Bradley says Ryder Cup captaincy was the right call, even as he yearns to play

Keegan Bradley said Monday he remains convinced he made the right Ryder Cup choice, even as the urge to play for the United States lingers. The U.S. captain and St. John’s alumnus walked Bethpage Black on a sunny morning for the team’s first practice round, praising the layout and the conditions as among the best he has seen. "I’ve thought about it every second," he said at Monday’s news conference. "But I’ve also thought about how impossible it would be. I was picked to do this job as captain, and there’s been certain things that I’ve done during the week or lead-up that if I was playing, I don’t think I could have done at the level that I needed to do them at."

Bradley acknowledged he often envisions himself in a growing group with Scottie Scheffler but says the 'bigger cause' of guiding the team has kept him focused on his captaincy. "I catch myself every now and then looking down the fairway, seeing the guys walk down the fairway, and think how badly I’d like to do that, and how badly I’d want to be in the group with Scottie Scheffler and seeing him play and being his teammate," he added. "But I feel like I’ve been called for a bigger cause here, to help our guys get ready to play and play at the highest level. But in the back of my mind, I’m always thinking, 'I could have been out there.'"

Bradley described the season as the proudest of his career, with 11 top-25 finishes and six top-10s in more than a decade. He finished 11th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings and eighth among Americans in the world rankings. Only Scottie Scheffler has more PGA Tour wins in the past 13 months than Bradley, who captured the Travelers Championship in June. "That win at Travelers really threw a wrinkle into the process," U.S. vice captain Gary Woodland told The Post. "We kept telling Keegan, 'You’re not making this easy on yourself,' because he was playing so dang well … We all told him, 'You can’t make a wrong decision.'"

Bradley said leading the team as captain has simplified his schedule. "Ultimately, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed being the captain and how I’ve enjoyed not having to worry about getting to sleep and getting my rest or how I haven’t had to think about what time I’m going to go practice or meet my coach and then meet the guys," he said. "It simplified things a lot for me."

Two years ago, Bradley was left off the Ryder Cup roster, passed over by U.S. captain Zach Johnson — a moment captured by Netflix’s Full Swing — before he earned his place as a player in 2012 and 2014. Webb Simpson, another vice captain, told The Post that Bradley’s leadership would carry weight even without the opportunity to accumulate points on the course. "As you’re thinking through this, just because you won’t be able to put points on the board playing, you still have a massive role as captain," Simpson said. "He’s poured his heart and soul into this. He believes this is what’s best for the team. For him to sacrifice something that he cares about more than anything outside of his family … that’s what leaders do."

Arnold Palmer was the most recent captain to also play in the Ryder Cup (1963). Bradley acknowledged the rarity of a captain competing as a player, noting that the job demands focus on the collective, not individual results. "Ultimately, captains have had to focus on the whole team," he said.

The Ryder Cup is slated for later this year at Bethpage Black, with Bradley and his staff prioritizing preparation and readiness to ensure the U.S. team performs at the highest level. Bradley’s year-long workload as captain has featured long hours, meticulous planning, and a commitment to building momentum for the Americans as they aim to reclaim the trophy on U.S. soil.

As the team fine-tunes its approach, the veteran captain’s message remains clear: leadership requires sacrifice, and Bradley believes that choice—and the work that follows—serves the collective goal of a winning Ryder Cup. The path ahead will test not only Bradley’s leadership but the cohesion and resilience of a U.S. squad looking to translate regular-season form into team success at Bethpage.