Forgive Keegan Bradley if he feels his life has been a whirlwind this summer.
Just two months ago, the Jupiter, Florida, resident’s career had seemingly plateaued — his world ranking fluctuating from 14 to 21 in the last year. He had become known for the heart-wrenching scene in “Full Swing” when cameras were in his home as he received the crushing news from captain Zach Johnson he had not been chosen for the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
That, now, must feel like a lifetime ago for the Vermont native. Since, Bradley was a stunning choice to captain the 2025 Ryder Cup team after many believed Tiger Woods would accept the offer, was named an assistant for the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal, became the last man to qualify for the BMW Championship (which earned him a spot in the 2025 signature events) and on Sunday won the BMW, his seventh title on the PGA Tour in 16 years.
That win in Castle Rock, Colo., gives Bradley a real shot at the Tour Championship and $25 million bonus, moving from No. 50 to No. 4 in the FedEx Cup standings.
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“I can’t even wrap my head around it,” Bradley said after winning the BMW, and $3.6 million prize money, by one shot over Sam Burns, Ludvig Aberg and Adam Scott.
While well-known as a major champion and a two-time member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Bradley’s fame and career still have taken a Tim Walz-like meteoric rise this summer.
Bradley, 38, now faces a 13-month grind in which he remains a full-time member of the PGA Tour while adding his captaincy duties, especially for the Ryder Cup. That should mean plenty of conversations with Johnson, who last year was forced to multi-task his duties as captain while playing 19 Tour events between January and heading to Rome for the competition at Marco Simone.
Johnson, though, is 10 years older than Bradley and in a different spot in his professional career. So much so that Bradley is not eliminated from being a part of that Presidents Cup team next month in which he is an assistant captain or even the Ryder Cup team next year as a player-captain.
“I don’t know where that’s going to go, but I’m happy to do whatever … play whatever role they want me to play,” Bradley said. “I think being the Ryder Cup captain has put me into this category of sort of player when they haven’t really had a Ryder Cup captain that’s been playing full-time on the Tour. One of my goals was to make that Presidents Cup team.
“I hope I didn’t throw a huge wrench in everybody’s plans, but I’m proud to be in consideration.”
The last Ryder Cup-playing captain for either side was Arnold Palmer in 1963. And that went pretty well with the U.S. dominating Great Britain, 23-9, and Palmer unbeaten in four matches with three wins and a halve.
If he is on the team, Bradley made it clear it would have to be as one of the six automatic qualifiers.
“It’s going to be really hard for me to make that team, but if I make the team, I’ll play,” Bradley said. “I don’t see myself being a captain’s pick. But I’ll be proud to just be the captain.”
LIV Golf adds scrutiny to job
Being a Ryder Cup captain nowadays comes with more scrutiny, thanks to the formation of LIV Golf.
Ask Johnson, who last year was under the microscope as the first Ryder Cup captain forced to deal with the LIV Golf dilemma. Johnson was for the most part defensive when asked how LIV golfers fit into the equation, especially when asked about Jupiter’s Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship and was runner-up at the Masters in 2023.
Johnson downplayed Koepka’s strong Masters saying, “It’s one week,” a comment on which he surely would liked to have had a mulligan. That was before Koepka won his fifth major at the PGA Championship. Johnson then stumbled around on the topic, raising the question of “chemistry” and saying he’d have a difficult time evaluating LIV golfers because he did not see LIV events.
If the Ryder Cup were this year, we would be having the same conversations about Bryson DeChambeau.
Eventually, Johnson did the right thing and made Koepka one of his six captain’s picks. Koepka was the lone LIV golfer who deserved a spot on the team.
And 13 months out, Bradley already is facing the questions.
“The only weird area is the LIV guys, what they do and where they fall on the list,” Bradley said. “We’re going to have to really get with the captains, get with the team that’s going to be there and figure that out. But I think the system works.
“I’m going to have the best 12 players. So we’ll make sure if some of those guys that we think might make the team, we’ll make sure that they are a member.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.