PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Shane Lowry rolled into the media dining room on Wednesday morning at PGA National Resort and Spa, site of this week’s Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, looking for a quiet spot to do a couple remote interview.
By then, footage of an amped-up Keegan Bradley from the final episode of the latest season of Netflix’s Full Swing was going viral.
Cameras showing Bradley in the aftermath of last fall’s Presidents Cup victory picked up the since-appointed U.S. Ryder Cup captain firing up his American teammates with, in retrospect, was his first motivational speech of his captaincy.
“I’m gonna get criticized as the captain next year,” Bradley began. “They’re gonna underestimate me. They’re gonna doubt me. I’ve been doubted my whole f—ing life. That’s when I do my best work.
“We’re gonna go to Bethpage to kick their f—ing a–!”
Asked if he’d seen the clip, Lowry grinned and said, “Oh yeah. We’ve all seen it.”
Lowry later seemed to downplay Bradley’s comments during an appearance on Golf Channel’s Golf Today.
“Obviously, I saw it,” Lowry said. “Look, they’re going to be fired up to go beat us. Keegan is going to be a great captain, and we’re under no illusion that [he won’t be]; we’re certainly not going to doubt him. And I’m sure Luke Donald (the European captain for a second straight Cup) is going to prepare his team as best he can, and we’ll give it a go when it comes to it.”
Added Francesco Molinari, a European team veteran and vice captain in Rome: “It’s not a big deal. Those things happen all the time. … I can understand why Keegan did it. We love to win. They love to win. What Keegan said, was not out of bounds.”
But make no mistake: Considering the European side’s ability to glean motivation from even an ounce of bulletin-board material (see: Alan Shipnuck, 2018), the visitors certainly won’t forget later this year at Bethpage.
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