Why Keegan Bradley Made His Shocking 2025 Ryder Cup Roster Decision

Boardroom breaks down why the golf pro opted to put his team over his dream.

When Keegan Bradley was announced as the captain for the U.S. golf team at the 2025 Ryder Cup, it was seen as an apology of sorts. Coming off an embarrassing defeat in Italy against the European team, Bradley’s exclusion from the 2023 roster by U.S. captain Zach Johnson was one of many moments in which the team was steered poorly. Bradley, who was passed over for one of the six captain’s picks, will take charge of the team when they descend upon Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York, next month. 

Earlier this week, Bradley announced the six captain picks for his own team, and many in the media, as well as golf fans across the world, had penciled Bradley into one of the six spots. He was expected to leave a deserving player off the team, much like he was two years ago. If he chose himself, he would be the first playing captain at the event since Arnold Palmer did it in 1963. Shockingly, he decided against picking himself, one of the most stunning moments in golf this season.

When European stalwart Rory McIlroy was asked two weeks ago about being a playing captain down the line, he offered up a bit of gamesmanship in response. This was at the peak of Keegan mania, a time in which he was coming off a victory and had a genuine case for choosing himself for the team. Though he originally said he would only be on the team if he earned an automatic qualifying spot as one of the six best U.S. players throughout the season, he began to move the goalpost after winning the Travelers Championship in June. This led to Rory being asked about facing a potential playing captain, and if he’d ever take on the role. “No, I’ve been asked to do that, and I’ve turned it down … The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon has come up, and I’ve shot it down straight away,” he explained. He added: “Because I don’t think you can do it.” 

Perhaps this was McIlroy goading his Ryder Cup rival, or maybe he was being genuine. Regardless, Bradley eventually agreed with him, opting to focus on his duties as captain instead of embracing the dream role as a playing captain.

The six captain’s picks for the 2025 Ryder Cup are Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Sam Burns. All six have quality cases, though many speculated that Bradley would choose himself over Griffin, Young, or Burns. Morikawa is struggling most mightily out of all the captain’s picks, but it would have been a bold move to leave him off the squad. This group of golfers will join the automatic qualifiers, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Harris English, JJ Spaun, Bryson DeChambeau, and Russell Henley. 

Bradley was in an unenviable situation with his decision. Either he picked himself and faced the prospect of being overwhelmed with his many duties, or give up on what is likely his last best chance to make a Ryder Cup team. In his press conference revealing the picks, Bradley spoke about how hard this choice was: “I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play — it really did — you work forever to make these teams,” he said. His decision came down to honoring his commitment as captain. “Ultimately, I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be the captain of this team. My ultimate goal to start this thing was to be the best captain I can be. This is how I felt I could do this. If we got to this point and I felt like, ‘You know what, this team is better with me on it,’ I was going to do that. I was going to do whatever I thought was best for this team.”

The team might, in fact, have been better with him on it, but without earning an automatic qualifying bid he would have had to bet on himself in a massive way to participate as a player in the 2025 Ryder Cup. Now, he’ll be at Bethpage, but as a captain, not a player. It’s one of the most selfless moments in the history of the event, a decision to eliminate as many distractions from the competition as possible. The U.S. team has often been a rudderless ship, and while Keegan Bradley is surely disappointed he won’t be participating next month as a player, it’s an encouraging sign for the future of the organization that their current captain has put the team first.