Keegan Bradley Surprisingly Passes On Being Playing Captain, Announces Picks For Ryder Cup

The U.S. Ryder Cup team is officially set, and by far and away the biggest surprise about the 12-man squad is that team captain Keegan Bradley will not be teeing it up in the biennial event as a playing captain.

Bradley announced his six captain's picks at the PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas on Wednesday, and until he named the final player on the team, the anticipation was certainly still there that he would call his own name.

The 39-year-old finished 11th on the team's points list after earning a win and five additional Top 10 finishes during the 2025 PGA Tour season. After making his selections, Bradley admitted that he never considered being a playing captain until winning the Travelers Championship in June, but also explained that the decision to only serve as team captain was made "a while ago."

Bradley introduced an interesting layer to the speculation following last week's Tour Championship when he stated that some players who had earned automatic spots on the team had told him that they wanted him to be a playing captain.

Ultimately, Bradley concluded that serving the single role of captain gives him and the U.S. team the best opportunity at winning the event come late September.

"I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be a captain of this team, and my ultimate goal was to be the best captain I could be, and this is how I felt I could do this," Bradley said.

Keegan Bradley announced his six captain's picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

As for his six captain's picks, Bradley's first three selections went directly down the final points standings by announcing Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, and Ben Griffin. From there, he went off the beaten path by giving nods to players who finished 14th, 15th, and 16th, respectively, in the standings, in Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Sam Burns.

Aside from Bradley not calling his own name, the biggest surprise from the captain's picks was both Cantlay and Morikawa making the team. There wasn't a reality in which both were left off of the squad, but it didn't take much for anyone to convince themselves that one of the two could be left at home. 

Cantlay has not won since August 2022, Morikawa has won once since hoisting the Claret Jug in 2021, and neither necessarily put together the strongest of campaigns this season. Their combined record 9-5-2 in past Ryder Cups certainly played to their favor.

Spaun, Henley, Griffin, and Young will all be making their Ryder Cup debuts at Bethpage Black.

The six captain's picks join Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Russell Henley, and Harris English, who earned automatic spots on the American side.