Tag: Ryder Cup

Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau supportive of Keegan Bradley’s selection as U.S. Ryder Cup captain

“I was surprised at the pick, and I think it’s a great pick the more I think about it.”

Phil Mickelson has plenty of history at the Ryder Cup with Keegan Bradley. So it’s no surprise the first question he was asked Wednesday at his pre-tournament press conference ahead of 2024 LIV Golf Andalucia was about the new United States Ryder Cup captain.

“I was surprised at the pick, and I think it’s a great pick the more I think about it,” Lefty said. “He played a lot of golf at Bethpage when he went to St. John’s. His passion for the Ryder Cup is greater than just about any player I’ve ever seen. His love for the Ryder Cup is more than anybody I know. I think he’s going to lead with that type of passion.”

Mickelson and Bradley were 4–1 as teammates across two Ryder Cups, accounting for all of Bradley’s wins in the competition. They were also 2–1–1 at the 2013 Presidents Cup.

On Tuesday during his introductory press conference in New York City, Bradley spoke highly of Mickelson but said he hadn’t spoken with him since being selected. Bradley also noted he didn’t believe Mickelson would be interested in being one of his assistants.

Mickelson was not asked about that in Spain.

“I think he’s incredible,” Mickelson said. “I’m really, really happy for him. I think we all are really happy for him knowing how gut-wrenching it was to not be part of the team last year, but to now have the opportunity to lead and go forward I think is great.”

Bradley, as documented in the Netflix series “Full Swing,” was heartbroken when not selected for the U.S. team last year in Rome, which the Americans eventually lost 16½-11½. Bradley is well known for still not unpacking his suitcase from the 2014 Ryder Cup, a U.S. defeat at Glen Eagles in Scotland.

Mickelson wasn’t the only person in the golf world surprised by the pick. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, 2024 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau said.

“I’m excited for him,” DeChambeau said Wednesday. “I think it’s a great opportunity for him, especially as it relates to younger players. He’s going to see that younger threshold, and obviously relate to them a lot more, I would say, because of his age. I mean, what is he, 38 or something like that?

“So yeah, he’s seeing the younger generation game. He’s out there still playing, and competing and it’s great to have some relate-ability. As far as picking the best players, that’s the right approach and I couldn’t be more happy for him as captain.”

Bradley said Tuesday his picks for the team would be the 12 best players, regardless of where they play. More than a year out, DeChambeau is second in the standings, trailing only Scottie Scheffler, but he was also left off the team last year, which featured Brooks Koepka as the only LIV Golf player competing in Italy.

Lynch: Keegan Bradley is a good choice as Ryder Cup captain. His team will determine if he’s good for the U.S. — or for Europe

His appointment takes a sledgehammer to the task force buddy culture that has hogtied Team USA.

Leadership is a fraught topic these days, decades of partisan bullshitting masquerading as truth-telling having created a seemingly unbridgeable divide in which any prospective commander is either an inspirational visionary ready to save the nation or manifestly destitute of the qualities necessary for the role. The prevalence of instant, binary reviews might eventually make Keegan Bradley wish he’d opted for the simpler life of running for president instead of accepting a gig as America’s Ryder Cup captain.

Management is complicated, no matter how many uplifting Hallmark aphorisms are peddled by LinkedIn influencers. Studies suggest that only a third of workers feel engaged by their business leaders, less than 20 percent trust them, and more than half quit because of that relationship. Which means Bradley’s new job would be plenty challenging even if he didn’t have to ascertain whether his team is willing to be led at all, or if his appointment is seen as usurping their collective power.

Recent U.S. Ryder Cup skippers have been more transactional than transformational. The task force created after Tom Watson’s bruising tenure in 2014 accomplished two goals: it relieved PGA of America executives of responsibility for selecting a captain while still keeping checks coming to the right address, and it delegated control of the team to a core group of players who were then recycled biennially through the captaincy and vice-captaincies. Noble chaps all, but a perception took root that the room where it happens didn’t seat many folks.

