Keegan Bradley Got His Ryder Cup Captain's Picks Exactly Right

Keegan Bradley nailed it, and exactly what this means for the U.S.’s Ryder Cup hopes is hard to say. Everything a Ryder Cup captain does before the event, like the baseball trade deadline or the first round of the NFL Draft, feels enormously consequential, simply because it is what’s happening now. Eventually you realize that the linebacker your team chose 23rd is just one linebacker, the reliever you acquired at the deadline is just another good arm, and the difference between Ben Griffin and Maverick McNealy isn’t that large.

Still, though: For what it is worth, from this vantage point, Bradley got it right. Justin Thomas was an obvious choice; Bradley called him “the heartbeat of our team.” Collin Morikawa has not had his best year, but there was no scenario where leaving him home would make sense. Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns were also fairly easy choices, and they will be warmly welcomed by the two best American players at the moment: Scottie Scheffler is one of Burns’ closest friends and his likely partner, and Xander Schauffele is a lock to play with his buddy Cantlay.

That left Bradley with two open spots.

With any other captain, Bradley would have been a lock—probably ahead of Cantlay and Burns. The question of whether Bradley would choose himself gobbled up oxygen for the last two months, but in the end, Bradley resisted the temptation to reward himself lavishly, which separates him from most American CEOs.

It was absolutely the correct decision, and good on Bradley for realizing it. He said he decided not to pick himself “a while ago,” even as he hinted this past weekend that he was still considering it. Perhaps he just wanted to add some drama to his announcement, or perhaps this was a smart psychological trick: by keeping his name in the hat, Bradley made captain’s picks seem even harder to earn than they were—maximizing pressure on players to perform, and steeling them for what is to come.

“There was a point this year where I was playing,” Bradley said. “All these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way onto this team.”

That they did.

Ben Griffin won twice this year—once on his own, once with Andrew Novak at the PGA Tour’s team event in New Orleans. Since May, Griffin has finished in the top 15 10 times, including twice at majors (the PGA and U.S. Open.) Cam Young finally won a PGA Tour event, at the Wyndham Championship in August, and he has been one of the Tour’s best players this summer.

Recent performance matters, not so much because hot players stay hot, but because these guys knew they were playing for Ryder Cup spots. As Bradley said Wednesday, “You’re playing Q school every round.” There is no way to know how players will handle Ryder Cup pressure. But the way they handle their Ryder Cup audition is relevant.

The alternatives just weren’t that appealing. Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka played themselves off the team. Brian Harman is a major champion who was 12th on the Ryder Cup points list, but a quick peek under the hood shows an engine on fire: Harman is 107th on Tour in strokes gained off the tee, 89th in strokes gained approaching the green, and 81st in strokes gained putting. That’s pretty much the whole game.

Wyndham Clark is a major champion and Ryder Cup veteran, and the best thing you can say about his game this year is that he is a major champion and Ryder Cup veteran. He has not been anywhere near as sharp mentally as he would need to be for the Ryder Cup.

Maverick McNealy might have been No. 13 on a 12-man list, which is always painful. But what argument could you possibly make on his behalf? McNealy has never contended in a major and never played in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. He has one PGA Tour win, in the 2024 RSM Classic, and most of the game’s top players were not in the field.

Bradley made the right calls—and even better is how he is making calls.

The Ryder Cup captaincy is largely about vibe creation: making sure every swing comes from a place of comfort and genuine confidence. Too many U.S. teams have been derailed by egos and slapdash pairings.

The signs thus far are promising. Thomas said “the communication, and how transparent Keegan has been … isn’t something we have experienced before.” Bradley was a surprising choice for Ryder Cup captain—this figured to be Phil Mickelson’s job until his LIV heel turn— but there are benefits to not having a superstar captain.

Mickelson and Tiger Woods could never understand how it feels to be Ben Griffin. Bradley can. He clearly has players’ feelings at the top of mind, and while nobody wins the Ryder Cup from a therapist’s couch, Bradley has wisely paid attention to players’ mental states. He has his team. Now he has a month to make sure his team is ready.