Keegan Bradley, captain of the 45th U.S. Ryder Cup team, can take comfort in looking at these six names: Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English, and Bryson DeChambeau.
Those are the Americans who qualified on points to represent the U.S. at the Ryder Cup, set for Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in New York.
Those are six decisions he doesn’t need to make. Who will fill the other six spots — the at-large picks — has left Bradley with expected anxiety.
He will announce those selections Wednesday, and Bradley will spend plenty of time consulting with his vice captains until then.
“It’s going to be pretty wild. Whatever decision we make, we’re going to have to live with it,” Bradley said after the final round of the Tour Championship Sunday night in Atlanta.
It’s largely expected that Bradley will select the No. 7 and 8 players on the points list — Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa, both of whom attended a players dinner hosted by Bradley.
The next six on the list are Ben Griffin, Maverick McNealy, Brian Harman, Andrew Novak, Cameron Young and Bradley himself, who finished No. 11.
The last playing captain in the Ryder Cup was Arnold Palmer, who had the honors in 1963. The U.S. defeated Team Europe 23-9 in Atlanta that year.
What makes it so hard for Bradley is that he has so many options in front of him.
“No matter what decision that I make here, I could have gone the other way easily, no matter what,” he said. “The only thing I care about is on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, that we win the Ryder Cup. Then I’ll know I made the right decision.
“Until then, I won’t know.”
Among the first eight, two are Ryder Cup rookies — Spaun and Henley. In the next group of six, Harman has one appearance (2023) and Bradley has two (2012, 2014).
If Bradley is looking for more experience, he doesn’t have to venture far down the list to find it. The players occupying spots 15 through 17 — Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns and Wyndham Clark — all were members of the 2023 team that lost 16 1/2-11 1/2 at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome.
McNealy said he would welcome a shot at his first Ryder Cup.
“I promise you I gave it everything I had this year, and if I get a call that I’m on that team, I’ll do everything I can to be ready on that first tee,” said McNealy, 29, who had seven Top 10 finishes this year.
He said he trusts Bradley.
“A hundred percent. Nobody wants to win the Ryder Cup more than Keegan Bradley. I know he’s going to make the decision that’s best for the team.”
Griffin, 29, has two wins on the season. He made it clear he wants to add a share of a Ryder Cup victory to his 2025 resume.
“It’s going to be an anxious 24 to 48 hours,” he said of the time he will wait to find out who was selected. “I wouldn’t say stressful because I feel like I’m too blessed to be stressed. But definitely anxious just to see if I earned a spot on that team or not or if Keegan believes in me.
“I know I’ve been able to handle some big moments this season. I know I’ll be comfortable on that stage at Bethpage, and hopefully I can start practicing 48 hours from now and start getting ready for that Ryder Cup. That would be really cool, especially to represent the United States.”
On the European side, captain Luke Donald has these six automatic qualifiers on his team: Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton.
