Keegan Bradley did not call his own name Wednesday for the United States Ryder Cup team, deciding against becoming the event’s first playing captain in 62 years.
Bradley named Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns as his six captain’s picks for next month’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island.
Despite having a legitimate case to make the squad, Bradley revealed Wednesday that he decided “a while ago that I wasn’t playing,” adding that he had finalized the U.S. roster earlier this week. He would have been the first Ryder Cup playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 at East Lake.
Bradley, 39, finished 11th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings this season and is the eighth-best American in the world rankings. He has won twice in the past 13 months against the best players — only Scottie Scheffler has more PGA Tour wins in that span.
Although he admitted he wanted to play, Bradley reiterated that he thinks it was the “right choice” to leave himself off the squad.
“I’m 100-percent certain this is the right choice,” Bradley said. “I want to be the best captain I can be.”
Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau already qualified for the U.S. team by finishing in the top six in the U.S. standings this season.
European captain Luke Donald will make his six picks Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
