Full Swing Captures the Most Emotional Phone Call in Golf

Keegan kicks us off sans the mustache and we get THE emotional episode. This is the one you look forward to when Full Swing has the level of access they have.

The calls. That moment when the captain gives you a ring and lets you know if you’ll be a part of the most important team in golf or if you’ll be in a position that Keegan himself was in a couple of years ago.

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Image: Full Swing Season 4 Episode 3 on Netflix

The 2025 American Ryder Cup team was going to be different. There is currently a transition period happening where the stalwarts of the USA side are either not playing elite level golf (Spieth, Fowler, DJ, Finau) or are going to be rookies on home soil.

Considering the position Keegan already found himself in (playing great golf, considering picking himself as a playing captain), this team isn’t exactly a lay-up 12. There are plenty of names like Maverick McNealy and Chris Gotterup that could easily be picked and play great golf at Bethpage Black.

But like preseason in the NFL or a draft in any of the big team sports, selection comes with emotion. And Keegan above all people understand how heavy that responsibility is.

My favorite moment of this episode involved Ben Griffin and his then-fiancé playing the waiting game for the captain call. Golf is a game where the answers truly are in the dirt. If you want to win a major championship, the path is pretty easy; just play better golf than everybody else in the field that week. If you want to qualify for a certain tournament or tour, you know the black and whiteness of what is needed to accomplish that. But making a Ryder Cup team? That is up to you as a golfer and the captain with his final decision.

Image: Keegan Bradley, Full Swing Season 4 Episode 3 on Netflix

“You want to play on the Ryder Cup team?”

Ben was waiting around all morning, dodging Uber Eats delivery calls as he anticipated The Call. Was he in or was he out?

That was how Keegan presented it. Nine words that forever change who you are as a professional and solidifies all the work you’ve put in to get to this place. Qualifying for a Ryder Cup team is extremely tough, but with so many captain picks available these days, most of the breakout stars have to lean on a captain to decide they are team material.

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A phone sitting on a table amongst the smoothie cups and coffee cups as a guy that left the game to be a loan officer for a mortgage company before returning to golf is exactly what makes this the most unique sport in the world. Ben Griffin went from one of us to the most elite room in the world because he put in the work and he caught the eye of his peers.

Image: Ben and Dana Griffin, Full Swing Season 4 Episode 3 on Netflix

These moments are both emotional and uplifting and the capture of his moment was everything I want from a deep dive into the process of the Ryder Cup.

Image: Ben and Dana Griffin celebrate Ben earning a spot on the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup Team, Full Swing Season 4 Episode 3 on Netflix

*Editor's Note: Now available on Netflix, Full Swing is produced by Pro Shop’s Chad Mumm and Mark W. Olsen, alongside PGA TOUR Studios, Vox Media Studios, and Box to Box Films.

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