Journalist Ryan Lavner has named two more PGA Tour players who were considered for the captaincy of the US Ryder Cup team before it was announced that Keegan Bradley would led the side at Bethpage Black.
Few golf fans would have expected before this week that Keegan Bradley would be the man tasked with regaining the Ryder Cup next year, with the 38-year-old very much in contention to qualify for the Presidents Cup team later this season.
Even after it was reported that Tiger Woods had turned down the captaincy, it is hard to imagine that many would have earmarked the 2011 PGA Champion as the man to succeed Zach Johnson.
There did not appear to be a huge number of inspiring candidates, with Stewart Cink, Fred Couples and Davis Love III named as potential contenders after Woods’ decision. Love III has done the role twice before, while Couples would have been older than Tom Watson when he led the team a decade ago.
Two PGA Tour players were considered before Keegan Bradley announcement
But Bradley was not the only younger option the PGA of America considered, with two teammates from 2012 and 2014 also considered – according to Lavner on Golf Channel.
“It’s pretty clear that they were, first and foremost, looking for Tiger Woods, and Tiger Woods, as recently as the PGA Championship, expressed doubt publicly that he was going to be able to assume those Ryder Cup duties,” he said.
“I do know that Webb Simpson and Matt Kuchar were also on the shortlist of candidates, I think looking at the blowback from what happened in 2023, the perception that this is an old boys club, I think the PGA of America was determined to smash that perception, go in a completely different direction and Keegan Bradley, who’ll be 39 next year, certainly epitomises that.”
A gamble worth taking from the PGA of America
Kuchar may not have excited American fans in the same way, and he probably would have quashed team morale on the ping pong table anyway.
Simpson was, until recently, on the PGA Tour’s policy board, so he is no stranger to taking on a leadership role, and he is a similar age to Bradley. But he is not someone who shows his passion as obviously as the man who has got the nod.
It will be fascinating to see whether the decision pays off for the US – and how it subsequently influences their future captaincy decisions.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
