The PGA of America allowed the drama to come to a boil on Wednesday during its U.S. Ryder Cup captain’s picks announcement. First, it had Keegan Bradley extol the virtues of the six golfers who were automatic qualifiers to play next month at Bethpage. Then Bradley went one-by-one through his captain’s picks, each player fielding a few questions about making the team. Finally, roughly 20 minutes into the proceedings, Bradley revealed what most folks had been waiting for. When he said the name Sam Burns as his sixth pick, it meant that Bradley was forgoing naming himself the first playing captain in the match since Arnold Palmer in 1963.
Calm and forthright, Bradley proceeded to answer a variety of questions from the media about his decision, and what it was like to break the news, both good and bad, to the other candidates he was considering for the 12-man roster.
“I know 100 percent for certain that this is the right choice,” Bradley said, “and these six guys, again, played so incredibly coming down the stretch here and made my decision a lot easier.”
Afterwards, Golf Digest staffers have broken down Bradley’s picks, gone inside his decision-making process, explained the virtue of leaving himself off the roster and identified how this could be Europe’s worst nightmare. But there were a few stray tidbits that caught our attention that we figured were worth sharing.
Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America
No last-minute changes
There has been weeks of speculation and discussion as to whether Bradley would give 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 appeared to be weighing 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.”
But when asked what went on from the finish at East Lake to the presser in Frisco, Bradley suggested there was no hemming and hawing.
“The decision was made a while ago that I wasn’t playing,” Bradley said. “The last 48 hours we had the team set. We weren’t scrambling at all.”
Allowing him to come to peace with the decision was the fact that the alternative candidates all seemed to be playing well. “I would say there was a point this year where I was playing, a while ago, and all these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way on to this team. That’s something that I’m really proud of and something that I really wanted.
“But it was an extremely difficult decision but one that I’m really happy with. I’m really happy with these six players, and I’m glad it’s over.”
Somebody forgot to say spoiler alert
After Bradley named Cameron Young with his fourth captain’s pick, a PGA of America spokesperson asked the Ryder Cup rookie the seemingly innocuous question of whether his teammates knew that he played on the Junior Ryder Cup team in 2014.
“Yeah, I think one of them might remember in particular. I know Sam was on that team with me. That’s a fun memory to share.”
Since no player named Sam was officially named to the U.S. team yet, Ryder Cup sleuths took to the internet to say that Sam Burns would be a pick any moment … and that it likely meant Bradley wasn’t going to take himself.
Bradley famously received the call that no player wants to get in 2023 as captain Zach Johnson let him know he wasn’t going to be a pick for the team playing Rome. Making it even worse was that a camera capture the whole heart-crushing moment.
Suffice it to say, Bradley then has plenty of sympathy for those he had to call with bad news. And he tried to make sure that came through.
“I just kept imagining what it was like when I got those calls, when you look at your phone and you see the captain calling you and you don’t know what’s on the other end,” Bradley said. “I really said I was going to ruin the dreams of a couple guys here, and it broke my heart. It still does.
“I’m in a unique position where I’m calling guys that I might see at the golf course the next day. A lot of the times the captains will make the call and may not see these guys again. I’ll be around them for years to come hopefully.
“But the way I liked the calls to go was short, sweet, to the point, and that was the game plan that I had. But it was really tough. It was the toughest day of my captaincy for sure.
Bradley’s favorite thing about being captain so far
The announcement of Bradley as U.S. Ryder Cup captain last summer surprised everybody, Bradley included. Part of the reason that was the case is that the former PGA champion had never served in that kind of role before. By his own admission, Bradley has kept to himself over the years while playing on the PGA Tour. He acknowledged that might have kept him from making past U.S. teams. In his role as captain, however, Bradley has changed his approach.
“I think one of my favorite things about being the Ryder Cup captain over the last year and a half is getting to know the guys better,” Bradley said. “I did a horrible job of that most of my career. I’ve told all these guys this, but I’ve learned so much from them, the way that they handle themselves, the way that they’re friendly to one another, the way that they truly care and pull for one another, something that I looked at everyone as sort of my opponents. These guys, they care about one another. They’ve taught me a lot about how to live a happier life on tour, and I’m really grateful for that.”
When Bradley was asked the question about what stats he and his team looked at that when trying to pick the “right” players to round out the team, his response hinted that he’s not a complete data freak.
“We look mostly at who has the lowest score at the end of the tournaments,” Bradley said. “We look at the data. We look at the analytics, and we look at how they would fare at Bethpage, how they would fare in each format. But, ultimately, we want to see the guys that win and the guys that are up in the majors, the guys that are up in the playoff events.”
And why is this important in Bradley’s mind? Because that means players won’t be overwhelmed by the stage that is the Ryder Cup.
“The data and the analytics isn’t going to matter on that first tee when there’s 40,000 fans screaming at you,” Bradley said. “We take that into account and we look at it and we apply it when we can. But we want guys that we know can handle the situation, that can handle the moment and are going to go out there and win points.”
The moment when things got surreal
That the decision whether to pick himself or not with a captain’s pick had garnered so much attention in recently weeks had surprised Bradley. And that moment reached its peak this past weekend when President Donald Trump took to social media to back Bradley as a playing captain.
“That was really surreal. Again, I’ve been really blown away with the support. Anytime you get the support of the President of the United States, it’s really surreal and stunning. I really appreciate it, Mr. President. I hope you’re not disappointed. We look forward to seeing you at the Ryder Cup.
“That certainly made things … when you see stuff like that, you start to wonder how we got to this point in my life. But I was really honored, deeply honored to have him say that.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
