Keegan Bradley questions future of Ryder Cup: ‘This effective event’

On Monday, American captain Keegan Bradley was at the site of his biggest triumph in 2025. travelers championshipspeaking for the first time since his biggest loss of the year, the Ryder Cup. AND American team defeat at Bethpage Black dominated the conversation.

At a media day for next year’s Travelers Tour, Bradley spoke of the “emotional” toll his Ryder Cup loss has taken on him, declared he would never get over it and even questioned whether he would ever want to play in “this high-profile event” again.

Bradley reveals post-Ryder Cup has been ‘toughest time of my life’

Even before Bradley accepted the captaincy for the 2025 US Ryder Cup team, it was clear how important the biennial event was to him. Look no further than his emotional reaction to being snubbed for Team USA 2023, famously filmed for Netflix’s Full Swing.

He was well aware, and regularly explained in public before the tournament, that a Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black would be celebrated for decades and could have defined his career. On the other hand, captaining the team to a loss on American soil will haunt him forever.

He reiterated that on Monday, in his first comments to reporters since leaving Bethpage Black on the losing side.

“You win, it’s the glory of a lifetime,” Bradley said Monday. “You lose, it’s ‘I’m going to have to sit with this for the rest of my life’.”

With the conclusion now decided, Bradley was brutally honest about how difficult life has been with the reality of loss over the past few weeks.

“There’s no part of me that thinks I’ll ever get over this,” Bradley admitted. “From the Ryder Cup until now it’s been one of the hardest times in my life.”

The American captain went into more detail, explaining how difficult it was to watch the Europeans dominate the first two days of the Ryder Cup considering the years of planning and hard work he had put in to prepare.

“You put so much into it, and you have all this planning, and the first two days went as badly as we could have ever imagined,” he said. “It was quite exciting. It was sad, to be honest.”

But there was at least one positive Bradley took away from his Ryder Cup captaincy. Being among the best players in the world when he was chosen as Ryder Cup captain, Bradley got the unique experience of traveling from Tour event to Tour event with American fans cheering him on along the way.

“In the history of the game — back to Bobby Jones, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus — I don’t know if any of them have experienced what I’ve experienced this year,” Bradley explained. “I got to experience something in the game of golf that I don’t think anyone has ever experienced: where I’m the captain of the Ryder Cup, but also competing at a very high level, winning tournaments and competing in tournaments. And it was really incredible.”

Bradley says Ryder Cup has been ‘too brutal for me’

In the run-up to the Ryder Cup, the biggest question buzzing around the golf world was if Bradley would select himself to play on the US team. He finished 11th in the US Ryder Cup rankings and was among the top-ranked Americans in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Bradley ultimately decided against itbelieving his focus should be on his duties as captain. But on Monday, Bradley revealed that during practice rounds in Bethpage, he began to regret his decision.

“I’ll forever wonder and wish I had a chance to play there. The first day of practice, I was out on the tee, and I was watching the guys walk down the fairway all together, and I said, ‘I wish I was playing. That’s what it’s all about. I’m missing it,” Bradley revealed.

But after a grueling few days on the Black Course, the US captain realized that being a captain “would have been bad”.

“On the second or third day I was like, ‘It’s a good thing I’m not playing’ because I was so physically exhausted. … Good thing I didn’t because it would have been bad.”

At 39 and playing some of the best golf of his life, Bradley could easily be in the conversation to play on the 2027 US Ryder Cup team, or even automatically qualify for the squad.

But when asked about his Ryder Cup future, Bradley’s first reaction was to wonder if he wanted to play in the event again given how “brutal” it has been for him.

“This event has been so brutal for me. I don’t know if I want to play. No, I do,” Bradley said. “It’s a strange thing to want something so much that it gives you nothing.”

Finally he came up with the idea.

“I would really love to play in another one,” Bradley admitted. “I don’t know if I’ll get the chance.”

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