Keegan Bradley will lead the United States team in next year’s Ryder Cup, the PGA of America announced. First reported by Bob Harig They had their own special announcement on Monday afternoon.
A news conference featuring Bradley on Tuesday is scheduled for noon ET in New York.
Bradley last played in the biennial tournament in 2014, going 1-2-0 during the week at Gleneagles in Scotland. That year, the Europeans won 16.5-11.5, and Bradley again lost. Two years earlier, in Medinah, Illinois, Bradley helped the Americans win three matches before losing 2-1 in Sunday singles to Rory McIlroy. On that fateful Sunday, the Europeans stormed back to overcome a 10-6 deficit to win by one point, stunning the Americans and sending the red, white and blue home in disbelief.
And last year, Bradley finished 11th in the final Ryder Cup standings, which were determined at the end of the Tour Championship. Bradley also competed in the East Lake tournament, which only invites the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup rankings. He had a great 2023 season, winning the Zozo Championship and the Travelers Championship in his hometown of Connecticut. However, US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson overlooked Bradley, instead selecting Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Sam Burns.
Golf fans and pundits criticized Johnson’s decision not to draft Bradley, and the 2023 national team coach came under fire following the U.S. team’s poor performance in Rome. Netflix’s Full Swing The series also captures the moment Johnson broke the sad news to Bradley on camera, a heartbreaking moment that left him and his wife Gillian speechless.
Bradley has had a tough time coming into the Ryder Cup, but the 2011 PGA Championship winner will now be looking to write the ultimate revenge story at Bethpage Black.
The decision was unexpected, with Stewart Cink, Fred Couples and Tiger Woods all in the running. The PGA of America’s decision to select Bradley to lead the U.S. in the 45th Ryder Cup was unconventional. But there are three reasons why Bradley’s captaincy makes sense for Bethpage Black in 2025.
3. Different direction, younger players
The PGA selected Bradley as captain, because he will be 39 when the tournament begins at Bethpage Black. Ryder Cup captains typically are late in their careers, as Johnson did last year and Steve Stricker did two years before that. Jim Furyk, 48, led the Americans in Paris in 2018.
The trend has continued over the past decade, with 52-year-old Davis Love III captaining the U.S. team in 2016 and 64-year-old Tom Watson, who led the 1993 Ryder Cup team, the last American team to win the Ryder Cup on European soil, leading the U.S. team at Gleneagles in Scotland.
But this time the American wanted something different: a younger player who could still compete in majors — Bradley is ranked 19th in the World Golf Rankings — and a player with passion. Bradley has both those qualities.
In addition, Bradley
2. The Friendliness of Bethpage Black
Steve DiMeglio wrote a great story. Ahead of the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, he detailed much of Bradley’s connection to the famed Long Island course.
Bradley, who attended St. John’s University near Queens, about 25 miles east of Bethpage State Park, would play the Black Course with his Red Storm teammates on Mondays when the course was closed for maintenance. They had a “wink-wink” agreement with the superintendent, however, that allowed the St. John’s golf team to play together in groups of eight or nine. They could not play the entire course, however. They would only play holes 3-14, which are across from Round Swamp Road and out of sight of the clubhouse. The par-4 first hole (a curving dogleg right) and holes 15-18 are across the road and easily visible from the pro shop pedestal on the hill. There would also be some visibility of the second tee across from them, meaning Bradley’s Johnnies would start their Bethpage round on the par-3 third hole, which is right next to the maintenance shack. They did not want to upset the security guards or the pro shop, so they abide by these rules under the “supervision” of the superintendent.
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“It’s my favorite course in the world and I have so many great memories here,” Bradley told DiMeglio in 2019.
“I’ve played this course hundreds of times. I don’t think that’s an advantage. In a major, you don’t know what the course is like. I can just take it easy knowing I don’t have to fight to memorize the course.”
One would expect Bradley’s knowledge of the Bethpage Black course would be an advantage this time around. After all, the home captain has the power to dictate the course layout for the Ryder Cup, and his detailed knowledge of the course and familiarity with the terrain would surely be an advantage for the U.S. team in 2025.
1. Passion and Redemption
I don’t think there’s anyone in golf who loves the Ryder Cup more than Bradley. He’s obsessed with the tournament, he thinks about it constantly. He bleeds red, white and blue and he’s a reminder of the principles that are expected of a captain.
“I think about the Ryder Cup every waking second,” Bradley said in August 2023, just weeks before Johnson removed him from the national team.
After Bradley’s cold attitude became public, Posted a Tweet He spoke about his refusal to open the bag he used during the 2012 Ryder Cup tournament, saying he would only dig out the contents of the bag after playing on the winning team.
This is the suitcase I used for the Ryder Cup in 2012. I haven’t opened it since that Sunday. I promised myself I wouldn’t open it until I won the Ryder Cup.
That week changed the way I looked at golf forever. The Ryder Cup suddenly became incredibly important to me. pic.twitter.com/RFN6mqeiWH— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) August 30, 2023
Now Bradley has a chance to lead the United States and unzip that bag.
But the PGA chose passion over politics, temper over friendship and a decade of vendettas built up in Bradley’s heart. He may not have the CV of his contemporaries like Jordan Spieth or Justin Thomas, but he has the inner drive and the will to stand up for himself and his team. Just ask Miguel Angel Jimenez.
A fitting man for the Ryder Cup captaincy, Bradley would be the youngest player to lead the U.S. team since Arnold Palmer, who was 34 years old in 1963. Palmer was playing captain that year at East Lake Golf Club, which, coincidentally, was then called the Atlanta Athletic Club. It was here, in what is now Johns Creek, Georgia, that Bradley won his only major championship, in 2011.
Maybe Bradley will follow in Palmer’s footsteps and perform well enough to be selected for the 2025 national team. Although it’s unlikely, did anyone expect the PGA to select Bradley as captain of the 2025 national team? Anything can happen, especially in golf.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
