Will he pick himself or won’t he? That’s the question everybody is anxious to find out the answer to ahead of Wednesday’s press conference in which Keegan Bradley will reveal his six captain’s picks to round out the American Ryder Cup team that will compete against Europe in the biennial match next month at Bethpage Black.
Bradley finished 11th on the American Ryder Cup points list, not high enough to earn one of the six automatic spots from the two-year-long standings that were locked up earlier this month. But Bradley’s win at the Travelers Championship in June and his World Ranking of 11th make him a viable contender to become the first playing captain for the Americans since Arnold Palmer held the dual roles in 1963.
There has been weeks of speculation and discussion as to whether Bradley gives the Americans the best chance of winning back the Cup that they lost in Rome in 2023 by being on the 12-man roster, or whether playing would be too much of a distraction. The debate has weighed on Bradley, 39, who over the weekend at the Tour Championship described the proposal as the “biggest decision of my life.”
“I’m having a very hard time separating right now my captaincy and my play,” Bradley said last week at East Lake Golf Club. “For the past month it’s been like this, but this week I’m trying so hard. But that’s all I’m thinking about. Thinking about pairings, certain things I want to say to the guys during the week. It’s just difficult.”
Making it difficult is the number of viable contenders for the final spots. Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay are all Ryder Cup veterans who seem like solid choices for three of the six picks. Ben Griffin and Cameron Young both have PGA Tour wins this summer, while Sam Burns has Ryder Cup experience and is the top-ranked putter on the PGA Tour in 2025. There’s also Maverick McNealy and Chris Gotterup as possible picks. If Bradley takes himself, a seemingly strong candidate will be left home.
Already on the team through automatic qualifying are Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.
As for the European team, six players earned spots last week through automatic qualifying: Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton.
Luke Donald will make his six captain’s picks on Sept. 1.
This is a developing story that will be updated throughout the day.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
