Farmingdale, NY – So who will be your American captain in 2027, when Ryder Cup is played in Ireland And the team is anchored by Scottie Scheffler?
Scheffler offered the reply on Sunday at night, just minutes after two points, Wildly close US losswas signed and stamped. He was being interviewed by NBC Sports Damon Hack. Hack asked Scheffler for American captain Keegan Bradley. And then Scheffler, who was in four loser teams on Friday morning and afternoon and Saturday morning and afternoon, was excited. His voice crack. For a second or two, he was stuck with his words.
And that’s when you knew. Keegan Bradley will again be offered work from the PGA of America, and he will get it absolutely.
How can you be so sure? Because Scheffler and all the other 11 players were suspected of the work Bradley did, and because Ryder Cup’s captains have been selected by a committee of three players and three PGA officials of America. Bradley was chosen by a committee that included Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. Scheffler is likely to be on the committee to choose a captain for the next exit. Either way, he will have a strong and influential voice. Scheffler, a man who says exactly what it means, said this to hack on his captain: “Keegan has been amazing.”
Bradley brought him to the comedian Nate Bargatze in a pre-philxhan, players-and-germs and private performance of the team. And Bargatze was killed! The team loved it. Bradley was loose. The Americans went 1-3 to alternative goals on Friday and again on Saturday. Bradley was very loyal to what players want: without surprises. He did not make some changes to the formation that in retrospect could have made the difference. These two sessions cost the Americans the Ryder Cup. But Bradley certainly learned from those sessions, as the loss is the excellent teacher of life.
Europeans, in Luke Donald, had the perfect professional as their captain, just like those in Italy two years ago when they won. Donald is calm and composed and very, very British. Bradley is the opposite in every way, and it makes it very, very American. He is much more like the late Lou Carnesecca, the legendary and ardent basketball coach at St. John’s, where Bradley attended school. American athletes, players between them, as ardent. In a Ryder Cup team, players need to like their captain. Is a necessary starting point.
And then there were his extremely sincere remarks at a press conference on Sunday at night, half an hour after the last blow of a 15-13 loss, for about a two-hour extension, seemed to be one of Sunday’s most prominent stories in the long history of Sunday’s stories. Bradley, speaking in his permissible way, took full and total responsibility for American loss, and (as you will expect) not a loan to the stunning success of Americans on Sunday.
“I definitely made a mistake in the course configuration,” Bradley said. The right roads were wide, approximately landed. “I should have heard a little more about my intuition. For whatever reason it was not the right way to set the course.”
Europeans won only one of the 11 games played on Sunday. One! It means, of course, that Americans played well, but Bradley also made some good assumptions, educated for what the matches could be.
“I had to learn a lot in the flight,” Bradley said on Sunday at night, asked what he would tell the other captain. “I had to rely on a lot of people. I was going against an extraordinary team, and you know, in my eyes, I think Luke Donald is the best European captain of Ryder Cup of all time.
The 12 players in the loser team were caught for their captain. This was not Stagecraft or a PR Exercise. That was an approval.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments in Michael.bamberger@golf.com.
