U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, who was slated to be an assistant later this month at the Presidents Cup, was picked by captain Jim Furyk to play on the U.S. team that will compete at Royal Montreal.
Bradley, who was famously snubbed for a Ryder Cup pick a year ago in favor of players such as Justin Thomas, Sam Burns and Rickie Fowler, was one of the six at-large picks announced by Furyk. Thomas was not.
The automatic qualifiers were Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schuaffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala.
From there, Furyk went right down the points list from No. 7 through 12: Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Bradley, Brian Harman and Max Homa.
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Bradley, 38, is an interesting choice given that he had just two top 10s this year before winning the BMW Championship two weeks ago to jump to 10th in the points.
“His back was against the wall, he grinded it out and he came up with a great moment at the end,” Furyk said of Bradley.
Bradley admitted over the weekend at the Tour Championship to being torn about the decision to play. He noted that he wants to play but also was looking forward to immersing himself in the assistant captain duties that he figured would help him as the captain next year at Bethpage.
Furyk said the decision to bypass Thomas, who has been on every U.S. team and has a winning record dating to 2018, was a tough call, as it was passing other players. There was a sense he might go with some younger players, such as Nick Dunlap, who has won twice this year, including as an amateur in January.
Homa has struggled lately but has been America’s best player at each of the past two Cups, including the losing effort last year at the Ryder Cup. Harman played in the Ryder Cup for the first time last year.
Henley will be making his first appearance in team competition as will Theegala.
Furyk was the losing U.S. captain for the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2018 in France but the Americans have won the Presidents Cup nine straight times and have a 12-1-1 overall record.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley Picked to Play in Presidents Cup.