The captains chosen since ’14 fit the mold that cast generations of their predecessors — men well stricken in years who are either on or nearing the Champions Tour glue factory in terms of their competitive relevance. More recently, captains have also been made men in the task-force mafia. Bradley is 38 years old, ranked in the world’s top 20, and assuredly not part of the coffee klatch that denied him a captain’s pick last year, despite a playing record better than any of the half-dozen who were chosen to suit up in Rome. Of the rationales that will be offered in support of Bradley — passion, college-era proximity to the venue at Bethpage Black, generational change — none is more welcome than this: his appointment takes a sledgehammer to the task force buddy culture that has hogtied Team USA for 10 years, during which captains began to sound like concierges and act like the job was to just keep players comfortable.

USA’s Keegan Bradley celebrates after winning their foursomes match on the 15th hole at the Ryder Cup on Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill.

We can’t say if Bradley will be a good leader since he has no applicable résumé to judge. He hasn’t ever been a vice captain nor has he voiced a vision, mainly because he wasn’t asked to. The first conversation he had with the PGA of America about the captaincy was when he was called and told it was his — a fact that will be cited as a dereliction by PGA officials if his time in the role goes poorly. Nor can we assume he’ll struggle, but the trait most often cited in his defense — passionate patriotism — isn’t enough. Just ask Lanny Wadkins or Tom Lehman or Curtis Strange or Hal Sutton or Corey Pavin or Davis Love III or Jim Furyk or Zach Johnson.

Captains are ultimately judged on something they can’t entirely control: how their team performs. It’s an unforgiving metric for a man to live by when he doesn’t hit a shot. In Bradley’s case, the crucial unknown is how quickly players will buy in to his leadership. He’s been open about not enjoying close relationships with the core members of the U.S. team, which might explain why those on the ’23 Ryder Cup squad didn’t exactly stampede to social media with their congratulations when the selection was announced. If players embrace his captaincy, and they almost certainly will, then Bradley could be a great choice for the U.S. If they don’t, then he’s a great pick for Europe. And we might not have to wait until Sept. 28, 2025, to find out which is the case.

For too long, the U.S. Ryder Cup team room has functioned as an echo chamber of comforting blather, and not in the manner of locker rooms in real team sports, where whining, undermining conduct, petulance and apathy are mercilessly rooted out by coaches or managers. The Ryder Cup captaincy can’t be crowdsourced for the purposes of making every player feel heard, seen, included and comfortable, but that’s seemed to be the prized objective since the task force went to work. As Mark Twain said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Whatever happens on Long Island 14 months hence, Bradley’s tenure will make the job easier for those who follow him. For that reason alone, he can already be chalked up as a winning skipper.

After getting ‘throttled’ in Rome, Xander Schauffele called Keegan Bradley’s appointment as 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain ‘surprising’

Like many others, Schauffele expected Tiger Woods at the helm.

Throttled.

That’s the word Xander Schauffele used to describe the beatdown the United States Ryder Cup team suffered at the hands of the Europeans last fall.

“Thinking back to the Ryder Cup, I remember getting throttled, that’s about it,” Schauffele said Tuesday ahead of the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, the final event before the 152nd Open at Royal Troon. “The atmosphere — if I try and think of the positives from the week. The atmosphere, our team locker room, those are the things that were really fun. Just being sort of arm-in-arm with my teammates was awesome all week. Then the fans were awesome with their chants as always.

“So from a golf standpoint, getting throttled is never fun but it is what it is and wore it on the chin there.”

Rome was just another loss for Team USA on foreign soil — its last victory came in 1993 — and it quickly became apparent that change was needed.

And, boy oh boy, did the PGA of America deliver.

On Monday, 38-year-old Keegan Bradley was announced as the 2025 U.S. captain for the biennial bash at Bethpage Black from Sept. 26-28. Bradley, who was arguably the biggest snub from the 2023 squad, has represented the U.S. on two occasions, both losing efforts in 2012 and 2014.

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“Yeah, it’s surprising,” Schauffele said of Bradley’s appointment. “You typically expect someone that’s a little bit older to get selected as a captain. I think a lot of people were banking on Tiger to do it.”

Woods took his hat out of the ring this time around due to several time-consuming commitments.

“With my new responsibilities to the Tour and time commitments involved, I felt I would not be able to commit the time to Team USA and the players required as a captain,” Woods said in a statement.

Despite the PGA of America’s curveball, Schauffele expects good things from world No. 19.

“Keegan expressed his love for the Ryder Cup publicly, which we all saw, and I’m sure — I haven’t talked to him or seen him yet, but I’m sure he’s over the moon and is going to do a great job,” he said.

