Schupak: The Keegan Bradley captaincy conundrum heats up

USA Today

30-04-2025

Schupak: The Keegan Bradley captaincy conundrum heats up
Tuesday's virtual press conference to announce Brandt Snedeker as U.S. team captain for the 2026 Presidents Cup went swimmingly for one of the better (and fastest) talkers in golf with two exceptions.
For starters, at one point he needed to quench his thirst with a swig of water because he was coughing profusely, or as he put it, 'Man, I'm choking already.'
He rallied and no one had to perform mouth to mouth but the second issue with his press conference was more of his doing — his most interesting response had to do with the Ryder Cup and not the Presidents Cup. It surfaced when Snedeker, who is going to be a U.S. Ryder Cup vice captain in September, was asked about Keegan Bradley potentially being a playing captain at Bethpage Black when the Americans attempt to win back the Cup.
'I think everybody on the team wants Keegan to play great and make the team," Snedeker said. "I think that's something that the players have spoken about quite openly that they think Keegan is one of the 12 best players in the world now on the American side, and he needs to go prove that and play great leading up to the majors in the summer."
There hasn't been a U.S. playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963, and there's good reason for that: the job has become too big for both roles – though Tiger Woods might argue otherwise as he showed it can be done at the 2019 Presidents Cup. Bradley, who is 38 but will turn 39 before the Ryder Cup in late September, ranks No. 19 in the world and No. 22 in the current U.S. Ryder Cup standings. Why does Snedeker think Bradley, who won the clinching point of the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal, should be on the team?
'The way he played last year at the Presidents Cup really showed that this guy is built for team competitions. He's a great guy in the team room. He played fantastic,' Snedeker explained. 'A big reason why we were able to pull it out in Montreal was the way he played. I think the guys loved seeing his (fire inside). They got to see his competitiveness come through. They're seeing that now as his way as a captain and the amount of care he has for these things comes through with the way he plays and the way he captains and the way he talks about it.'
Since the day in July when Bradley was named Ryder Cup captain, he has frequently said he if he qualifies on merit in the top 6 he will play but he doesn't want to put himself in a position where he has to pick himself. How would that play out? Snedeker, who is joined by Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner and Webb Simpson as vice captains, shed some light on how it could work.
"With regards to who would be the captain in that scenario, we have four other guys in the room right now that are perfectly capable of it, and I'm sure there will be some collaboration between all of us to take over that role for Keegan even though this is going to be Keegan's team," Snedeker said. "Our job as assistant captains will be to make sure that we carry out his wishes and carry out the team thing the way he wants it done."
But Snedeker also conceded that if Bradley were to make the team, he would have to relinquish many, if not all, of the captain duties to one of his lieutenants.
"I don't think it's possible to be able to do both just with how much stuff goes into being a captain,' Snedeker said. 'I think Keegan will probably lean on Jim [Furyk], obviously, who's going to be in that room as well. There's a bunch of guys that can step up and hopefully fill that void."
Asked whether Bradley would be one of his 12 picks right now if he were in the captain role, Snedeker passed on adding fuel to the fire to this bewildering question.
'Luckily, I'm not,' he said. 'There's a lot of golf (to be played). We have been on a bunch of calls talking about this. The amount of points still left out there for the Ryder Cup team right now is a lot. It's over 40 percent to 50 percent of the Ryder Cup points are still available. There's a lot that's going to change.'
He added: 'He's got to play great golf the rest of the year. I know he will. He's working hard at it. We'll see how it all shakes out.'
It's certainly something to monitor, adding intrigue to this year's selection process and something that could prove pivotal to Team USA's chances to regain the Cup.