{"id":15544852,"date":"2024-07-09T20:37:27","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T00:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golf.com\/?post_type=article&p=15544852"},"modified":"2024-07-09T22:14:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T02:14:58","slug":"keegan-bradley-stunning-ryder-cup-captaincy-suggested","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/keegan-bradley-stunning-ryder-cup-captaincy-suggested\/","title":{"rendered":"Keegan Bradley\u2019s stunning Ryder Cup captaincy? Here\u2019s who engineered it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK \u2014 In recent weeks, as it became increasingly more apparent that Tiger Woods<\/a> had already or was about to decline a longstanding offer to captain the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team, whispers of other potential candidates grew louder. Depending upon where you procured your golf news (or gossip), Stewart Cink, 51, a five-time Ryder Cupper and vice-captain at last year\u2019s matches in Rome seemed to be the frontrunner. But there also were murmurs of possible repeat performances from Steve Stricker, 57, who helmed the U.S. squad to a convincing victory at Whistling Straits in 2021, or Davis Love III, 60, who is deep in the PGA of America\u2019s circle of trust as a former PGA Championship winner, six-time Ryder Cup player, two-time Ryder Cup captain and one-time vice-captain alongside Stricker in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Keegan Bradley<\/a>, who hasn\u2019t played on a Ryder Cup team in a decade? No one \u2014 and we mean no one<\/em> \u2014 saw Bradley coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet there he was just moments before noon on Tuesday on the second floor of a shiny Times Square office building, readying to be ushered in as the American skipper who will lead a team of 12 players against their European counterparts at rowdy Bethpage Black<\/a> in just over 14 months. Surrounded by robotic cameras and seated beneath an armada of hot white lights in the techy Nasdaq headquarters, Bradley looked the part in his white USA cap, matching shirt and black-and-red Air Jordan high-tops. To his right was PGA of America president John Lindert and between them was the handsome gold showpiece that Bradley and his squad will be desperately trying to wrest back from Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Filling out the 100 or so other seats in the studio were a mix of PGA officials, media, Bradley\u2019s parents and five members and the coach of Bradley\u2019s former golf team at St. John\u2019s University in Queens. Call it a home crowd, though nothing like the crush of beer-fueled support Bradley will enjoy on New York State\u2019s most fabled municipal course, the same track where Bradley and his college pals would while away winter afternoons when their other go-to practice spots were closed for the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the crowd waited for the press conference to begin, a familiar and fitting tune filled the air: Bruce Springsteen\u2019s \u201cBorn in the USA.\u201d With time to kill and no one seemingly knowing what to say or do, someone in the front row cracked a joke loudly enough for Bradley to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeegs, last chance right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in, last chance to reconsider the heavy responsibility he was about to officially accept in front of the golf world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not missing a beat, Bradley smiled and said, \u201cIt\u2019s too late now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRADLEY IS SURELY RIGHT<\/strong> about that. But how he arrived at this surprising moment is still a story worth examining. Just over 10 months ago, Bradley was an emotional wreck in the wake of news from then-U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson that Bradley\u2019s two wins to that point in 2023 had not been enough to earn him a captain’s pick on Johnson\u2019s team bound for Rome \u2014 a drama captured in vivid detail by Netflix’s documentarians. Bradley, then 37, surely was thinking one of his last best chances for Ryder Cup glory had just evaporated. Maybe he could claw his way on to the team in 2025. But captaining<\/em> that squad? That notion would have been laughable to him.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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1 ominous truth about Keegan Bradley as Ryder Cup captain<\/a><\/blockquote>\n By:<\/span>\n \n \n Sean Zak <\/a>\n \n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t think I’ll ever be more surprised of anything in my entire life,\u201d Bradley said Tuesday of his job offer. \u201cI had no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As recently as month ago, no one<\/em> had any idea, not just about Bradley\u2019s forthcoming appointment but about any other potential candidates. That\u2019s because Tiger Woods had spent months agonizing over whether he would accept the captaincy<\/a>. According to a source close to the decision-making process, Woods didn\u2019t make a final decision until after the PGA Championship in May. \u201cIt got to a point where he realized that he had too much going on,\u201d the source said. \u201cHe was sort of struggling with balancing everything.\u201d Among those duties: his seat on the PGA Tour\u2019s policy board; his investment in the TGL virtual golf league, which is scheduled to launch early next year; and trying to remain sharp and healthy enough to compete every couple of months \u2014 all while parenting two teenage children.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source said Woods ultimately told then-PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh<\/a> that passing on the captaincy was likely best not only for Woods but also for the team. Woods and Waugh were \u201cboth really stressed about it,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Woods out of the picture, the U.S. Ryder Cup Committee \u2014 which consists of Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, plus three PGA of America executives, including Waugh, who stepped down as CEO at the end of last month \u2014\u00a0had work to do. And quickly. According to the source, the commitee convened and batted around \u201csome obvious choices.\u201d But Waugh, in particular, was resistant to going down a predictable path, given the raison d\u2019etre<\/em> of the Ryder Cup Task Force, which was formed in 2014 after the U.S. team’s implosion in Scotland, was to think differently about how teams are assembled and managed. Waugh, the source said, felt it was time for \u201cgenerational kind of change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CEO compiled a list of potential captains that included the likes of former Ryder Cuppers and vice-captains Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar and Stewart Cink but also current Tour players like Webb Simpson and Rickie Fowler and even Kevin Kisner, who has never played in a Ryder Cup but would likely be a popular team-room guy. But, according to the source, it was another name on the list that Waugh felt most bullish about and who immediately grabbed the committee’s attention: Bradley\u2019s. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone paused for 10 seconds and kind of said, \u2018Oh crap, I probably never would have thought of him, but what an amazing choice,\u2019\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On some levels, Bradley, in fact, makes little sense as a captain. For one, he lacks experience; he has played in only two Ryder Cups and never on a winning side. He also has described himself as a Tour \u201coutsider,\u201d which does not sound like an ideal quality for a leader charged with bringing a team together (see Tom Watson, 2014). But on other levels \u2014\u00a0which resonated with the committee \u2014\u00a0Bradley is an optimal candidate. His zeal for the Ryder Cup is well chronicled. (\u201cI just hope, some day, I get to win a Ryder Cup and open that thing and just have a peace-of-mind moment, because I\u2019m thinking about the Ryder Cup every second of every day,\u201d he said on Full Swing<\/em>.) He attended college in New York City and has played Bethpage Black more times than he can count. He\u2019s also closer in age to his players than any previous captains, which could help him better vibe with them. The committee needed little convincing. \u201cAn hour-and-a-half meeting ended in five minutes,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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