Keegan Bradley of the United States and Xander Schauffele of the United States shake hands on the 18th green during the second round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 23, 2023 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Schauffele, the 2022 Scottish Open winner, made his Ryder Cup debut in 2021 at Whistling Straits, a 19-9 slaughtering of the Europeans. He’s currently third in the point standings for the U.S., trailing only Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.

The laid-back Schauffele expects Bradley to bring a bit of fire to the squad next year, something that seemed to be missing last go-around.

“He is so laid back off the course,” he said. “If you get him in like a dinner setting or something, he loves sports. He’ll talk about sports all night long if you like. He’s very passionate individual.

“On the course, he’s intense. That’s just how he competes and how he is. I’m sure as a captain he’s going to have sort of a mixed bag. He won’t be afraid and will get everyone going. I don’t know if he’s coached or captained any other teams in his life, whether it’s his kids’ teams or something like that, but when someone is really passionate about something, they usually do really well.”

Keegan Bradley on being named 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be more surprised with anything in my life’

Seth Waugh said to me, ‘Your number was called and it’s time for you to step up.’”

Keegan Bradley was as surprised as anyone that he had been chosen to be the U.S. captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be more surprised with anything in my life,” Bradley said on Tuesday during a press conference in Manhattan officially announcing his selection. “I was in complete shock. (PGA CEO) Seth Waugh said to me, ‘Your number was called and it’s time for you to step up.’ ”

Bradley, a six-time PGA Tour winner, including the 2011 PGA Championship, has played in two Ryder Cups – none since 2014 – and one Presidents Cup. He has never been an assistant captain or captain for either biennial competition. Bradley, who will be 39 at the time of next year’s Ryder Cup, will be the youngest Ryder Cup captain since 34-year-old Arnold Palmer was a playing captain in 1963. Bradley, who is ranked No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking and 37th in this season’s FedEx Cup standings, said he’d like to make the team as a player but would have to earn enough points to be an automatic qualifier.

Bradley’s selection is a departure from how the U.S. side has been picking its captain since the Ryder Cup Task Force was formed after its defeat in Scotland in 2014. Phil Mickelson often had talked about his desire to be the captain of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black but forfeited that honor when he joined LIV Golf. Tiger Woods, who served as the winning captain of the 2019 Presidents Cup and was an eight-time Ryder Cup participant, was the frontrunner for the job but elected to pass on the position this time around.

“With my new responsibilities to the Tour and time commitments involved, I felt I would not be able to commit the time to Team USA and the players required as a captain,” Woods said in a statement. “It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to captain a team in the future. If, when I feel it is the right time, I will put my hat in the ring for this committee to decide.”

2023 Travelers Championship
Keegan Bradley celebrates with the trophy after winning the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2023 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Bradley was left off the 2023 U.S. team that lost in Rome in September despite finishing 11th in the point standings and ahead of captain’s picks Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. The world witnessed his disappointment in the Netflix documentary “Full Swing,” when he received a phone call from then-captain Zach Johnson that he didn’t make the team.

“I was crushed,” Bradley said.

PGA President John Lindert said that the Ryder Cup selection committee held a phone call a little over two weeks ago and that Bradley was the unanimous choice for the job. He didn’t even have to interview for the post. Bradley was informed of his selection during a phone call as he was driving home from the Travelers Championship and Johnson delivered the good news this time.

Despite being a diehard New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan, Bradley has ties to New York having attended St. John’s University in Queens.

“My New Yorkers only care that you bleed red, white and blue and that you win,” said two-time Super Bowl winning QB Eli Manning, formerly of the New York Giants.

Bradley admitted that he often skipped classes on Monday in college when the course superintendent allowed the team to park near the maintenance area and play hole Nos. 3-14 at Bethpage Black when the course is closed. One day, during his senior year, Bradley slipped on to the famous stretch of 15-18 and it didn’t end well.

“The police were called,” he said.

Bradley, the son of a PGA professional, grew up in Vermont and was 13 when his father took him to the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, Massachusetts, and watched from his father’s shoulders as Justin Leonard made a famous putt at the 17thgreen at The Country Club to help lead Team USA to the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history. Bradley recalled running on the 18th green to join in the celebration.

“It changed my life,” he said.

