The Simple Answer to Keegan Bradley’s Complicated Decision

On Wednesday, United States Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley will make his six picks to fill out the roster destined for Bethpage Black at the end of September, and determined to once again defend home soil. In two stateside Cups since the Miracle at Medinah, Team USA has won 17-11 (Hazeltine, 2016) and 19-9 (Whistling Straits, 2021). In fact, the home team has dominated the biennial event over the last five playings, winning by a margin of five or more points.

If the last decade has taught us anything, it’s that home crowds and home cooking have played a major role in deciding which captain will hoist the four-pound, 17-inch, gold trophy in the late hours of Sunday afternoon. So Bradley has that going for him.

But the dilemma of choosing the right nameplates for the home team’s locker room has become increasingly more difficult—and it’s all his own fault.

After having his captainacy questioned—the choice to make him captain of Team USA shocked the golf world—and being left off the team that went to Rome two years ago, Bradley is now in a position where he could serve as a playing captain.

Over the last eight months, he made 19 cuts in 21 TOUR starts, finished inside the top 25 11 times, the top 10 six times, and won the Travelers Championship for the second time in three years.

He, unquestionably, is one of the best 12 Americans in the world, but there’s a reason Arnold Palmer is the last man to pull double duty (1963).

“I don't think you can do it…you think about the extra media that a captain has to do, you think about the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, in Keegan's case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony—just there's a lot of things that people don't see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big,” Rory McIlroy said before the BMW Championship.

“If you'd have said it 20 years ago, I'd say, yeah, it was probably possible to do, but how big of a spectacle and everything that's on the line in a Ryder Cup now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in.”

Many fans may think that the captain just has to make the pairings before every session and send their players out there, but there’s so much to the role that we don’t see. And that’s where the problem lies.

Can Keegan do both jobs at a high enough level to justify taking a playing spot away from someone else?

Justin Thomas (No. 6 in the rankings) is going to be part of the team. Cameron Young, thanks to a late-season push and being a great course fit for Bethpage, feels like a lock. Patrick Cantlay, fresh off a T-2 finish at the TOUR Championship, has a career 5-2-0 record at the Ryder Cup and just went 4-1-0 at the President Cup last year. You don’t leave that guy at home. And, yes, Ben Griffin might not be a name that gets the fans at home excited, but the man as done more than enough to earn a spot. Over his last 12 starts, he’s finished T-14 or better 10 times, including a win at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a silver medal at The Memorial.

So, that leaves two open spots.

One of them, in my opinion, should go to Sam Burns. The 29-year-old can absolutely roll it—first in Strokes Gained: Putting this season—was 1-1-0 in Rome two years ago before falling to Rory McIlroy in Sunday Singles, and was the only player for Team USA to go undefeated in Canada at the Presidents Cup less than 12 months ago (3-0-1). Plus, over his last 14 starts of the season, Burns finished inside the top-20 nines times.

Then there was one. And if Bradley weren’t to pick himself, who could he call?

Collin Morikawa, who’s eighth in the rankings? Sure, he’s a big name, but he has just one top-10 finish since the middle of March and went 1-3-0 in Rome.

Brian Harman? He’s had a nice finish to his season, but went 0-3-0 in Canada last year.

Maverick McNealy? He probably has the best case out of the three, but would Keegan put another rookie on the squad?

Despite the undoubtable challenges that would immediately be put on his plate, Bradley’s job, Bradley’s duty to not only the other players and coaches on the roster, but to the country, is to put together a team consisting of the 12 best players.

If he leaves his clubs at home, he wouldn’t be fulfilling those duties.

So, we, as fans, as media members, can make this as complicated as we want to make it. But in the end, the answer is pretty cut and dry.

The United States Ryder Cup team has a better chane to win if Bradley does what hasn’t been done in over 60 years.