Keegan Bradley is back on Team USA for the first time in a decade. But he has grander things on his mind than just this week’s Presidents Cup.
He is constantly thinking about next year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, where he will be the youngest captain in 62 years to lead the American side. Bradley lives and breathes the Ryder Cup; he said so at last year’s BMW Championship—roughly two weeks before Zach Johnson passed him by for the 2023 team in Rome.
The Europeans then trounced the Americans, which is why Bradley is obsessed with changing the fortune of the red, white, and blue in 2025. He wants revenge, and he wants to win.
So it’s no wonder he is already preparing for next year’s competition while on the ground this week at Royal Montreal.
“It’s been really fun for me to get to know these guys a little more,” Bradley said.
“Now that I’m the captain of the team, it’s been a real mission of mine to get to know the guys a little better. Maybe some of the younger guys that I maybe wouldn’t have sat down with at breakfast or whatever, I’ve done that, and it’s been great for me.”
What makes Bradley’s 2025 captaincy unique is that he is currently the 13th-ranked player in the world. He’s not an older veteran whose prime is a decade behind him. Nor is he out of touch with the best players. He is still competing against them week in and week out, as evidenced by his win at last month’s BMW Championship. He is inside the ropes, seeing how the games and tendencies of his fellow pros play out in real time. But now he gets to learn more about their personalities, what clicks and what does not, which is the hallmark of a strong team.
Yet, he gets to do so as a fellow player, not an assistant captain, which is what Bradley would have been had he not played his way into consideration for this year’s Presidents Cup.
“Being an assistant would have been great as well, just for him to be in a team room and see all the inner workings of everything,” said John Wood, the current team manager of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, to Playing Through.
“For him to make the team and play alongside the guys that he’s going to captain next year, I just think it takes the respect that everyone has for him to a different level. This guy can still play; he knows what it feels like to be in these ropes. I think these guys on the team will see that this year and have a new appreciation for what goes into it.”
Bradley added that he will be a player for “99.9 percent” of the time this week, but he will continue to get to know everyone a little better as this competition wears on. That will only help the Americans a year from now as they look to win the Ryder Cup back on their home soil.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