Bradley made the U.S side in 2012 and was on the other end of blowing a 10-6 lead to the Europeans. Bradley promised that he wouldn’t open his Ryder Cup suitcase until his team won. He was a captain’s pick when the U.S. lost in 2014. More than a decade later, the bag remains shut.

“I hope to open it someday,” he said.

Bradley noted that he would choose the best 12 players regardless of whether they played on the PGA Tour or LIV, and that he would be looking to include some younger vice captains to help set up future choices for captains.

“I’ve only been the captain for two weeks,” Bradley said, “but I already find myself staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m. thinking about every situation.”

Keegan Bradley named 2025 Ryder Cup captain by PGA of America

The former PGA Championship winner will lead the U.S. squad at Bethpage Black.

Forget about Tiger Woods taking the wheel of the captain’s cart at the 2025 Ryder Cup.

The PGA of America announced Monday that Keegan Bradley – snubbed as a player for last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome – will instead be handed the keys as U.S. captain in New York.

The winner of the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Bradley has six PGA Tour wins and has played on two Ryder Cup teams, compiling a 4-3-0 record in 2012 and 2014. Bradley also went 2-2-1 in the 2013 Presidents Cup. He was in a strong position to be selected as a captain’s pick in 2023 for Rome, but he was passed over for the likes of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas before the U.S. team went on to lose 16 ½ -11 ½.

“I am incredibly honored to accept this opportunity to captain the United States team at the 2025 Ryder Cup,” Bradley said in a media release announcing the news. “I would like to thank the PGA of America Ryder Cup Committee for their trust in me as we embark on this journey to Bethpage Black.

“My passion and appreciation for golf’s greatest team event have never been stronger. The Ryder Cup is unlike any other competition in our sport, and this edition will undoubtedly be particularly special given the rich history and enthusiastic spectators at this iconic course. I look forward to beginning preparations for 2025.”

The biennial match will next be played Sept. 26-28, 2025, at Bethpage Black. Luke Donald will take another spin as the European captain after having led his team to victory in 2023 in Rome.

It is a bit of a change for the PGA of America to select Bradley, 38. Captains in recent decades have trended older, often at an age in which they are no longer competitive on the PGA Tour but not yet 50 and old enough to compete on the PGA Tour Champions. Bradley has played 16 events this season with two top-10s and 13 cuts made, and his most recent Tour victory was the 2023 Travelers Championship. He currently ranks 18th on the U.S. points list for this year’s Presidents Cup team, and he’s 24th in the very early points standings for the 2025 Ryder Cup.

The PGA of America had said early Monday that it planned to announce the captain at a press conference Tuesday in New York, but PGA President John Lindert changed plans and made the announcement Monday.

“I am proud and excited to name Keegan Bradley as captain of the 2025 United States Ryder Cup team,” Lindert, PGA Director of Golf at The Country Club of Lansing, said in the media release. “Keegan’s past Ryder Cup experience, strong relationships and unwavering passion for this event will prove invaluable as he guides the U.S. team over the next year and a half. We are confident that with Keegan at the helm, the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team will compete at Bethpage with the same confidence and determination that has defined his career.”

Woods had been offered the captain’s spot by the PGA of America but has said he is too busy to take the role in 2025. He has been fighting to come back from several serious injuries and recently took on board roles with the PGA Tour and the new PGA Tour Enterprises.

Why Tiger Woods reportedly won’t be the 2025 Ryder Cup captain for the U.S. team

Why is it Keegan Bradley and not Tiger? We have the answer.

With rumblings about who might be the next Ryder Cup captain for the United States, the question has come up: why is it reportedly Keegan Bradley on tap and not Tiger Woods?

It’s a great question. Woods, after all, has played for the U.S. a whopping eight times in his legendary career and has been a vice captain for the team. What gives?

Per Golfweek: “Woods has said he is unsure if he wants the job as he continues to attempt another comeback from serious injuries and handles new duties as a board member with the PGA Tour and the new PGA Tour Enterprises.”

The Telegraph reported that Tiger turned down the offer to captain the squad. So there you have it!

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PGA of America to announce 2025 Ryder Cup captain Tuesday

Tiger Woods has been offered the job as captain at Bethpage Black, but will he take it?

The PGA of America said Monday morning that it plans to announce the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain at noon Tuesday in New York.

