Keegan Bradley became the first play captain of the Ryder Cup as it was widely assumed that Arnold Palmer in 1963 would happen this fall at Bethpage Black, but the American captain chose to stay away from the performance roster as the most notable snub of the captain’s pick.
After his victory, where travelers were on his interim roster, he realized that as the Ryder Cup approached he would be too much to handle as well as the captain played. Still, when the US team began practice on Monday to officially start Ryder Cup Week, Bradley admitted he couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to play with his guy.
“No doubt. I thought about it every second,” Bradley said. “But I also thought about how impossible it would be.
“Like I said earlier, I was chosen to do this job as a captain, and if I was playing, I don’t think there’s anything I can do at the level where I need to do them. I think I could now look down at the fairway.
“But I feel like I’ve been asked for a bigger cause here and called out to help our guys prepare to play and play at the highest level. But deep inside me, I always think, ‘I might have been there.’ But ultimately, you can’t tell them that you’re a captain and that you don’t have to worry about falling asleep, or that you had to think about how you practice and meet your coach and meet people. ”
2025 Ryder Cup Schedule, Date: Bethpage Black Teams are described daily
Patrick McDonald
The hardest part of this for Bradley is clearly on the course and can’t help the team by hitting real shots. At the same time, he appears to be relieved that he will not have to exchange his responsibilities all week, and is pleased with making the right decisions, both himself and his team.
It’s easy to say on Monday, and Bradley hopes that his team will reward him with a celebration of the Ryder Cup victory on Sunday night. If you are winding up the cup as the sun sets in Beth Page Black, you will not regret it. However, if things go wrong, the emotions are unlike anything that the Ryder Cup captain has ever felt, and he thinks his biggest mistake is not picking up the club himself.
