Phil Mickelson forged a strong relationship with Keegan Bradley at the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012.
So it’s no surprise that Mickelson took to social media to send a message to Bradley after the 39-year-old’s team came up just short at Bethpage Black on Sunday at the Ryder Cup.
Mickelson has ruled himself out of the running for the 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy at Adare Manor.
The 55-year-old LIV Golf star has admitted that his involvement with the Ryder Cup is over, and that’s a real shame given the glittering career in the game.
Mickelson backed Bradley after some of his questionable Ryder Cup decisions earlier in the week.
However, was he as supportive after Europe officially won the trophy?
Phil Mickelson sends message to Keegan Bradley after USA lose the Ryder Cup
Mickelson has a real presence on social media these days, perhaps more so than he does on the golf course in all fairness.
The six-time major champion actually has more Ryder Cup appearances to his name than any other player in the history of the competition.
So he knows a thing or two about what being part of a Ryder Cup team is all about.
He took to his X account on Sunday evening after USA lost to Europe at Bethpage and sent a message to his good friend Bradley.
He said: “Team USA gave one of the most incredible and inspiring Sunday performances. Amy and I want to send our best to Captain Keegan and the rest of the team who played every shot with so much heart and represented the United States so well. Go USA.“
Keegan Bradley cost America the Ryder Cup with three woeful decisions
Despite Mickelson’s praise of Bradley, it’s clear to see that the man from Vermont cost his team the chance of winning the Ryder Cup.
And that was down to three truly terrible calls.
The first two are obvious. He chose to put Collin Morikawa and Harris English out in both foursomes sessions despite all of the data telling him it was a bad idea.
They were ranked 132nd out of 132 ‘optimal pairings’ at the Ryder Cup, so Bradley’s decision to not only select them on day one but to stick with them on day two was truly mind-boggling.
Aside from those awful decisions, his negligent underuse of J.J Spaun was unforgivable.
The US Open champion was one of the best players on the PGA Tour this season, and he only played two of the first four sessions.
The United States may have made things close at the end, but had Bradley made three really simple calls that every man and his dog knew were the correct ones, they almost certainly would have won the Ryder Cup.
And that will most likely haunt him for a very long time.
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