Keegan Bradley insists winning the Ryder Cup is the ’only thing’ he cares about after being left ‘heartbroken’ by leaving himself out of his captain’s picks for Bethpage Black.
Bradley was a consideration to be the first playing captain at Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963, having won the Travelers Championship in June as part of an impressive season on the PGA Tour.
The 39-year-old missed out on one of the six automatic qualification spots, finishing in 11th place, with Bradley still undecided whether to take on a dual role for Team USA ahead of him ending tied-seventh at the season-ending Tour Championship.
Bradley confirmed he had elected against being a playing-captain when he revealed his six captain's picks, with Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns selected to complete Team USA's line-up.
"This was a really tough decision," Bradley admitted in his press conference. "I would say there was a point this year where I was playing, a while ago, and all these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way on to this team.
"That's something that I'm really proud of and something that I really wanted. But it was an extremely difficult decision but one that I'm really happy with. I'm really happy with these six players, and I'm glad it's over.
"I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play. It really did. You work forever to make these teams, but ultimately I was chosen to do a job.
"I was chosen to be the captain of this team. My ultimate goal to start this thing was to be the best captain that I could be. This is how I felt like I could do this. If we got to this point and I felt like the team was better with me on it, I was going to do that.
"I was going to do whatever I thought was best for this team. I know 100 per cent for certain that this is the right choice. These six guys, again, played so incredibly coming down the stretch here and made my decision a lot easier."
Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau were the six automatic qualifiers, announced after the conclusion of the BMW Championship, with the Team USA line-up containing four rookies and just six survivors from their 2023 defeat in Rome.
Speculation about a possible dual role has dominated build-up to this year's biennial contest, with Bradley determined that his decision not to play gives Team USA the best chance to regain the trophy.
"This whole year has been really strange, to be honest," Bradley explained. "I've been really surprised at the attention that this has gotten. I understand the weight and the history and all that comes with it, but I was really focused on being the captain the whole year.
"I never really considered playing until after Travelers. Then that was really on the table for a while. Ultimately, I felt like I was really comfortable with the guys, extremely comfortable.
"I don't care if I play, don't play, as long as we win on Sunday. That's the only thing I care about."
Bradley was part of back-to-back Ryder Cup losses in 2012 and 2014 before narrowly missing out on a captain's pick two years' ago, with .
The former PGA champion remains hopeful of featuring for Team USA in the future, with the 2027 contest at Adare Manor in Ireland and the 2029 edition at Hazeltine, although concedes this year's event may have offered him the best opportunity for a third Ryder Cup appearance.
"When I got that tweet [from Trump], we had already basically decided I wasn't playing," Bradley told the SportNews Golf podcast. "It was really, really crazy, something that I'll remember forever.
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"This probably was my best chance [of playing in a Ryder Cup], if I was being honest, but who knows? I thought that Rome was going to be my best chance as well, so I'm certainly not trying to slow down.
"I truly feel in the bottom of my heart this is the best golf I've ever played, by a good amount. So I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. It's going to be more and more difficult to make these teams, but I'll give it a shot."
Listen to the full Keegan Bradley interview on the latest edition of the SportNews Golf podcast, hosted every week by Jamie Weir. Subscribe now on , or , while vodcast editions can be found on the .
The only PGA Tour event before the Ryder Cup is the Procore Championship in California, held from September 11-14, where the majority of Bradley's American team are expected to compete.
There will be extended live coverage from every day of Ryder Cup week, starting on Monday September 22, with round-the-clock coverage then live from 9am on Friday September 26. Not got Sky? or
