Why Keegan Bradley is ‘afraid’ of trash talk at the Skins Game

Game Skins returns this week for the first time since 2008. Although the player lineup doesn’t match the inaugural 1983 edition (featuring Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player), there is one wrinkle that should add some interest: Ryder Cup Rivalries.

Keegan Bradley, 2025 USA Ryder Cup Captainwill compete for the first time since before his team’s devastating loss to Bethpage Black. And the two European players most responsible for his loss will be his competitors.

This led Bradley to joke about his fear that trash talk from his European masters might cause him to “curl up in a ball” during a press conference promoting the event.

Here’s what you need to know.

The Skins Game returns with the Ryder Cup lineup

For the first time in nearly 20 years, golf fans will be able to watch top pros play a big-money skins game live on TV after Thanksgiving this year. The Capitol One Skins game, as it’s officially known, kicks off on Friday, November 28th at 9am ET.

Cooperating with Bradley will be one of his Ryder Cup 2025 players, Xander Schauffele. The stars of the European Ryder Cup Tommy Fleetwood AND Shane Lowrywho is undergoing for one injured Justin Thomasround the field with four players.

The match will end at National Panthers in Florida, which was designed by Thomas and Jack Nicklaus, and features a traditional skin format plus a “reverse purse,” in which all players start with $1 million and contribute to the pot to try and take each other’s money.

While all four competitors are established players, the main draw could end up being ongoing Ryder Cup feuds. At least that was the main topic on the minds of the players in the run-up to the event.

Bradley, Lowry preview Skins Game trash talk

On Thursday, competitors took part in a virtual pre-match press conference and Ryder Cup shots were at the fore.

This is not surprising given what unfolded in Bethpage in September. Bradley’s American team wasn’t just beaten on home soil by the Europeans. So they did amid a chaotic atmosphere in which European players were harassed by unruly fans.

“I’m not going to have 50,000 New Yorkers in my ear,” Lowry said during the press conference.

Lowry, who secured the last half of the point Europe needed to retain the Ryder Cup in Bethpage, was also quick to hit out at Bradley for his team’s loss.

“Keegan has already paid me and Tommy (Fleetwood) extra not to talk about the Ryder Cup,” Lowry said.

But Bradley’s fear of trash talk isn’t centered on Lowry, rather it’s Fleetwood that’s keeping Keegan up at night. Fleetwood is one of the golf pros’ good guys, and Bradley admitted that if he saw him, the trash talk could turn him off.

“If Tommy trash-talked me in a serious way, I would curl up in a ball. I would be so scared,” Bradley joked. “That would be like terrible.”

But there will be one big difference between the Skins Game and the Ryder Cup: Instead of riding the cart as captain, Bradley will let his clubs do the talking at Panther National.

“I’m not going to have a remote in my hand on Friday, I’m going to have a golf club,” Bradley said. “What’s my chance of getting back at these two maniacs down there.”

You can watch the Capitol One Skins 2025 game on Friday via Amazon Prime.

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