Top of mind will be Tiger Woods as the possible captain, though Woods has said he is unsure if he wants the job as he continues to attempt another comeback from serious injuries and handles new duties as a board member with the PGA Tour and the new PGA Tour Enterprises. It’s unclear who might be the PGA’s next choice, with several players having been mentioned as candidates.

The biennial match will next be played Sept. 26-28, 2025, at Bethpage Black in New York. Luke Donald will take another spin as the European captain after having led his team to victory in 2023 in Rome.

The captaincy announcement will be made by PGA of America President John Lindert at the NASDAQ building and will be broadcast on Golf Channel and SiriusXM. It also will be livestreamed on the PGA’s X (Twitter) and Facebook accounts.

Hot take? Wyndham Clark says Olympics is bigger deal than the Ryder Cup: ‘Coolest team I’ve ever made, for sure’

“This probably ranks as the coolest team I’ve ever made, for sure.”

Thanks to three wins in less than a year — 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, 2023 U.S. Open and 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am — world No. 5 Wyndham Clark is set to represent the United States in the Olympics from August 1-4 at Le Golf National in Paris. The course that opened in 1990 previously hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018, an event won by the Europeans 17½-10½.

Clark, who is currently playing in the PGA Tour’s final signature event of the season, the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, told the media Thursday that he thinks the Olympics is “probably even bigger than” the Ryder Cup.

“The Ryder Cup in golf is kind of the biggest thing, but now that golf’s in the Olympics, it’s probably even bigger than that, because you’re representing your country at such a bigger level,” Clark said. “Hopefully, all four of us can go and try to snag some podium spots and give medals to the U.S. to try to win that total medal count. But, yeah, it’s pretty awesome. This probably ranks as the coolest team I’ve ever made, for sure.”

2023 Ryder Cup
Team USA golfer Wyndham Clark reacts after a putt on the 12th green during day one fourballs round for the 44th Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)

Clark has represented the U.S. twice in his career: the 2014 Arnold Palmer Cup and 2023 Ryder Cup.

Joining Clark at the Olympics will be world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 3 Xander Schauffele and No. 7 Collin Morikawa.

Jon Rahm dishes on love for PGA Tour, Saudi PIF negotiations and his 2024 PGA Championship chances

“See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Conversations with players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf don’t carry on for too long without someone inevitably bringing up the ongoing discussions between the Tour and LIV’s financiers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Naturally, ahead of his eighth PGA Championship start this week at Valhalla Golf Club, Jon Rahm was asked about his viewpoint of the negotiations from the opposite side of the professional golf aisle.

“See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not,” said Rahm. “I still want to support the PGA Tour. And I think that’s an important distinction to make.”

“I don’t feel like I’m on the other side. I’m just not playing there. That’s at least personally,” he added. “I’m going to say what I’ve said all along, I hope we reach a resolution and a resolution that’s beneficial for everyone.”

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“I’ve said however I can, I would like to support (the Tour), right. So even though I’m playing full-time on LIV Golf, like I’ve said many times, had I been allowed, I would have played some events earlier in the year, and if allowed in the future and not conflicting with my schedule, I would play in the future,” Rahm continued. “The PGA Tour has given me so much and has given me this platform and the opportunity that I’m not really going to turn to the side and go against it, because I’m not going against it.”

When it comes to interviews and press conferences, Rahm is one of the best in the game. He’ll answer whatever is asked and do so in a thoughtful manner. He’s smart, so he has to know that claims of loving the Tour can fall on deaf ears after he joined the very league that’s pushed the Tour to the brink.

That said, he’s still advocating for a global tour with a reunited game, but fell back on the often-used saying by players these days that there are smarter people than him to figure out how to do it. He also doesn’t think either side should rush to a resolution.

“This would be some decisions and negotiations that can’t be taken lightly, so it should take quite a bit of time to get it done properly,” Rahm explained. “I don’t know if that takes one, two, three, five, six years. I don’t know what that might be like. But I don’t feel like I’m on any rush to make something happen today, right.”

