Keegan Made the Right Call

On Monday, I wrote that Keegan Bradley should pick himself for the Ryder Cup. The last player to pull double duty for Team USA was Arnold Palmer all the way back in 1963. But I thought Bradley, a player truly obsessed with the biennial event against Europe, could be the one to finally pull it off.

But as his press conference at PGA Frisco got closer, I started to change my mind.

The noise that would come with the decision would be deafening, and it would just be another thing for this team to overcome on its quest to win a third straight Cup at home. The pressure on Bradley’s shoulders when he had a club in his hand would be debilitating, and that’s not what this team needs.

Ryder Cup: Six captain's picks | Social media reacts

Team Europe is going to be a problem. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood. That team is going to roster not only players that have been there and done that, but Captain Luke Donald was at the helm just two years ago in Rome. I have a hard time believing this will be another blowout Stateside—Team USA won 17-11 in 2016 at Hazeltine and 19-9 in 2021 at Whistling Straits.

So, in the end, I think Keegs made the right call—but it couldn’t have been easy.

Like I said, he’s consumed by the Ryder Cup. It’s all he’s been thinking about since Medinah. Hell, he still hasn’t opened his suitcase since that devastating Sunday Singles session. He was in a position to put himself on the team, something he was snubbed from two years ago when Zach Johnson decided to take all his buddies with him. No one would have blamed him, but he put his personal feelings aside and did what’s best for Team USA.

Not a lot of guys would’ve done that, especially on the American side.

And I don’t think anyone put it better than Kyle Porter of Normal Sport.

The 12 guys on this team are going to fight, claw, and battle for their leader, because he’s the one that gave them a chance to do so.

For a team that fell so flat in Rome, I can’t wait to see the American side bring an edge, a new-found energy to Bethpage Black in a month’s time.

Let’s go get that Cup back.