Report: Keegan Bradley selected as Ryder Cup captain after 2023 team snub
![Keegan Bradley Ryder Cup Team USA](https://on3static.com/cdn-cgi/image/height=417,width=795,quality=90,fit=cover,gravity=0.5x0.5/uploads/dev/assets/cms/2024/07/08111712/Keegan-Bradley-Ryder-Cup-Team-USA.jpg)
After reports surfaced on Monday that golfing legend Tiger Woods has reportedly turned down the chance to captain Team USA at the 2025 Ryder Cup, the PGA of America’s selection has emerged. Following his devastated snub from the team in 2023, 38-year-old American Keegan Bradley has reportedly been selected to lead the group against the Europeans in 2025, according to SI’s Bob Harig. The biannual event will be held at the Bethpage Black course in New York after taking place in Rome last year.
Bradley, who competed for Team USA at the Ryder Cup in 2012 and 2014, first as a qualifier, then as a captain’s pick, had his rejection for the team documented on season two of Netflix’s Full Swing.
Bradley’s Ryder Cup rejection documented on ‘Full Swing’
Last year’s captain, Zach Johnson, had the hard job of calling the 2011 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year winner to tell him he wouldn’t be one of his captain’s picks for Rome. Johnson chose several golfers over Bradley who critics claimed were less deserving but made the team due to their friendly relationships with the captain.
“I got a text from Zach, ‘Hey, guys, I’m going to be calling everybody tomorrow morning.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, shit, I got another night now of sweating this out.’ I wake up, I’m very tired, and I get a call from Netflix and they say, ‘Keegan, we got a camera crew five minutes from your house.’ Why would they be sending a camera crew if I’m not going to get picked?” Bradley explained of his very public snubbing on Full Swing. “For the first time, I let my brain think I did it. Why would they be rushing a camera crew to my house?”
“As soon as I picked up the phone, it was like a ‘Hey, Keegan … ‘ And I look over at Jill a second into the call, and I go like, no,” Bradley recalled on the ForePlay podcast. “It was devastating.”
Bradley is currently the No. 19-ranked golfer in the world. He has six PGA Tour victories, including the 2011 PGA Championship, and two European Tour victories.
Woods reportedly turned down captaincy for Ryder Cup
A new report from the Telegraph this week claims that famed US golfer Tiger Woods has turned down the opportunity to serve as captain for the Ryder Cup. PGA of America plans to officially announce the selection in New York on Tuesday and it appears Woods will not be the choice for the Europe versus USA tournament in 2025.
Several names circulated as potential captains, including Stewart Cink, Fred Couples and Davis Love III. Zach Johnson, 48, served as captain for Team USA in 2023 when the team of Americans lost to the Europeans in stunning fashion in Rome, Italy. Team Europe will have Luke Donald back to serve another term as captain after the big win last year.
“It is understood the Woods was prepared to take on the role if the PGA of America… reduced the normal captaincy commitments ahead of the match,” the Telegraph reported. “But no deal was evidently reached and with the clock ticking, they were forced to look elsewhere.”