Keegan Bradley On His 'Devastating' Ryder Cup Snub

The popular opinion is that Keegan Bradley was the most unlucky American player not to get one of six captain's picks from Zach Johnson.

Bradley has played on two losing American teams, in 2012 and 2014, and it was thought by many that he had done enough to warrant a third appearance. In June he won the Travelers Championship by three shots while he was second at Torrey Pines at the start of the year.

More recently he opened up with a 63 at the Tour Championship, the final event before Johnson announced his picks, before trailing off as the week went on – two days later he was told that he wouldn't be on the plane to Rome.

And as if the phone call from Johnson wasn't bad enough, he had to take it in front of an unexpected audience.

“I get a call from Netflix, and they say, Keegan, we got a crew five minutes away from your house, so why would they be sending a camera crew if I am not getting picked?” Bradley told the Barstool Sports’ Fore Play podcast.

“For the first time, I let my brain think, ‘I did it.’ Why would they be rushing a camera crew to my house?”

Of course the news was the opposite as Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas got the nod – Bradley had finished the qualifying period ahead of Burns, Fowler and Thomas.

“As soon as I picked up the phone, (Johnson gave me) a, ’Hey Keegan,’ and I looked over at (my wife) Jill a second into the call and was like ‘no,’. But (Johnson) was really nice, and then I hung up the phone, but you are all going to see this on (Netflix). I mean, this is real life. Nobody will have ever seen this call before. It was devastating.”

Shortly after being overlooked Bradley took to social media to explain that he still had his Ryder Cup suitcase from Medinah which remains untouched.
 

This is my suitcase from 2012 Ryder Cup that I haven’t opened since that Sunday. I promised myself I wouldn’t open it till I won a Ryder Cup. ⁣
⁣
That week changed my prospective on golf forever. The Ryder Cup suddenly became very important to me. pic.twitter.com/RFN6mqeiWH

— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) August 30, 2023

Bradley has an enviable Cup record with three wins from four in 2012, he and Phil Mickelson won all their matches before famously being rested, and then in 2014 he had a very mixed experience. Bradley and Mickelson won on the opening morning against Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy, then lost in the afternoon and then sat out the whole of Saturday.

On the Sunday Bradley was on the wrong end of a 5&3 defeat as Jamie Donaldson secured the trophy for Europe at Gleneagles.