While Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa were the stars of the American team leading into the Presidents Cup, there is no question at all that plenty of eyes were on Keegan Bradley – with the 38-year-old providing one of the most intriguing subplots at Royal Montreal.
Keegan Bradley was in contention to make the team when it was announced that he would be the next captain of the US Ryder Cup team. Shortly after that news, Bradley was confirmed as one of Jim Furyk‘s vice-captains for the Presidents Cup. However, a win at the BMW Championship threw a spanner in the works.
Bradley was handed a captain’s pick for Royal Montreal. It was a decision which was questioned, with some believing that Billy Horschel should have been picked ahead of Bradley. But with the 2011 PGA champion looking to be a playing captain next year, it appeared to be an important hurdle for him to clear.
Ultimately, Furyk brought in Brandt Snedeker as another assistant to allow Bradley to focus on his playing. And it proved to be a remarkable week for Bradley – 10 years after his previous team appearance for his country.
Keegan Bradley targeting being a playing captain at the Ryder Cup
On that occasion, Bradley had lost the game which confirmed Europe’s victory at Gleneagles. So it was fitting that he was the one to win the point which clinched the Presidents Cup in Canada. With that, thoughts will now be turning to New York and Bradley’s captaincy.
Bradley has previously stated that the top players want him to be a playing captain. And speaking on Golf Channel, team manager John Wood insisted that he had seen nothing over the last few days which suggests that he could not step into that role.
“I think he can definitely do that. Obviously, it’s a big job, but he’s already named two amazing assistant captains. He’ll name two more in the coming year,” he said.
“When he first got named, we talked and I said, ‘hey, I’m not going to bring anything to you at golf tournaments, you’re preparing, you’re playing golf and we’ll talk about things on weeks off’. And he said, ‘Woody, I can handle it, if you’ve got something you need to talk about, bring it to me’. And I would bet you right now if you asked the other 11 players on that Presidents Cup team if they’d want to see Keegan as a playing captain next year, I think that you would have a unanimous vote.
“I just think he’s emotionally so strong, he loves it, he’s passionate about it. And I think it would be something unique, we haven’t had it for so long.”
The big challenge now facing Bradley
It is going to be a tough task for Bradley to qualify automatically. It would be a surprise if Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay did not take up four of the top six spots. Meanwhile, you would imagine that the likes of Sam Burns, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are likely to be involved one way or another.
Someone like Sahith Theegala will hope to kick on next year, while Max Homa will take a lot of positives from the way that he played in Montreal. Meanwhile, there will be plenty of interest in how Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth respond to their disappointing 2024s.
But Bradley made a real statement with his display in the Presidents Cup. The significance of his win at Castle Pines came with the caveat that the altitude somewhat threw the form book out of the window. Had he not been tied to next year’s Ryder Cup, it is likely that many fans would have overlooked him in favour of an Akshay Bhatia or maybe even Davis Thompson – a player with plenty of team events ahead of them.
Bradley won two points from three matches, defeating Si-woo Kim on Sunday. Once again, Kim had been one of the Internationals’ best players during the week.
The Ryder Cup is a different challenge altogether, but if the Presidents Cup was a test for Bradley, it is fair to say that he passed with flying colours.
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