For most players in the United States and Europe, representing your country at the Ryder Cup is the ultimate goal. A week where you play for more than yourself. So, you can imagine that finding out you didn’t make the cut is devastating.
Just ask Keegan Bradley.
Bradley was arguably the biggest snub for Team USA after putting together a stellar 2022-23 PGA Tour season. Across 18 made cuts in 23 starts, the 37-year-old finished inside the top 25 10 times, inside the top 10 six times and won the Zozo Championship and the Travelers Championship as a local hero. He concluded the year tying for ninth at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, and the countdown was on to see if he was going to be one of Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks.
During an interview with Barstool Sports’ ‘Foreplay’ podcast, Bradley told the story of the morning he got the call from Johnson.
“I got a text from Zach, ‘Hey, guys, I’m going to be calling everybody tomorrow morning.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, shit, I got another night now of sweating this out.’ I wake up, I’m very tired, and I get a call from Netflix and they say, ‘Keegan, we got a camera crew five minutes from your house.’ Why would they be sending a camera crew if I’m not going to get picked?”
Bradley continued.
“For the first time, I let my brain think I did it. Why would they be rushing a camera crew to my house? And as soon as I picked up the phone, it was like a ‘Hey, Keegan … ‘ And I look over at Jill a second into the call, and I go like, no.”
“It was devastating.”
In two Ryder Cup appearances — 2012 and 2014 — Bradley amassed a 4-3 record, going 0-2 in Sunday Singles.
Bradley posted this message to Twitter on Aug. 30.
During that week I had some of my best memories coupled with some of my darkest in my golf career.
I’m proud of the effort I put in to make this amazing team over a decade later.But it wasn’t meant to be.
— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) August 30, 2023
He later posted: “All of the support has been amazing, but it’s time now to get behind this US team. I’m gonna be watching and pulling as hard as I can for them! GO USA”
A class act.
