2025 Ryder Cup standings: Keegan Bradley not playing as captain would create bigger distraction for U.S.

Keegan Bradley beginning the season with three straight top 15 finishes created playful discussion about the possibility of the United States captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup serving a dual role as a player on the team. After finishing inside the top 5 at Bay Hill, the prospect of Bradley playing became even more intriguing, and following a top 10 at the PGA Championship and the Memorial Tournament, the discussion became one of the leading topics as the golf season reaches its final stretch.

For a U.S. team that not particularly deep with talent playing at the top of its game as the Americans prepare to host the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, filling out the 12-man roster was always going to lead to some difficult decisions for Bradley.

After winning the Travelers Championship in dramatic fashion Sunday, selecting himself for the 12-man roster should no longer be a decision over which Bradley needs to stressed.

Famously passed over by then-captain Zach Johnson for the 2023 Ryder Cup team — as painstakingly documented on Netflix’s “Full Swing” — despite finishing that season 11th in the standings, the 39-year-old Bradley was a surprise choice to helm the 2025 squad given he is an active, competitive player whose aim was to make the 2025 team as a player on his own merits.

It was originally thought that Tiger Woods would serve as captain in 2025, but when the shocking announcement was made, Bradley insisted he would make captaining the team a priority. He would only play if he qualified among the top six in points so as not to distract from the responsibilities of the position nor prioritize himself over other players vying for the opportunity.

However, following Bradley’s win at the Travelers, he has now risen to ninth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. He’s also ranked No. 7 in the Official World Golf Rankings ahead of multiple players who will be automatic qualifiers for the International team.

U.S. Ryder Cup standings as of June 23

While he has not yet achieved automatic-qualifying status, given his level of play and the rooting interest of fans, Bradley not selecting himself as his own captain’s pick would be a bigger distraction at the Ryder Cup this fall than not serving as a playing captain.

Suppose the standings remain static at the conclusion of the BMW Championship — when points are locked in for automatic qualifying spots. Morikawa and Griffin will surely be locks as captain’s picks, but that leaves four spots up in the air with no one in the remaining top 12 — or a few spots lower — holding a 2025 resume better than that of Bradley after his win in Connecticut. 

Bradley, who is playing better than he did two years ago while authoring some of the best golf of his entire professional career, has the same number of wins as Harman, English and Novak (whose win was in a team event with Griffin) with more top 10 finishes than all three men. McNealy has one more top 10 finish than Bradley but lacks a win. Bigger names further down the rankings — Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth — haven’t accomplished as much as Bradley this season, and beyond DeChambeau, none of the other LIV Golf players have performed well enough in majors to guarantee their spots. (Patrick Reed would stand as the biggest question at this point.)

Beyond the qualifications — Bradley as a player giving the Americans their best chance to win — are the optics. There is no scenario in which Bradley will avoid being the leading topic of conversation going into Bethpage Black where the United States will enter as a meager -130 favorite, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

If he plays, its historic. How he performs while juggling the responsibilities of a dual role — along with how often he sends himself out to play — will be fascinating theater. If he does not play, and the Americans lose on home soil, he will forever be criticized.

Bradley can somewhat-compartmentalize some of these tough decisions through his assistant captains. Adding a significant number to his staff has been part o Bradley’s plan from the beginning, which he addressed Sunday night after winning the Travelers.

“When they called me and told me that I was being the Ryder Cup captain, the first thing they said was, ‘We want you to be the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1962,'” he shared. “And I mean, my head was spinning, I didn’t know what they were talking about, but they knew that was a possibility and that we would have things in place for that.

“I’m always trying to be the best that I can be, and I feel like I’m playing the best golf of my career right now. A year ago, I don’t know if I would have thought I would be seventh in the world, but I certainly thought I would be contending in tournaments.”

That’s not to say playing would not lead to increased challenges and pressures, but if Bradley continues to play at this level through the fall, it would almost assuredly be a lesser distraction if he plays rather than opting otherwise.

Every time the U.S. drops a point in a match involving a captain’s pick, the question will be whether the outcome would be different had Bradley — instead riding around in a golf cart, cameras constantly on him — played instead.

Perhaps something dramatic will happen over the next two months that will help Bradley make his decision before the lineups are locked Aug. 17. J.J. Spaun’s win at the U.S. Open effectively secured him an automatic qualifying spot, which took away one difficult decision from Bradley as someone in the group of DeChambeau, Thomas and Morikawa is going to necessitate a captain’s pick. That could happen again at the Open, and should Bradley fall off his current pace, perhaps it will become more of a debate as that deadline draws closer.

For now, it’s hard to envision Bradley — by every metric, clearly one of the 12 best American players this season — not being one of the 12 best choices for the United States team. While declining to play would have long been considered the selfless choice, somewhat ironically, it might now be the selfish one.