Keegan Bradley is keeping his clubs at home.
Ending a months-long drama about his playing status, Bradley on Wednesday announced that he was not among his six captain’s picks for next month’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Bradley instead chose Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Ben Griffin – Nos. 7-9 in the final points standings, respectively – as well as Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns and Cameron Young to round out the 12-man squad.
“The decision was made a while ago that I wasn’t playing,” Bradley told reporters at the news conference at the PGA’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas. “There was a point this season that I was playing, but all of these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way onto this team.”
Those six picks join a U.S. roster that already includes automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Russell Henley and Harris English from the two-year points cycle.
Opposing captain Luke Donald, once again leading the Europeans as they look to win on the road for the first time since 2012, will reveal his six captain’s picks at 9 a.m. ET Monday on Golf Channel.
Bradley’s highly scrutinized decision to leave himself off the active roster registers as a mild surprise after the past few months and caps a wild two-year journey. Snubbed for the 2023 Ryder Cup squad, he was stunningly elevated to the captaincy in July 2024 as the leaders of the PGA of America sought to break the mold of its leadership group.
The 39-year-old initially said he’d only be part of the active roster if he were among the six automatic qualifiers, but his stance began to soften in June after he captured the Travelers Championship, a signature event on the PGA Tour, and allowed himself to consider the possibility of juggling both roles. Bradley failed to sustain that run of form for the final two months of qualifying, and last week at the Tour Championship – where he played in the penultimate group in the final round and ultimately tied for seventh – he maintained that he would operate in the best interest of the American team. He called his 2025 season, amid all the distractions of the captaincy, the “proudest season I’ve ever had.”
“It broke my heart not to play,” Bradley said. “You work forever to make these teams. But I was chosen to be the captain of this team, and my goal was to be the best captain I could be, and this is the best way I thought I could do this.”
One of the unique aspects of his job was that Bradley, the player, needed to be evaluated by Bradley, the captain, and the rest of Team USA leadership. And so as he made the calls Monday to those left off the team, Bradley said that he, too, was “bummed out” and “moping around,” just as the other players were. But his mindset soon shifted.
“Quickly you realize what a dream it is to be a Ryder Cup captain,” he said. “I don’t care how it works out, as long as we win on Sunday (of Ryder Cup week).”
Thomas and Morikawa were Nos. 7 and 8, respectively, in points, and though Morikawa has been out of form for the past few months (his best finish over the last three months: T-8), he has a winning record in the Ryder Cup and remains one of the game’s most accurate and precise players, ideal qualities in the foursomes format. This will be Thomas’ fourth Ryder Cup appearance, making him the most experienced player on the U.S. side.
“He’s the heartbeat of our team,” Bradley said of Thomas. “This guy was born to play Ryder Cups, especially at Bethpage Black.”
Griffin, meanwhile, was one of the breakout stars of the year after a two-win campaign that included 10 top-15s in his last 12 events and now has him up to a career-best No. 7 in Data Golf rankings. Though he lacks any match-play experience, he joined Andrew Novak in April to capture the Tour’s only team event, the Zurich Classic, and boasts one of the most complete games on Tour, ranking seventh in strokes gained: total.
From Scottie Scheffler and the automatic qualifiers to Keegan Bradley’s six captain’s picks, here’s who will represent the U.S. at Bethpage Black.
“It’s the biggest honor of all time to be on a Ryder Cup team,” Griffin said. “That phone call could have easily gone either way for me. Keegan voiced to me early on – there’s good phone calls and bad phone calls, and leave no doubt. I’m proud of how I fought at the end of the year.”
Cantlay, who tied for second at East Lake in the season finale, has a 15-6-1 career mark in team match play and was one of the Americans’ strongest players two years ago in a losing effort in Rome. Burns, the top-ranked putter on Tour, has now played on four consecutive U.S. teams while the big-hitting Young, a rookie, boasts strong course history at Bethpage and has been trending as well as any American over the past month-plus, with his first career victory in the regular season-ending Wyndham Championship and two other top-5s.
The Americans have won only three of the last 11 Ryder Cups, but their past two home victories (in 2016 and ’21) have been by an average of eight points.
Summing up a stressful few months of playing, positioning and pondering the possibilities, Bradley said: “I’m glad it’s over.”
Many players on the U.S. roster are expected to compete next week at the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship in an attempt to bond as a team and stay sharp ahead of the matches.
Then it’s on Bethpage.
