Keegan Bradley maintains 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup qualification process while weighing player-captain role

Keegan Bradley will be roaming the grounds at Bethpage Black next fall for the 2025 Ryder Cup; however, there is a level of mystery regarding the exact capacity in which he will contributing. Named the U.S. Ryder Cup captain this past summer, the world No. 14 golfer has a legitimate chance to play his way onto the team as a competitor leaving some to wonder what would happen in such a scenario transpired.

“Every vice captain that I am choosing will know that this is a possibility,” Bradley said Tuesday at a one-year-out Ryder Cup press conference in New York. “So, they will know what’s going on in that way. I also have John Wood who has come on. But I think my vice captains are all going to be more than capable of doing this, and I hope some day they will all be captains. But again, we’re so far away from that that I’m really focused on being a captain right now.”

Bradley, 38, has already announced Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson as vice captains; neither has prior leadership experience in the Ryder Cup. Conversations between Bradley and Tiger Woods have taken place since the former was named captain, but Woods’ role remains undefined at this stage. The 15-time major champion memorably served as a victorious U.S. playing captain at the 2019 Presidents Cup.

Bradley understands the difficulty that would come with not only captaining the U.S. side but also simultaneously performing to the best of his ability. He recently compiled a 2-1-0 record at the 2024 Presidents Cup where he secured the trophy-clinching point in Sunday singles.

“Getting the pairings in after the session, managing, preparing to play with preparing the guys … I think it would be a really difficult job,” Bradley said. “But I made a promise to myself that I’m not going to worry about this until the time comes if I do. It’s really difficult to make the American team every year; you have to go out and really perform. Like I said, right now, my focus is on being a captain, but I’m still a full-time player. I’m still playing in all the majors and all the big events next year. So I have a real shot at doing this. For now, I’m focusing on my guys and getting them ready to go.”

Bradley hinted at the possibility of changing the U.S. qualification system to allow for more automatic qualifying spots during his introductory press conference in July. Currently, six players automatically qualify and six more are selected by the captain. The system was to revert back to an older version where eight players automatically qualified and four were selected by Bradley; however, the U.S. headman confirmed Tuesday that he will be retaining with the current format.

“I think we’ll keep it the same,” Bradley said. “I think the points system does a great job in identifying the 12 best players. We play our elevated events and majors carry so much weight, and I think that’s important with how strong the fields are, you know, week-to-week, the pressure of playing in these big tournaments and majors, and that shows up on the points list.”

Bradley currently stands at 26th in the U.S. team rankings with a full PGA Tour season of designated events and major championships ahead. Three times a winner in the last two seasons, including this year’s BMW Championship, the 2011 PGA Championship winner has proven his best golf is still good enough to outperform the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, who are all but certain to be wearing the red, white and blue in one year’s time.

The two-time Ryder Cup participant was famously left off the 2023 U.S. team following a season in which he captured a signature event victory at Travelers Championship as one of two PGA Tour wins. Bradley’s exclusion was documented through Netflix’s “Full Swing” documentary allowing fans to become enamored with his love and admiration for the event. He has not played on a U.S. Ryder Cup team since 2014 when he yielded the winning point in his Sunday singles match to Jamie Donaldson, a miscue for which he has hoped to atone for a decade.

“It’s always a goal of mine to play on the Ryder Cup teams,” Bradleys said. “It’s so far off now that it’s really — I’m not going to worry about it. Once we get closer to the tournament and I’m up there on the points list, then we’ll start to think about it. But I’m focused now on being the captain of the team and that’s it.”