Keegan Bradley’s US Ryder Cup captaincy plan increasingly looks a selfish and silly decision

PGA of America going with inexperienced captain still in the middle of his career is among the most shocking selections in Ryder Cup history

It seemed such a good idea at the time – well, to the PGA of America and its hilarious Ryder Cup Task Force, at least. This lot could not force a meringue, let alone something as meaty as an actual task, and Keegan Bradley’s victory on Sunday served only to re-emphasise this.
It did not take a soothsayer to deduce that Bradley’s appointment as US captain could cause a quandary not too far down the road that ultimately could lead to a car crash. Just a copy of the world rankings and Bradley’s Wikipedia page and his recent results sheet would have sufficed. They would have seen that he was only 38, was in the world’s top 30 and was on a rousing upward trend that could easily, if not inevitably, convert into a big win.
Granted, Bradley was in the BMW Championship in Denver only because Korean Tom Kim had dropped five shots in the final three holes of the previous week’s St Jude Classic, the first of the PGA Tour’s play-offs. But when he prevailed by a shot from Ludvig Aberg, Sam Burns and Adam Scott at Castle Pines, nobody was falling over in shock. And nobody – bar a few LIV fundamentalists – will view Bradley’s new status as world No 11 and believe it to be an unworthy standing.
Bradley is the seventh-highest-ranked American and, at this point, it is difficult to foresee a scenario in which he is not due a spot on next year’s team at Bethpage.
In truth, he should have been among the dozen who got their star-spangled banners handed to them in Rome last year and, essentially, that is why this rash and frankly daft decision was made last month.
Tiger Woods kept them waiting and the task force felt it had nowhere to turn when the great one deemed he had neither the hours nor the conviction for the captain’s time-consuming responsibilities which include – get this – fulfilling sponsor duties for which he would not be remunerated.
In his orbit, Woods would regard this as basically paying for the privilege and his rejection was entirely predictable and will remain so until they rip up the leadership model to suit.
So, the committee panicked, cast aside the obvious choice of Stewart Cink and went with the man who cried on Netflix when Zach Johnson – the 2023 bumbler-in-chief – opted for the misfiring Justin Thomas instead.
Thomas was actually part of the panel which selected Bradley. A sympathy choice. Payback. It did not consult Bradley first, Johnson just called and offered it to him, akin to a golf club captain ringing up his pal to tell him he is now in charge of the junior section.
Bradley was stunned, of course. And, naturally, he accepted. Good God, this is the character who puts the patriot into New England, who has an unopened suitcase full of his uniforms from the 2012 Miracle of Medinah match that he will not empty until he is part of a winning team. He bleeds Team USA – whatever that means – and, yes, he believes he could be the first playing-captain since Arnold Palmer.
Bradley is many things – most of which are overwhelmingly positive – but he is no Mr Palmer and the Ryder Cup is not what it was in 1963, when Europe were Great Britain and Ireland and the conclusion was largely forgone and the spectacle was a short par-three in comparison to today’s outrageous par-five.
Rory McIlroy was actually approached about being Europe’s player-captain in 2027 in Ireland. “I’ve just said no way, absolutely not, because it depends: what do you want?” he said. “If you want to be the best captain you can be, you can’t play, and if you want to be the best player you can be, you can’t captain.
“Keegan is the [then] 19th-ranked player in the world, so he’s got a great chance of making the team and then, if he does, I think he’s just going to have to give that captaincy role to one of his vice-captains.”
Bradley does not agree. “If I make the team, I’ll play,” he said, after collecting the £3 million first prize on Sunday. “I’d love to be a playing captain.”
Evidently, Bradley will dig in his spikes if they dare take it away. He had been denied what he considered his right before and anybody who witnessed Bradley leading the chant of “USA, USA” down the stretch at Castle Pines will understand how it turns him on. This is another factor that made it such a numbskulled and unconsidered commission.
Next month is the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Brookline, when the tensions boiled over into the decidedly ugly in the Boston bear pit. The abuse of the visitors was so vile that Colin Montgomerie’s elderly father walked back to the safety of the clubhouse.
Since then we have heard Justin Rose heckled about his dead father and seen players’ wives spat at. New York could be all that and worse and what is plainly required are cool heads, especially on the home side. But this is what Bradley said at the press conference when he was unveiled.
“The fans are going to be our 13th team member. I’ve always thought of Bethpage as New York’s home course, which is now America’s home course. And I want the fans to treat it that way. They need to defend this course in the right, appropriate way. The New York fans are incredible fans; they’re going to be passionate, they’re going to be loud and they’re going to be crazy.”
Not quite Henry Kissinger, is it? He keeps repeating that “I expect them to behave appropriately” with the caveat “I can’t control how they act”. But the captain can and will have a huge influence on the behaviour and, if Bradley goes in as player-captain, the tinder box will be yet more flammable.
In what would be an exceedingly selfish and silly decision, Bradley would also be affecting his team’s chances of success. And for that reason, all his counterpart Luke Donald must be thinking is one thing – bring it on.