Surprising as it is to see a golfer still very much in his prime being endowed with the traditionally senior position of Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley is the perfect man for the job.
If for no other reason than he can clap back at his predecessor Zach Johnson for snubbing him in 2023.
Keegan Bradley has been named the captain of the U.S. Team for the 2025 @RyderCup 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ZYtG0siwgJ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 8, 2024
There are certainly more reasons Bradley more than qualified for this honorable role, but we must first examine the ZJ of it all. Johnson could’ve tapped Bradley to be on Team USA with one of his captain’s picks. Instead, he chose to go with a slumping Justin Thomas, figuring that JT’s previous 6-2-1 record was invaluable experience the squad couldn’t exclude.
Thomas proceeded to go winless until Sunday singles, when Team Europe was already so far ahead that it didn’t matter. The captain’s pick controversy was captured in real time by Netflix’s series Full Swing.
Bradley had won twice and recorded another runner-up finish to boot in the wraparound 2022-23 PGA Tour season to that point. Meanwhile, Thomas’ performance at the biggest tournaments were far short of his high standards. He finished T60 at The PLAYERS Championship, and T65 at the PGA Championship. Oh yeah, and he missed the cut at The Masters, The Memorial, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. Still got the Ryder Cup nod.
Beyond the merit-based gaffe he made — not to mention other strategic blunders that led to a lopsided 16.5-11.5 loss — Johnson has gone from blue-collar Iowan done good with two major championships to one of the least-likable figures in professional golf. PS, the Bryson of it all is a big factor in the anti-ZJ campaign as well.
Reminder,
Bryson was not only not picked for the Ryder Cup this year, he wasn’t even considered…
Zach Johnson will go down as one of the worst Ryder Cup Captains ever
— PGA/LIV Hot Takes (@PGALIVHotTakes) June 16, 2024
And look, “strategy” at the Ryder Cup is overblown. I feel like the Europeans just care more and have a comparable depth of talent — perhaps even an edge — over the American side. No matter what Johnson did in ’23, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference in the end.
Now that I’ve pseudo-defended ZJ a bit, here’s the rebuttal to my own points. You need a charismatic, strong leader to keep morale up. There are certain intangible factors of passion, ability to relate to players, general likability, and innate respect that a Ryder Cup captain should have in spades. That describes Bradley to a T, even if he’s not part of the so-called “Boys’ Club” that Johnson leaned on for captain’s picks in 2023 by naming JT, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler.
Keegan Bradley when the boys club ask for Ryder Cup Captain’s picks pic.twitter.com/J39kOiplo6
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) July 8, 2024
Plus, Bradley has the chance to do the funniest thing ever and actually play. He’d become the second and only other Ryder Cup captain to tee it up in competition if he gave himself a spot on the roster. Keegs is still fully capable of putting points up for the U.S. and brings so much raw emotion to the course that’d be most welcome at Bethpage Black.
The fact that Bradley is a Boston sports fanatic plays into this notion that he should be a playing captain, too. Although he’s got the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to fight fans over, having a New Englander captain Team USA and fire up the always-raucous New York gallery with birdies sounds like too good of an opportunity to pass up.
We Americans are perceived as out of touch and antiquated in our Ryder Cup thinking. Keegan Bradley is such a breath of fresh air as a captain in his own right, but choosing to play on top of that would just send 2025’s showdown to a whole other stratosphere. It’d be such a bold departure from the old ways that, even if Bradley is too humble to put himself in play, the other non-captain’s picks and Team USA leadership really need to convince him to.
Please do it, Keegan. Please play. Show Zach and the rest of the world you’ve still got plenty of game on the grandest, most frenzied international stage in golf.
