2025.
Keegan Bradley has been a real focal point of the game over the last 18 months. It left the golfing world stunned when it was announced that the 39-year-old would captain Team USA at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Did Keegan Bradley make a bigger mistake than how he set up Bethpage Black at the Ryder Cup?
At the time, Bradley was inside the top 20 in the world rankings. It appeared that he had a brilliant chance of making the team as a player.
Ultimately, it would seem that Bradley would have been picked by any other captain for Bethpage Black.
Keegan Bradley springs a surprise with his comments on being Ryder Cup captain
Sadly, there was to be further Ryder Cup heartbreak for Bradley in New York. The USA became the first home team to lose the event since 2012 – when Bradley was playing for the Americans.
Bradley definitely made mistakes. So it was no surprise that he took some time away from the public spotlight in the weeks after the Ryder Cup.
But speaking ahead of the Hero World Challenge last week, Bradley intimated that he would like the captaincy again in the future. However, his comments alluded to the pain of being a losing skipper.
With that, Rex Hoggard has admitted on the Golf Channel Podcast that he was baffled by Bradley’s view on being captain again further down the line.
“I’m at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas this week. And Keegan spoke like he has a little bit since the Ryder Cup about how painful it was. Quote-unquote, the darkest time of my life, is what he said. Another quote that actually is more interesting to me is, ‘I’d love to avenge that loss’, which means ‘I’d love to do it again’. That, to me, makes no sense whatsoever,” he said.
“If this is the darkest time in your life, why would you want to put yourself through this again? But it’s clear he is the most tragic of heroes in this scenario, because he was really put in an impossible position.
“He was clearly a plan B for the PGA of America. Tiger Woods dragged his feet a little bit. It was clearly going to be his captaincy at Bethpage. And by the time Tiger decided that, ‘nope, I can’t do this. There are other things in my life I need to focus on, specifically the PGA Tour and the transition to a new schedule and a new reality in professional golf’, the PGA of America had to go some way.
“And this was very much an out of the box idea. Let’s pick Keegan Bradley. I don’t think anybody in the game was anticipating that announcement.”
Keegan Bradley may face yet another dilemma if Tiger Woods does not want the role
It is good news for the PGA of America that Bradley seems open to the idea of captaining the team once again.
As things stand, it is hard to see whom they turn to for 2027 if Tiger Woods again decides against taking the job. Woods said he has not yet been asked about being captain.
If Tiger Woods is not the next US Ryder Cup captain, who should get the job for Adare Manor?
“No one’s asked me.”
Tiger Woods’ response when asked if he would be interested in the 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy
Brandt Snedeker will be focused on next year’s Presidents Cup. Meanwhile, Bradley’s other vice-captains in New York – Jim Furyk aside – are hardly standout candidates just yet.
Some think Bradley should captain the team at Adare Manor; taking what he has learned from 2025 and using it to try and mastermind Team USA’s first away win since 1993.
But having decided that he could not be a playing captain this time around, Bradley will surely be wary of signing up for 2027 given that he may not have many more opportunities to play in a third Ryder Cup.
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