Keegan Bradley will be at Bethpage Black in September when he captains the United States Ryder Cup team, but he hopes to do more than wear an earpiece in Farmingdale, N.Y.
Bradley wants to play his way onto a U.S. team that still has some question marks six months out from competition. Bradley currently sits 22nd in the Ryder Cup points standings, behind the likes of Ben Griffin, Michael Kim, Tom Hoge and Lucas Glover.
The 38-year-old Bradley still hasn’t unpacked his suitcase from the United States’ meltdown loss to Europe at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. That was the last time Bradley made a Ryder Cup team, but he hopes to change that this fall.
Should Bradley find a spark in the summer and earn a spot, it would create a dilemma for the U.S. How much captaining would Bradley be able to do? Would he do it at all? And who would fill the role if he’s out focused on beating Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg or Shane Lowry?
Those discussions have at least been thrown around by Bradley and his vice captains.
Brandt Snedeker, who will be a vice captain this fall, offered some insight into how the U.S. might handle such a scenario during his introductory press conference as the 2026 Presidents Cup captain on Tuesday.
“With regards to Keegan playing, I think everybody on the team wants Keegan to play great and make the team,” Snedeker said. “I think that’s something that the players have spoken about quite openly, that they think Keegan is one of the 12 best players in the world now on the American side, and he needs to go prove that and play great leading up to the majors in the summer.
“With regards to who would be the captain in that scenario, we have four other guys in the room right now that are perfectly capable of it, and I’m sure there will be some collaboration between all of us to take over that role for Keegan even though this is going to be Keegan’s team. No matter if he’s playing or captaining, his fingerprints are going to be all over it. Our job as assistant captains will be to make sure that we carry out his wishes and carry out the team thing the way he wants it done.”
There hasn’t been a U.S. playing captain in the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Tiger Woods was playing captain during the United States’ 2019 Presidents Cup win at Royal Melbourne. But the prevailing thought appears to be that it’s too much to ask someone to captain the team and be part of it.
Should Bradley make the team, Snedeker seems to believe that Bradley will have to give up most of his captain’s duties to focus on playing the type of golf required to beat a talented European side.
“Keegan’s talked about this,” Snedeker said. “I don’t think you can do both. I don’t think it’s possible to be able to do both, just with how much stuff goes into being a captain. I think Keegan will probably lean on Jim [Furyk], obviously, who’s going to be in that room as well. There’s a bunch of guys that can step up and hopefully fill that void.”
Bradley has said he will only be on the team if he auto-qualifies as one of the top six players on the U.S. points list.
As of right now, the top six players are: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Russell Henley and Justin Thomas. Should Bradley go on a summer run to jump into the top six, it appears the plan will be to have a captain by committee setup at Bethpage.
Whether or not that will help, hurt or have no impact for the U.S. is unknown right now.
But what is clear is that there is a desire for Bradley to make the team, especially after his performance at the 2024 Presidents Cup.
“The way he played last year at the Presidents Cup really showed that this guy is built for team competitions. He’s a great guy in the team room. He played fantastic,” Snedeker said. “A big reason why we were able to pull it out in Montreal was the way he played. I think the guys loved seeing his [fire]. They got to see his competitiveness come through. They’re seeing that now as his way as a captain and the amount of care he has for these things comes through with the way he plays and the way he captains and the way he talks about it.”
Bradley has two top-10s and six top-25s so far this season. The No. 19 player in the world has played solid golf, but more is needed if he’s going to become the first playing captain since Palmer in 1963. Should he be successful, the U.S. will find itself in uncharted territory as it attempts to reclaim the Cup.
“He’s got to play great golf the rest of the year,” Snedeker said. “I know he will. He’s working hard at it. We’ll see how it all shakes out.”
