The call came on the Sunday night following the Travelers Championship and Keegan Bradley was just as surprised to be offered the job as U.S. Ryder Cup captain as the immediate reaction has been to his taking on the task for 2025 at Bethpage Black.
On the line was Zach Johnson, the much-maligned losing 2023 U.S. captain, who continues to be criticized for leaving Bradley off the team that was trounced 16½ to 11½ by Europe last year in Rome.
The two-time major winner, in his role as a member of the Ryder Cup committee, was calling along with PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh and PGA president John Lindert to tell Bradley he was the captain—without ever interviewing him for the position.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be more surprised by anything in my entire life,” Bradley said Tuesday at a news conference in New York where he was introduced as the captain. “I had no idea. It took a while for it to sink in. I wasn’t fully comfortable with some of the people who were passed over. So that was a heavy thought and moment.”
Bradley, 38, will be the youngest U.S. captain since Arnold Palmer served as a 34-year-old playing captain in 1963 at East Lake, with times having changed considerably since the days when the U.S. routinely beat a team comprised of Great Britain & Ireland.
Although the Americans have won two of the last three Ryder Cups over what is now a team from all of Europe, they’ve not won overseas since 1993. And Bradley’s exclusion last year after winning twice during the season, including the Travelers in June, while players such as Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler made the team led to an outcry that Johnson was playing favorites.
That narrative became stronger in the aftermath of a Netflix documentary that was released this spring in which Johnson was seen joking around with Thomas and Jordan Spieth, with whom he shared a rental home last year at the British Open. It hit harder when the cameras were there to capture Bradley’s reaction as he was called by Johnson to be told he wouldn’t be on the team.
“That moment was real,” Bradley said. “I was crushed. It took us a while to get over that. Our whole family. We were devastated. But I root for the Americans to win the Ryder Cup. I know all the guys on the team. I bleed red, white and blue. And I was thrilled to be able to watch these guys. And I was pulling for them.
“It was weird not being there and thinking I could have maybe helped. I know how hard a decision it was for Zach. I have a different perspective of what he was going through. I’ve only been the captain for two weeks. And I find myself staring at the ceiling thinking of every situation. I have nothing but admiration and respect for Zach Johnson.”
Bradley’s appointment became possible when Tiger Woods turned down the job sometime in late June. The 15-time major champion was mulling a decision on whether to take on the job for months and was given plenty of time to make up his mind.
In a statement, Woods said his commitments to the PGA Tour Policy Board as a player director ultimately preclude him from doing the job properly. “That does not mean I wouldn’t want to captain a team in the future,” Woods said. “If and when I feel it is the right, I will put my hat in the ring for this committee to decide.”
The Ryder Cup committee is made up of Waugh, Lindert and PGA vice president Don Rea along with Johnson, Spieth and Thomas. They ultimately decided on the captain and Lindert said it came together quickly.
Woods also quickly got behind Bradley, who said he reached out to him soon after getting the call.
“I’ve spoken to Tiger a bunch,” Bradley said. “He’s been very helpful. He’s a great voice to hear. He’s been reaching out to me and helping me which has been amazing.”
Asked about a possible vice-captain role for Woods at Bethpage, Bradley said: “I told him he can be as involved as he wants to be. We haven’t talked about vice captains. We as players, we all look up to Tiger as his opinion means a lot to us. Being in team rooms with Tiger ... the public doesn’t realize how important this is to him. I think it shows you how much he cares by turning this position down.”
Bradley also had praise for Phil Mickelson, whom he partnered with in all five of his team Ryder Cup matches in 2012 and 2014. Bradley said he hasn’t spoken to Mickelson—who years was penciled in for the captaincy at Brookline before his move to LIV Golf, but doesn’t anticipate the six-time major winner being involved next year.
“I still have a great relationship with Phil,” Bradley said. “I don’t think he’s interested in being a vice captain. To be honest with you, he’s a captain someday. I don’t want to speak for him at all. I have nothing but great things to say about Phil and what we did in the Ryder Cup.”
As for LIV players, Bradley said he’d attend LIV events if necessary to evaluate them and wanted to put to rest any of the fractures that exist in the game.
“I’m going to have the 12 best players on the team,” he said “I don’t care where they play. We have a mission to win this tournament. I’m not worried about the LIV stuff. By the time we get to Bethpage in 2025, we have no clue how the layout is going to be.”
Bradley said he doesn’t anticipate any change to the points structure, which has already started with points being offered this year at the majors and the Players Championship.
He said he will look at the number of captain’s picks—currently six of the 12 players—but hasn’t investigated that thoroughly.
Being at tournaments regularly and competing with the players who he will captain, he believes, will be a help. And he didn’t rule out making the team on his own but wouldn’t pick himself if he failed to automatically qualify.
Bradley, who was 4-3 in his two Ryder Cup appearances and his six victories on the PGA Tour, spoke passionately about his love for the event and about how much it pained him to lose in his two appearances.
He told the story again about how a suitcase he took to the 2012 Ryder Cup remains unopened, with a pledge to not do so until he’s on a winning team. But he said “I loved every second of it.”
“Being on a Ryder Cup team changes your life forever,” he said. “Being in the room with those guys and feeling the extreme pressure of this tournament will change you. The thought of being a Ryder Cup captain is something most of us never even think about. I never knew if I’d get this opportunity. I’m so honored to be the leader of this team and going to Bethpage to win the Ryder Cup back.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Keegan Bradley Discusses Ryder Cup Captaincy: 'I Don't Think I'll Ever Be More Surprised'.
