NAPA, Calif. — Keegan Bradley says he felt silly. While he’d be the one doing the honoring, Bradley thought he’d be the one more rewarded.
But he still had to tell Larry Nelson that he wanted him to be his team’s ambassador.
“It’s really fun for us to see the guys around him and to have his knowledge and just his presence,” Bradley said.
“He’s a guy that we all look up to and really look forward to bringing him in at Bethpage.”
There, beginning next Friday, Bradley will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup team against Europe, and the Nelson appointment stands to work in a few ways. While he’d gone 9-3-1 across three Ryder Cup appearances and won three major championships, Nelson was never named a Cup captain, so Bradley’s move gives him some recognition.
But there’s his play, too; Nelson’s Ryder Cup record also includes a 4-1-0 mark against European legend Seve Ballesteros. Bradley said he was also appreciative of Nelson’s military service during the Vietnam War, and the ambassador idea was hatched in May at the PGA Championship’s champions dinner.
“I think that Larry Nelson is one of the best human beings I’ve ever met in my life,” Bradley said last week at the Procore Championship, where 10 of the dozen American Ryder Cuppers played as prep for Bethpage.
“… Hearing the stories from him and Lanny Wadkins and hearing about these old Ryder Cups and just knowing about his service to the country and his incredible Ryder Cup record, and then to top it off of what an amazing human being he is, it’s more of an asset for us to have him around. Like to have him around our guys, to have him talk about what the Ryder Cup means to him, tell stories of when he played. He — his Ryder Cup where he beat Seve four times, what an unbelievable, it’s like up there winning a major, nobody ever beat Seve four times.
“It’s really more of an honor for us to have him. Sometimes I feel silly in this role of inviting Larry Nelson to do this when he’s just this amazing golfer but better person, bigger role in our Ryder Cup history, and it’s really fun for us to see the guys around him and to have his knowledge and just his presence.”
The news came, Bradley said, last month during the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, where Nelson lives. He’d been asked to do some interviews with the PGA of America, but Bradley said that was a setup in order to surprise Nelson with the appointment.
“I really feel it’s our duty to honor people like him, honor great Americans on our Ryder Cup team,” Bradley said. “When you have a guy that he alone is one of the best Ryder Cup players ever, but then you factor in his service in Vietnam and what he’s done for our country, it’s really stunning, it’s really an unbelievable story.
“I also feel it’s so silly how I could be Ryder Cup captain and he can’t, he wasn’t. He would never say that. I felt like it was our duty to honor him and what he’s done for us.”
During an interview last week with Golf Channel’s “Golf Today,” Nelson said he was honored. He’s looking forward to it, too.
“Amazing, humbled by it,” Nelson said on “Golf Today.” “I really appreciated what Keegan said. It’s one of those things, I didn’t know a lot about Keegan — I know he won the PGA on the same golf course as I did, knew a little about his history, about his father being a professional. It is amazing to me, and I’ve told a lot of people, you look into people’s eyes, you can kind of see their hearts sometimes. He is a great competitor. And I just feel like the U.S. team, the USA, the PGA is very fortunate to have him as captain this year.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a tough week. Both two good teams, and we needed a good captain, and I think he will be the one that will be able to motivate the guys. I just appreciate the opportunity to be able to go up there and watch it.”
