Simon Holmes has suggested the comment Keegan Bradley made after being named as US Ryder Cup captain for 2025 which he found to be ‘strange’.
It may still be sinking in for some that Keegan Bradley will lead the US team as they look to try and regain the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black next year. Of course, the Americans were soundly beaten in Rome last year, with Zach Johnson coming in for a lot of criticism.
Many expected Tiger Woods to be named as his successor, but Woods turned down the chance to be Ryder Cup captain. Nevertheless, few would have anticipated where the PGA of America would apparently turn next.
Keegan Bradley is inside the top 20 in the world right now after something of a resurgence in the last couple of years, narrowly missing out on a captain’s pick for last year’s Ryder Cup.
Keegan Bradley questioned after comments on Ryder Cup role
The 38-year-old will be one of the youngest captains in the competition’s history next year, which has led to Bradley being asked about the prospect of being a playing captain. Unsurprisingly, Bradley suggested that his goal is to qualify for the team.
But speaking on Live at the Range, Simon Holmes suggested that he cannot quite understand how Bradley will be able to handle the demands of playing and captaining the US team.
“I never would have [predicted it], but you know what, I actually like the pick, I like the pick because I think it’s a change from this system of just having the guys from the top echelon just exchange it amongst themselves,” he said.
“Keegan Bradley’s a New Yorker, the 13th club for the Americans is going to be the crowd, he knows Bethpage very well, that’s where he played college golf. And I was thinking about it, it’s actually a great pick.
“I think what he said was, ‘I think I’ll probably try to be the playing captain’, and I thought that was strange. But then, who knows.”
2011 PGA Champion will need amazing season to make team
Tiger Woods was able to lead the US to victory at the 2019 Presidents Cup as a playing captain, but the Americans needing to overturn a two-point deficit heading into the singles to win. Woods himself, actually won three points from three matches that week in Australia.
Bradley has suggested that he is highly unlikely to hand himself a captain’s pick if he does not qualify automatically. And it does appear that the Americans have so much depth that he is going to need an amazing season to make the team.
But you would imagine that the PGA of America will already be making plans in case Bradley is able to qualify for the team.
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