NAPA, Calif. — Keegan Bradley is not playing in this week’s Procore Championship and said he thinks it’s the first time he’d ever been to one outside of playing since he was a teenager.
But the U.S. Ryder Cup captain has had his sights set on bringing his team together this week in Northern California for most of his captaincy, and certainly since the start of 2025 when he began to work his way through the various details of his assignment.
Saying Wednesday he believes it is “the closest team I’ve ever seen,” Bradley has attempted to foster a feeling of togetherness and camaraderie with the Ryder Cup just two weeks away.
A team dinner that included all of the players, their caddies and families took place Tuesday night near the Silverado Resort, where most of the U.S. representatives will play in this week’s Procore Championship, which begins Thursday.
In addition to the friendly nature of the proceedings, Bradley had a video put together that included highlights of every member of his team, including the vice captains.
And he also tried to impart a message.
“We really only get one time a year to do this,” Bradley said. “When you’re a part of it, it really, it changes you forever, it really does. It changes the way you prepare, it changes the way you set your goals for the year, for your career. In golf you’re so alone all the time in this process. Then, when you’re in a team room or even just having dinner last night, you’re looking around at the guys and they’re all in this together.
“You’re looking at guys from J.J. Spaun to Ben Griffin to Scottie Scheffler and all of a sudden we’re all on the same team here. It’s really such a special feeling to be a part of because it’s so rare.
“What I’ve been telling the team as well is you never know when your last Ryder Cup is. My last Ryder Cup was the deciding point with Jamie Donaldson and I certainly didn’t think that was my last shot in a Ryder Cup. You really want to enjoy every second of these because you never know when it’s done.”
Bradley has his own painful Ryder Cup memories to impart, too.
He lost to Rory McIlroy in singles—after going 3–0 with partner Phil Mickelson—in 2012 as part of the “Miracle at Medinah” where the Europeans rallied from a 10–6 deficit to win 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.
Two years later, he was part of Tom Watson’s ill-fated team at Gleneagles in Scotland, where Wales’s Donaldson defeated him in singles to clinch the winning point in a 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 victory.
Bradley never made it back to the Ryder Cup as a player, heartbreakingly missing out on a spot two years ago in Rome when it appeared he might be selected by captain Zach Johnson.
And then, surprisingly, he was tapped by the PGA of America in July of 2024 to be the captain this year.
“I think we can all agree that me being the captain was definitely a shock to everybody,” he said.
But he’s turned it into the opportunity to do things he had never done before as a player, which is to get to know the others better, become more engaged, even root for their success.
That is what Bradley said he’s noticed the most about the core of his team.
“I think the players knew it was important,” he said about 10 of the 12 team members being here to compete this week, with ineligible Bryson DeChambeau still attending the team dinner and Xander Schauffele—due to the birth of his first child—the only player absent. “This Ryder Cup means everything to them. We talk a lot behind the scenes of how much this means to us and they are willing to do whatever it takes to be prepared. No, this is something that we wanted. When I was named captain, this was something that I wanted, but they wanted it more than I did. This made it really easy. When the players take accountability for their team, good things happen.”
Bradley said he’s used the opportunity to talk about potential pairings, “90 percent” of which he said are determined. He also wanted the players to be together in this setting away from the pressure and demands of the Ryder Cup.
“It’s the first time he really addressed everyone on the team and they got to see his emotion come out,” said Webb Simpson, a vice captain this year who played with Bradley in both of the captain’s Ryder Cups. “The guys know how much he cares. He’s a passionate guy. But I think it set the tone for now how much it means to Keegan and how much it should mean to these guys. They left. . . not feeling pressure. . but [feeling] that this is special. I’m a part of something that is very special.”
Simpson, too, remembered his own lessons of appreciation, missing things like the Tour Championship or the Sentry or team events after always expecting to be on them.
“I had taken it for granted,’’ Simpson said. “I made myself promise. . . never take it for granted. When you are playing good golf, it feels like it’s going to last forever. It doesn’t.
“They’re going to be nervous. We’re all nervous. Tiger Woods was nervous. But be thankful to be there. Be thankful that you’re part of something that is a lot bigger than an individual golfer. You made this team because you’re a heck of a golfer. You’ll be fine. Rely on that.”
And, Bradley said, play like it might be the last time—a message he believes the team has embraced.
“At some point this is going to end for all of us,” Bradley said. “It’s going to end for Scottie. I tell them it ended for Jack Nicklaus, guys like that, best player, one of the Mount Rushmore players. You have to enjoy these moments because you never know when it’s done. You never know when it’s your last dinner like last night, you never know when it’s your last time hanging in the team room with the guys, so you have to cherish every second.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Inside Keegan Bradley’s Strategy to Build U.S. Team’s Chemistry Before the Ryder Cup.