One year after getting controversially snubbed from the 2023 United States Ryder Cup team, The Telegraph reports that PGA Tour player and St. John’s golf alumnus Keegan Bradley will be captaining the U.S. team in the 2025 competition.
The six-time winner on the PGA Tour will return to Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York next fall, a course he frequently played at when he was a college golfer at St. John’s.
PGA of America selected Bradley to captain the U.S. team after Tiger Woods, who was expected to lead the U.S. team, declined the captaincy. The organization will hold a press conference announcing Bradley’s captaincy tomorrow afternoon at the NASDAQ building in Times Square.
Next year’s event will mark Bradley’s long-awaited return to the biennial competition. He previously appeared twice at the Ryder Cup, competing on the 2012 and 2014 U.S. teams. The Woodstock, Vermont native has a record of 4-3-0 in the Ryder Cup, but the United States lost in both events.
“I think about the Ryder Cup every second I’m awake, basically,” Bradley said before last August’s BMW Championship. “My biggest thing right now is trying not to think about it while I’m playing because it’s that important to me.”
Last year, Bradley was left off the Zach Johnson-captained U.S. team despite winning two tour events in the 2022-23 season and finishing 11th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. Justin Thomas, who finished 16th in the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup standings, was selected for the team. The U.S. team would lose to Europe in the 2023 Ryder Cup by a score of 16 1⁄2 to 11 1⁄2.
Bradley expressed concerns of favoritism in the Ryder Cup selection process in a March Sports Illustrated article about his involvement in the season 2 release of Netflix golf docuseries Full Swing.
“It was interesting to see for sure,” Bradley told Sports Illustrated. “Obviously I sort of do my own thing out there, but I knew I was behind the 8 ball for sure in that category. I said to myself, if you just keep playing well and winning tournaments, that’s the only way I can prove myself. I love those guys—JT (Justin Thomas) and Rickie [Fowler] and Jordan [Spieth]—so much. I hate saying a negative word or thinking even a negative thought about them.”
After a heartbreaking exclusion from last year’s team, Bradley will lead his home country in one of his favorite events at a course where he honed his game before he became a professional.