Keegan Bradley hugs his wife after Team USA’s Presidents Cup win on Sunday.
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Somewhere, quietly, Luke Donald must be giddy. Rory McIlroy too. In fact, they may not be silent. Ryder Cup Europe loves itself a group chat. Perhaps they have a free pass now, celebrating the fact that their opponents’ next year just got more chaotic.
Team USA is their next opponent, after all. They would have scouted this weekend. But while the outcome of the event – a layoff 18.5 to 11.5 of the Internationals – it wouldn’t have been surprising, the way it ended was important for next year’s Ryder Cup: namely the fact that Keegan Bradley took a starring role.
The 38-year-old who will lead the Americans next year was referred to as “the hat” almost as much as the real captain, Jim Furyk, an indication of the massive change in how much the golf world cares about each event. But you’ll recall that when Bradley became the surprise choice to captain the Ryder Cup in 2025, he was also thrust into the position of assistant captain for this Presidents Cup so he could learn the ropes of captaincy under Furyk. No major Ryder Cup player in recent history has led that team without first being an assistant. Being an assistant doesn’t just mean driving carts and tracking down groceries — it also means walking the streets with a headset and communicating with analytics staff to make tough decisions involving his friends.
Bradley NEEDED this Presidents Cup to better prepare for his time in the hot seat next year. Did he get the same level of preparation from playing on the team? He was determined to learn as much in a lower-stakes event as the Americans win every time. But then he did something he’s done in recent years: He rode an elite wave of ball-striking to win a major PGA Tour event. (His third win in a two-year stretch.) Suddenly he wasn’t an assistant captain anymore! Instead, Brandt Snedeker filled the role of Bradley’s assistant. And Bradley scored the winning goal. All this must have tickled Donald and McIlroy and others watching from afar.
Why? Because they know this will start a year of questions going into double duty next year. These guys are friendly with Bradley. They know his career and aspirations and have seen his love for the red, blue and white. It was during one of the best weeks of Bradley’s career — at the 2012 Ryder Cup in Medinah — that Bradley played long Donald, teaming with Phil Mickelson to beat Donald twice. But then it was Donald who came out on top Sunday, claiming the first singles match, while McIlroy ran to the first tee via police escort, shook Bradley’s hand and then beat him 2 and 1. If Bradley , then ranked 13th in the world, just beat the man who was sleeping that morning, everything about the Ryder Cup is different. Really everything.
In its most dramatic moments, this Presidents Cup delivered something special
Many of them were together this July and discussed this very hypothetical. Donald, McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Nicolai Hojgaard shared dinner in London ahead of the Scottish Open. When Donald arrived with the news of Bradley’s appointment as captain, the players were in a state of disbelief. They weren’t surprised by the meaning at the time, but what it could mean down the road, with Bradley’s form foreshadowing a possible captaincy role, which McIlroy thinks is simply unlikely.
“No absolutely not,” McIlroy said that week. “I thought (of being a game captain) for Adare (Manor, in 2027) and no, it’s too much work for him. I’ve seen what Luke went through preparing for Roma – there’s no way you can be as good a captain as you need to be and also be a playing captain.”
Asked if he had given it too much thought, McIlroy said: “No. It was mentioned and I just said, ‘No way.’ It depends – what do you want? If you want to be the best captain you can be, you can’t play. And if you want to be the best player you can be, you can’t be the captain. It’s one or the other.”
That’s McIlroy’s opinion, but at some point in 2025 it will become Bradley’s reality – a blazing fire he lit in Montreal giving us highlight easy throw to close out the opening session and earn the last point the Americans needed against International’s best player. Unsurprisingly, the first questions reserved for the entire American team Sunday night went right to him, one of which focused on his prospects for playing next fall in New York:
“I learned a lot from (Jim Furyk and his wife, Tabitha),” Bradley said. He admitted that he feels conflicted about this idea as well. “I would love to join these guys and play next year. I don’t know how that would ever be possible, but seeing what Jim did, seeing how nervous I was today to play. But I will push it down the road. Like I said, if I make the points team, I’ll consider playing, but other than that, I won’t, because that’s really important to me next year.
“I’m not interested in my personal gains playing the tournament, I’m only interested in winning the Ryder Cup. I think the best way to do that is to let these guys play and let them do what they do. We will see. I don’t see it happening, but we’ll see.”
Avoiding self-importance and pushing these decisions down the road. Cap is hitting the right strings there. He will no doubt continue to speak this way as we move forward into 2025. The Ryder Cup captaincy demands a lot of press time, and Bradley is good at it. But he is also a good competitor. How will these separate tasks be developed? Being a captain means a lot of time at PGA Tour events. It means a lot of time thinking about pairings, analyzing stats, and being forced to go through kickoffs with players trying to make his team. So … what happens when Sahith Theegala shoots a 75 at the Memorial to pair with Bradley’s 68? Speculation will follow.
We can’t be sure that Bradley will eventually take on these duties, but we do know that American sports fans love a spectacle and a story. Something special, something different to walk away from — like teammates reuniting to liven up Madison Square Garden, or Mr. Irrelevant rooting for a Super Bowl team. Pursuing Bradley to play captain would have that juice. The fact that he was left out of the losing 2023 US Ryder Cup team – in favor of Justin Thomas – sticks in the minds of many because it was detailed on Netflix. Full motion. When you tune in to watch Season 3 of that show, I’m confident you’ll hear from Bradley what it all means. And I believe you will surely see the season close with images of him reaching the final point on Sunday afternoon.
Sometime in February or March, the show will be released. Bradley will watch it and probably like it. “(Netflix) has been really good to me,” he said Thursday. Soon after, he’ll be asked about it, and asked again and again, and the competitor in him will keep thinking about doing it again, both in print and in his own mind. In other words, the 12-month Ryder Cup countdown is off to an exciting but complex start for the American team. Which should make Team Europe very happy.
