It has been the topic in the golf world ever since his appointment was announced, and now some players are coming out in support of U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley possibly serving as both the headman and as a player for the biennial competition set for Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black.
The automatic qualifying period for the U.S. team wraps up after this week’s BMW Championship with Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele having already locked in their spots on the team. After the final three are secured by week’s end, Bradley will have to sift through a long list of names for his six captain’s selections that will be announced on Wednesday, Aug. 27, including his very own.
“If I was the captain, I’d pick Keegan,” Patrick Cantlay said. “I think he’s played great …I think he has a lot of responsibility that week, so if he feels that he can play golf like a normal week given all his other responsibilities, I’m just saying that if I was the captain and I was thinking, I think he’s definitely one of the best American players, and his results have shown that.”
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Ironically, Cantlay could be putting his own candidacy in danger with his words as the 2021 FedEx Cup champion is one of the many players vying for Bradley’s attention. Cantlay has been a staple on U.S. teams in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup the last half decade, and he will all but likely need a captain’s pick to play on his sixth straight American team between the two competitions.
Cantlay is joined by other experienced players such as Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa, who are on the outside looking in, while potential rookies Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Maverick McNealy, Chris Gotterup and Andrew Novak all hover around the top 12. A few members of the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team like Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman would also require a pick to be on the team again.
This crop of players, of course, does not include Bradley’s own name as he stands at No. 10 in the standings with one tournament left in the qualification process. Bradley won the Travelers Championship at the end of June and appeared certain to step into the playing captain role; however, much has changed in the month since.
Players like Young and Gotterup both nabbed impressive victories on the PGA Tour and Bradley’s form has taken a slight hit with zero top-20 finishes in his last four tournaments. Still, Bradley continues to receive praise from his peers, including Rickie Fowler, who echoed Cantlay’s sentiments.
“I would pick him, too,” Fowler said. “I think it would be hard to find really any or many Americans that would argue that point. We’ll see. I know he’s maybe getting to the area of the 10, 11 number on points of where he may think, like, is this a spot where I should not pick myself. I feel like, a lot of times, there’s really only one or two that maybe fluctuate based off of people that were maybe inside the top 12 on points that maybe don’t get picked.
“Like I said, I don’t think you’re going to find any or many Americans that are going to argue that he shouldn’t be on the team.”
At 39 years of age, Bradley will be the youngest American Ryder Cup captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963, who coincidentally also served as the last playing captain for the red, white and blue.