What if I told you one of the most accomplished American golfer of this Ryder Cup cycle was a bubble player? This is a man who won a FedEx Cup Playoffs event in 2024 and a signature event in 2025. A man who has two other runner-up finishes during this span and a top-10 result at the most recent PGA Championship. A man who finished inside the top 10 at the Tour Championship, for which he has now qualified across the last three seasons.
From a statistical point of view, that man is at the height of his powers as short-game improvements have finally arrived to compliment a career of world-class ball striking. The player finished inside the top 12 of the Ryder Cup standings in 2023 … and again in 2025, though just outside of the automatic qualifying zone.
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, only one American has more wins on the PGA Tour than him: Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world who has more victories in that span than anyone walking the planet.
This man’s fellow countrymen have rallied around him, and when he previously played in the Ryder Cup, he was part of one of the most electric playing duos in recent memory. He brings raw emotion and an energy impossible to replicate, a passion for the event that few others possess.
It’s all he can think about. It’s all he yearns to achieve. When a moment arises, he appears keen on meeting it. On paper, he is perfect for the competition, perfect to represent the United States as one of 12 players wearing red, white and blue.
The only problem? That man is American captain Keegan Bradley. Perhaps that’s problem at all. Well, it depends who you ask.
“That’s going to be tougher,” said Bradley of choosing his six captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup. “I’ve gone through a lot of stuff this year. I didn’t know how I was going to handle [the season]. Proud of the way I did. This is a whole ‘nother animal. I have no clue. This is going to be really difficult.
“When I get done here, we’re going to talk to my vice captains. We sort of put everything on hold the last couple days. I think they were trying to leave me alone. But we’ll get in touch with them and get our final decisions together. Saw a lot of Americans play great today, which makes me happy.”
What may not have appeared to have been a legitimate forthcoming decision when the PGA of America turned to Bradley to lead the red, white and blue at Bethpage Black — even if it was discussed in the press conference that announced his captaincy — has turned into the decision now one month out of the biennial competition against Europe.
Will Bradley choose himself as a captain’s pick to represent the United States? Should he do so, will the decision be respected or seen as selfish given Bradley was unceremoniously (and perhaps unfairly) passed over by former captain Zach Johnson two years ago?
“I think no matter what decision that I make here, I could have gone the other way, easily — no matter what,” Bradley said. “The only thing I care about is, on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, that we win the Ryder Cup. Then I’ll know I made the right decision. Until then, I won’t know. It’s going to be pretty wild. Whatever decision we make, we’re going to have to live with it. I love the guys on our team. They’re all playing great. It’s just really something else. It’s awesome.”
The résumé is undeniable. On paper, Bradley has been a no-doubt top 12 American way longer than just this year. He reached the top five of the conversation following his win at the Travelers Championship, which pushed him inside the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings to a new career high at No. 8.
Positions have changed since raising his second Travelers Championship trophy in the last three years the week following the U.S. Open. Some other players have emerged, including Cameron Young, who jumped from outside the conversation to firmly in the mix thanks to solid play in addition to his maiden victory at the Wyndham Championship.
Patrick Cantlay contended at the Tour Championship and nearly won his second FedEx Cup in the last five seasons. Ben Griffin sured up his candidacy with continued quality play in the United States, while others such as Maverick McNealy, Chris Gotterup and Sam Burns presented their cases at various points.
But compare some of those potential selections to the man who will be making the choice.
Collin Morikawa has not won in nearly three years. Cantlay hasn’t found the winner’s circle in a longer period of time. Justin Thomas finally broke his drought this past April at the RBC Heritage but was on a similar winless streak of his own and ended the season with a relative thud. Burns’ last stroke-play victory came in 2022. McNealy and Young both have one win during that timeframe — the only victories in their PGA Tour playing careers. Griffin’s last top-10 finish came at the U.S. Open.
Bradley’s body of work is longer, stronger and sturdier for the Ryder Cup test, a high-pressure environment where players will be living and breathing on every shot. He played just as well — if not better than the names he will be weighing himself against, and he did it all through a much closer lens. Under the immense scrutiny of onlookers, Bradley still performed like one of the best players in the sport.
While others were granted lulls in performances as teeny tiny attention spans looked elsewhere, Bradley remained at center stage for the entire PGA Tour season. At every tournament, he was asked about his play and his forthcoming captain’s picks. At most tournaments, he proved he belonged, which is why those questions were being asked in the first place.
“When we get inside the ropes, this is what we were born to do,” Bradley said. “When you can separate the noise when you’re inside the ropes, that’s when you play your best. I was able to do a great job of that the entire year. I didn’t do a good job of it the last few weeks. This week I was better. I’m really proud of that.
“I went through something this year that no one has really ever gone through. I’m proud of the way that we did. But I’m really glad it’s done.”
Unfortunately for Bradley — at least as it pertains to his decision whether to play in the Ryder Cup — this won’t play out on paper. There are more variables to consider, such as whether he can perform well enough in his role as captain — given the myriad responsibilities, particularly with the media and setting lineups — while also preparing to take the course as a player.
But in terms of a résumé? Bradley has proven time again he deserves to represent the United States as player-captain on pure merit, and it’s a case that’s extremely tough to overlook — even for the man under more scrutiny than anyone else.