A few weeks have passed since the Ryder Cup at Bethpage, but Keegan Bradley still can’t sleep peacefully. The American captain is still tormented by what could have been and wasn’t. He confessed this week at the media day of the Travelers Championship, his first public appearance since the defeat to Europe by 15-13.
“When you win, it’s glory for a lifetime. When you lose, you know you’re going to have to live with it for the rest of your life,” he said bluntly. “There’s no part of me that thinks I’ll ever get over it.”
Bethpage Black became the scene of a nightmare. United States arrived on Sunday with the score sunk (11.5-4.5), but staged an almost heroic comeback in the singles. “You put so much into it… you make plans for months… and the first two days were as bad as we could ever have imagined,” he explained. “Then came that incredible Sunday comeback.”
Bradley is not just talking about golf, he’s talking about exhaustion. “From the Ryder Cup until today has been one of the toughest periods of my life,” he admitted. “Even when you win, they tell you that you suffer from the ‘Ryder hangover’, because you are mentally and physically exhausted. But when you lose, the emptiness is enormous.”
The captain also engaged in self-criticism. He admitted again that he would have prepared Bethpage differently: “I wish we had set up the course differently,” he said, recalling that even the Europeans were surprised —in a good way— by the setup.
And then there’s his big regret: not including himself in the team. His victory at the Travelers in June, which catapulted him into the world top 10, sparked debate. Bradley, a two-time Ryder player, decided to focus solely on managing. Now, he admits it hurt: “The first practice day I was on the tee watching the guys walk down the fairway together and thought: ‘I wish I was playing. That’s what this is all about. I’m missing out.’ But by the second or third day I realised it was better this way. I was exhausted. I couldn’t have done both.”
At 39, he knows he has probably missed one of his last chances to experience the Ryder as a player. Only Justin Rose, at 45, was older than him among the 24 participants. Even so, his relationship with the tournament remains intense, almost addictive.
“This bloody tournament has been brutal to me. I don’t know if I want to play it again… well, yes I do,” he admitted with laughter and resignation. “It’s a very strange thing: to love something so much that gives you nothing in return.” Perhaps that’s where the greatness of the Ryder Cup lies: in that it hurts as much as it marks. Bradley knows this better than anyone.