The three-time member of Team Europe also dished on his desire to represent Team Europe in the Ryder Cup next year at Bethpage Black in New York. The DP World Tour recently clarified that LIV players can serve their suspensions while competing on the Saudi-backed league, which clears the way for European players to compete in the Ryder Cup so long as they pay their fines and make four DP World Tour starts. Rahm’s wife, Kelly, is pregnant with their third child, so her due date will impact Rahm’s schedule, but the big man from the Basque region of Spain is committed to earning a spot on Team Europe in 2025.

“I said I would do whatever I can to get into that Ryder Cup team, and I made that commitment to (captain Luke Donald), and I want to be able to be a part of it,” said Rahm. “So again the schedule’s going to be the hardest thing in that regard.”

Rahm loves watching old clips and highlights of past tournaments, so of course he did a YouTube deep dive on Valhalla, which has hosted three previous PGA Championships (1996, 2000, 2014), two Senior PGA Championship (2004, 2011) and the 2008 Ryder Cup. Rahm watched the 2014 PGA Championship live, but Anthony Kim walking off the 14th green after drubbing Rahm’s fellow countryman and friend Sergio Garcia, 5 and 4, in 2008 was the first thing that came to mind about Valhalla. Now LIV Golf colleagues, Rahm brought up the match with Kim ahead of this week’s major.

“As a 13-year-old I was very upset when he walked off the green on 14 after beating Sergio. I was like, ‘Man, that’s not fair, he’s such a you-know-what,’ and we laughed about it,” said Rahm. “I made him feel pretty old, but it was pretty cool to talk about it and talk about the Ryder Cup in that sense.”

So far this season on LIV, Rahm hasn’t finished worse than tenth in seven starts and has a trio of top fives under his belt. The two-time major champion appeared to take slight offense with a question about the state of his game, saying “I don’t think my game is in any sort of issues.” Rahm is the first to put his hand up and say he didn’t play well at Augusta National last month as he attempted to defend his 2023 Masters title, but was also quick to note the success he’s had with LIV thus far.

“I know it’s smaller fields, but I’ve been playing good golf. It’s just the one major that I played clearly wasn’t great,” Rahm said. “Have I played my best golf? No. But I do feel the last few weeks, especially coming off Singapore, I felt, you know, made a couple tweaks that you wouldn’t be able to tell. It’s just very minor things.”

“So I never, never felt like I was far off, and when I say I’m not playing my best, just hadn’t had my A-game for a week yet, but I still I’ve been close to my A game and B+ multiple times.”

If Rahm can find that A-game once again this week, don’t be surprised if he claims major championship number three.

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Luke Donald announces Thomas Bjorn will be Vice Captain at 2025 Ryder Cup

Run it back.

The European Ryder Cup team continues to run it back.

On Tuesday, Luke Donald named Thomas Bjorn as his second Vice Captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York from Sept. 26-28, 2025. Bjorn was a Vice Captain on Donald’s 2023 squad that beat the Americans 16½-11½ in Rome, Italy. It will be his sixth time as a Vice Captain in the biennial contest and 10th time overall he has been a part of Team Europe, including in 2018 when he was the captain for the European victory in Paris.

“It was a natural progression from last time,” Bjorn said. “Luke called me and said he wanted me to carry on into New York, understanding that it’s going to be a completely different Ryder Cup in 2025 at Bethpage. We had some conversations back and forth mostly about how to go from the victory in Rome and into a new set up for New York, debriefing on what happened in Rome and how we carry it forward.”

Bjorn, 53, is Donald’s second selection as Vice Captain. Edoardo Molinari, who was appointed in January, was the first.

“I am very excited to have Thomas back on the team,” Donald said. “Once I was appointed as Captain again, my thoughts quickly went to who I wanted to have in the backroom staff. And Thomas certainly was one of those. He means a lot to me. He’s passed on his knowledge and I’ve had a great relationship with him over the last few years. To have those relationships, to enjoy the people you’re spending time with along that journey is really important.”

As a player, he was part of three European victories in 1997, 2002 and 2014. Now, he’s back on Donald’s squad as the Europeans look to have similar success next year on American soil.

“We had a fantastic environment in Rome,” Bjorn said. “Luke did an amazing job. He was a fantastic leader, not just of 12 players, but of the whole Ryder Cup Europe team that worked so hard behind the scenes. It was amazing for me to be part of that because I knew how all of those things worked from Paris. To see how he added a few extra things in Rome and made it even better was amazing and I was very proud of him. He was exceptional.”