Keegan Bradley Says 'Biggest Decision of My Life' is Being Ryder Cup Playing Captain

Keegan Bradley, the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, has to choose the final six participants on his 12-person squad. He's one of the candidates, creating a massive decision for the eight-time PGA Tour winner.

Bradley, who is playing at the TOUR Championship this week in Atlanta, spoke Friday about that impending choice, per Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press.

"I promise you we're going to make the best decision for the team, and it's going to be controversial either way."

"I'm ready for it," he added. "I know this is the biggest decision of my life."

The top six players on the points list in the U.S. team rankings have automatically qualified in Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.

As Ferguson noted, Bradley recently hosted a dinner for the six automatic qualifiers plus Justin Thomas (No. 7 in the list) and Collin Morikawa (No. 8). It may be safe to assume those two have spots.

Ben Griffin is next in ninth (9,745.76) followed by Maverick McNealy in 10th (8,913.65) and Bradley in 11th (8,435). Then there's a cluster of golfers from 12th-14th in Brian Harman (7466.91), Andrew Novak (7300.48) and Cameron Young (7209.64). Young is notably third in the Tour Championship right now at 11-under, two shots behind co-leaders Russell Henley and Tommy Fleetwood. Bradley sits at six-under after a great second round (six-under 64). Novak and Harman are near the back of the pack at two-under.

Bradley is certainly deserving of a spot given his recent form. In 2025, he's made 18 of 20 cuts, finishing Top 10 five times and winning the Travelers Championship for the second straight year. Of course, other golfers are great candidates as well, so this is a tough spot for him to say the least.

As Ferguson noted, the last time a Ryder Cup captain also played in the event was in 1963, when Arnold Palmer teed up for the U.S. Coincidentally, that Ryder Cup took place at East Lake Golf Club, home of this week's Tour Championship. The U.S. defeated Great Britain 23-9, and Palmer went 4-2 in his matches (3-1 in pairs and 1-1 in singles).

This year's Ryder Cup will take place at Bethpage Black Course in Bethpage, New York from Friday, September 26 through Sunday, September 28. The United States is trying to bounce back from a tough loss in 2023 in Lazio, Italy, where they fell 16.5-11.5 to Europe.