What was noticed about Keegan Bradley when he named Sam Burns as his final Ryder Cup pick, ‘that’s interesting’

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Keegan Bradley named Sam Burns and his sixth and final Ryder Cup captain’s pick on Wednesday.

Many expected Bradley to name himself on his own Ryder Cup team, but he did what he thought was best for the US team by deciding against doing that.

The 39-year-old chose to pick Sam Burns for the clash with Europe at Bethpage Black, in addition to Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young and Patrick Cantlay.

After the Tour Championship last week, Burns suggested he would support Ryder Cup captain Bradley 100 per cent if he missed out on selection for the US team.

However, he received good news in the end when he was named as part of the 12-man team to take on Europe in September in New York State.

Bradley received plaudits for not picking himself for the Ryder Cup team, but as we all know, he will be solely judged by the outcome of the showdown with the European team.

Did he make the correct call by picking Burns, though?

What was noticed about Keegan Bradley when he named Sam Burns as his final Ryder Cup pick, ‘that’s interesting’

Rich Beem made a really interesting observation about Bradley while watching the 39-year-old’s announcement on Wednesday.

It was put to him on the Sky Sports Podcast that the man from Vermont looked devastated when he named Burns as his final captain’s pick, because it meant that he would not be playing on the team.

However, Beem took Bradley’s reaction a completely different way.

He explained: “That’s interesting; I actually took it the exact opposite away. I think he looked more relieved that the process was over.

“When he mentioned Sam Burns, it looked to me like he was relieved, it looked like he was ready to be done with it.

“When you go into that arena and you have all of those eyeballs on you, it can sometimes be uncomfortable.

“I think the way that he handled it all was brilliant.”

How Sam Burns performed on the PGA Tour in 2025

While Burns didn’t win on the PGA Tour in 2025, he did finish in a tie for seventh in the FedEx Cup standings.

Here are his results from the 2025 season:

Judging from those numbers, it’s clear to see that the 28-year-old’s exceptional putting played a major role in Bradley selecting him for the US Ryder Cup team.

It’s also worth noting that Burns is incredibly close with world number one Scottie Scheffler.

And you can be assured that Scheffler pleaded Burns’ case to Bradley ahead of the Ryder Cup captain’s picks announcement on Wednesday.

Now the pressure will be on Burns to justify Bradley’s decision by performing to the best of his ability during the Ryder Cup next month.