Ryder Cup 2025: Keegan Bradley makes captain's picks, leaves himself off team. Our staff reacts

U.S. captain Keegan Bradley has opted to leave his clubs at home for the upcoming 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

Bradley revealed his six captain’s picks on Wednesday at the PGA of America's headquarters in Frisco, Texas, and he omitted himself from the list, a surprise given that he is 11th in the World Ranking and finished 11th in the two-year U.S. Ryder Cup standings. He was seventh in the recently completed Tour Championship, but that result didn’t figure into his decision to not serve as the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.

"The decision was made a while ago that I wasn't playing," Bradley, 39, said on Wednesday. "We had the team set. We weren't scrambling at all.

"This was a really tough decision. There was a point this season where I was playing [after winning the Travelers Championship in June] and all these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way onto this team."

Bradley essentially selected the next three players after the six automatic qualifiers for the U.S. team and then skipped himself and three others to take another trio.

Veterans selected were Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns. Thomas and Morikawa finished seventh and eighth on the final U.S. points list. Cantlay and Burns were 15th and 16th. Thomas has a 7-4-2 record in three appearances. Morikawa is 4-3-1 in two starts. Cantlay is 5-2-1 in the Ryder Cup and a combined 15-6-1 in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup competition. Burns went 1-2-0 in his lone Ryder Cup two years ago in Rome.

Bradley added two rookies, Ben Griffin, who was ninth on the U.S. list, and Cameron Young, 14th, who made a late surge to make the squad. Griffin is a two-time winner this year. A New York native who won the state open at Bethpage, Young finished the season strong with his first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship.

The six selections join automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau.

Bradley not only skipped himself to add Young, Cantlay and Burns at 14, 15 and 16, respectively, but he also bypassed No. 10 Maverick McNealy, No. 12 Brian Harman, and No. 13 Andrew Novak.

“I'm 100 percent certain this is the right choice," Bradley said. "I want to be the best captain I can be."

As for the European team, six players earned spots last week through automatic qualifying: Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton.

Luke Donald will make his six captain’s picks on Sept. 1.

The 45th Ryder Cup is Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y. Europe currently holds the Cup after a 16½-11½ victory in 2023 in Rome.

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So what to make of Bradley's picks—and the decision to bench himself? We asked our staff to break it all down.

Thoughts on Bradley not picking himself?

Two years after being the biggest snub, Bradley somehow earns that distinction again, and this time, it’s by his own choice. Bradley mentioned Arnold Palmer being the last playing captain in a completely different era of the Ryder Cup, but he failed to note that Tiger Woods did just fine as a Presidents Cup playing captain in 2019. You have to respect Captain Keegan’s selfless move, but you also have to question if by leaving himself out, he’s not fielding the best possible team. —Alex Myers

I really thought him playing was a no-brainer. No, he didn’t automatically qualify like he said he wanted to, but he certainly earned a spot on the team with his play. I also don’t buy the idea that it would have affected his captain role, which we all overestimate greatly. If anything, he could have just focused on playing and let the other five vice-captains handle all the headache-inducing tasks. Jim Furyk has done this a few times. He could have held down the fort. Plus, I wanted to see some history. Doing something we haven’t seen since the 1960s would have been pretty cool. Oh well. —Christopher Powers

I agree with the sentiment that any other captain would've picked Keegan for this team, probably at the expense of Sam Burns. In that way it's a truly tough break for Bradley, and I feel bad for him. But I also think it reflects incredibly well on him as a person. He's taking this job deeply seriously. Whatever side you root for, how can you not respect that? —Luke Kerr-Dineen

It was a noble decision, but more importantly it was also the best one for the U.S. team. The distractions that being a playing captain potentially would create could easily have snowballed into its own storyline that would have overwhelmed Bradley and the rest of the Americans at a venue where they should be the favorite to win. Bradley now can look anybody he has to sit during the week in matches and say, “I know it’s hard, but I benched myself, too. What we’re doing here is best for the team.” —Ryan Herrington

The fact that the captain had to leave an experienced player off the squad who has a win as recently as June, is ranked 11th in the world and finished 11th in the U.S. points standings would be a head scratcher every year but this one. I blame the other U.S. players who failed to step up for making this more of an issue than it should have been. Given all the distractions, Bradley showed some stones in playing so well. It was a tough decision for Bradley because deep down he knows he is one of the 12 best players over the last two years. —Dave Shedloski

Most surprising pick?

