Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has been motivating American players all year, telling them to bring a winning mentality to Bethpage Black for the high-charged matches against Europe.
And then one day Xander Schauffele replied, “I think you should bring you clubs.”
Bradley was set to make his six picks Wednesday morning for the Sept. 26-28 matches on New York's Long Island, and the suspense was greater than usual because of one player — the captain. At stake was whether Bradley would pick himself and become the first playing captain in 62 years at the Ryder Cup.
“I'm going to be defined by this decision,” Bradley said last week at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
He has said he would lean on his assistants if he plays, but he would not give up the captaincy.
On his record alone, the 39-year-old Bradley makes an easy case as a pick. He is the eighth-best American in the world ranking. He has won twice in the last 13 months against the best players — only Scottie Scheffler has more PGA Tour wins in that span.
But he's the captain, and there's a lot on his plate.
Arnold Palmer in 1963 at East Lake was the last playing captain in the Ryder Cup, but it was a far different era. There were no captain's picks back then. Palmer played six times that week (there are only five sessions now).
And the Ryder Cup was a mismatch, the Americans against Great Britain & Ireland, which did not have the depth just two decades after World War II ended. Continental Europe joined the side in 1979, and it has dominated this competition for the last 40 years.
The six Americans who qualified were Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau and Russell Henley.
European captain Luke Donald makes his six picks on Monday.
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