When the so-called task force team from the Ryder decided to propose Keegan Bradley for the captaincy, they did so knowing that the player wanted to fight to get into the 2025 team. Indeed, as the player himself hinted at yesterday in the winner’s press conference at the BMW, all parties were clear on this and the task force’s stance was clear: there is no problem.
Moreover, at the time of such a proposition (end of June 2024, as the appointment was made public at the beginning of July), Bradley was moderately well placed in the FedEx Cup ranking (he was, for example, in 35th place after the US Open) and what has since happened could have happened, that he managed to get into the last play off and even fight for victory in the FedEx Cup.
Yesterday, at the aforementioned press conference, an exultant Bradley reaffirmed his intentions. “I would love to be captain and player. It’s going to be very hard for me to get into that team, but if I do, I’ll play,” he said. The important thing about the matter is not so much that a captain goes out to play a fourball on Friday, but the order of priorities that must be established during the months prior to the competition. And in that order, it seems, very high up, if not in the first place, is the pure and hard goal of getting into the team, as one more, perhaps above the routine tasks of a captain.
At least, he also clarified that he did not see himself “including himself in the captain’s choices”. But even that point would have to be seen at the time: wouldn’t Bradley be chosen if he just missed out on the first six names that earn their place by right and considered that his level of play is outstanding?
He himself, in some way, has realised that his victory at Castle Pines, Colorado, and the obligation he now has to focus absolutely on trying to win the FedEx Cup and get into the Presidents Cup team (if he does well in the Tour Championship, let’s see how Jim Furyk leaves him out of his six choices), were factors that were not really counted on. “One of my goals was to be part of the Presidents Cup team, so we’ll see,” he said. And he concluded: “I hope I haven’t ruined everyone’s plans, but I’m proud to be considered”. This sentence is very significant: I hope I haven’t ruined everyone’s plans. Even if it was said, even, in jest and in earnest.
It is evident that Tiger’s refusal to lead the 2025 US team put the task force in a position of certain urgency, and in some way it had to be improvised. Yes, improvised. But someone has not done the calculations well with the captaincy of Keegan Bradley. Let’s say it loud and clear: nobody really, in the stars and stripes camp, would find it amusing that Keegan Bradley was captain and player, mainly because of everything it would imply in the months and weeks prior to the Ryder, with a captain absolutely focused on his own affairs and not those of the team.
It was probably assumed that his passage through this year’s play offs would be little more than testimonial and that his eagerness to get into the Ryder team was nothing more than a chimera, a delusion that the harsh reality, the terrible competition, and his new responsibilities as captain would soon bring down. But then comes Bradley and does what he has done throughout his career every so often: remind us that he is there, that he feels he can be up to the best and that, in fact, he is on many occasions.
Let’s put it another way. When weighing up Keegan Bradley’s candidacy, the fact that he had only been in the world top ten for two weeks in his entire career weighed much more than the fact that he had been in the top 50 for 402 weeks (almost eight years, in total), a record within the reach of very few players. This guy has always been underestimated.
The normal thing is that Keegan Bradley, indeed, does not manage to get into the Ryder team on his own. But the situation can get more tense (or fun, depending on how you look at it) if, for example, he manages to win or get very good rankings in the first designated (and Majors) of the season. Is there anyone who dares to assure that it will not happen?