There wasn’t much surprising other than Keegan NOT picking himself. But if I had to pick one player, I’d say Sam Burns based on him finishing only 15th in the team point standings. Burns also only had a 1-2 record in his lone other Ryder Cup appearance in 2023. But the five-time PGA Tour winner went 3-0-1 in last year’s Presidents Cup and is Scottie Scheffler’s closest friend on tour. —A.M.

I agree on Burns. He should count himself very lucky to be on this team, with no wins since 2023 and just three top-five finishes in his 24 starts this season. He is blessed to have a natural fit of a playing partner in Scheffler, who also happens to be the best player in golf since Tiger and one of Burns’ closest friends. He can also credit his indisputably elite putting—he's first on tour in SG/Putting this season. Regardless, he has something to prove. I hope he knows it, and I hope he proves Captain Keegan right. —L.K.D.

Can’t say I was surprised by anyone. All had strong cases or connections to one of the top players on the team (Burns/Scheffler, Cantlay/Schauffele). If I had to say someone, though, Morikawa was semi-surprising given how poor his back half of the year was. If I were Keegan, I would have picked myself over Collin. —C.P.

Least surprising pick?

Justin Thomas. There was never a question that the bubble boy on the Ryder Cup points list would be one of the six players picked following a season in which the two-time major champ returned to (nearly) top form and broke a three-year PGA Tour winless drought. After being the last man on the team in 2023, Thomas makes a fourth consecutive Ryder Cup squad. Combined with his three President Cup appearances, he boasts a sparkling 17-7-4 record. —A.M.

Patrick Cantlay. Not the best year, but it doesn't matter. You couldn't not pick him after what he did last time around. It's an unwritten rule that when you perform that well in a past Ryder Cup, you get one free bite of the apple in the future. Cantlay more than earned his two years ago. —L.K.D.

J.T. Just narrowly missed the top six. Heart and soul of the last half dozen American teams. The lock of all locks. —C.P.

What's the thing Bradley should be concerned about?

If they lose, having to sleep at night knowing he could have potentially changed the outcome with his own golf clubs. —C.P.

The Tiger Effect. OK, so Tiger isn’t playing, but Scheffler is the modern-day version, and he presents a bit of an issue for the U.S. squad by being so darn good. Tiger’s dominance meant a lack of success for much of the rest of the U.S. team, and Scottie’s penchant for winning has also taken titles away from his teammates. Only rookie Ben Griffin has won more than once this season among the 12 American players—and one of those was in a team format with Andrew Novak. Winless this year are the likes of Schauffele, Morikawa, Cantlay and Burns. Thomas finally won again, but that was back in April. It might be nothing, but then again, look how those Tiger-led teams struggled. —D.S.

Getting his players in the proper frame of mind to compete. The biggest issue for Team USA is handling emotions and playing up to their potential. —R.H.

The struggles of one of his captain’s picks, Morikawa. Since a close call at Bay Hill in March, Morikawa’s best finish was a T-8 at the Rocket Classic. And at 140th on tour in driving distance, his profile doesn’t seem to fit well with the brawny Bethpage Black. —A.M.

There's so much expectation that the U.S. team should win at Bethpage. The crowd; the fact it's a home game; the World No. 1 being on their side. Complacency is the wrong word, but it feels like for the first time in a while the away team will be approaching this Ryder Cup knowing what's ahead of them. Usually, the visitors are taken aback by the ferocity of the task ahead of them. Not this time. It feels like it's all to lose for the U.S. team; there's a siege mentality brewing for Europe. It may just work. —L.K.D.

Aware that the European team isn’t finalized, but who wins?

Being the only European on this thread, it's hard not to be biased. But I'm a professional, and this is my job. So when I place my personal feelings aside, get into a rational state and analyze this objectively, I firmly believe that Europe will win 28-0 and become the first team in history to complete a clean sweep of every match. —L.K.D.

Ha! Good one LKD! But seriously … America with ease. —C.P.

This is a tough call with the U.S. hosting at Bethpage Black and home teams having won 11 of the past 13 Ryder Cups. But I wonder if that home-course advantage—in particular with a longer setup—is less than in recent years with European stars like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Ludvig Aberg being able to match that firepower. For that reason, I’ll take the underdog—especially if I’m betting and getting plus money on Luke Donald’s squad. —A.M.