{"id":436994,"date":"2025-09-30T16:04:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T16:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=436994"},"modified":"2025-10-02T06:01:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T06:01:44","slug":"why-keegan-bradley-deserves-another-ryder-cup-captaincy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/why-keegan-bradley-deserves-another-ryder-cup-captaincy\/","title":{"rendered":"Keegan Bradley Deserves Another Ryder Cup Captaincy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Team <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/ryder-cup-europe-usa\/\" target=\"_self\">USA has just lost in front of their fans to Team Europe<\/a> at the 2025 Ryder Cup, and the dust is yet to fully settle. However, there have been debates about whether <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/keegan-bradley-keeps-big-picture-in-sight\/\" target=\"_self\">Keegan Bradley<\/a> should continue as captain as the US looks forward to the next Ryder Cup in 2027.<\/p>\n<h3>Bradley\u2019s Leadership Qualities Unquestionable<\/h3>\n<p>Bradley\u2019s biggest criticism came from the way he set up Bethpage Black. The 39-year-old shortened the rough and widened the fairways, removing the course\u2019s traditional difficulty. His decision played into the strengths of the European team, who are widely known for their precision and ball-striking. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/i-made-a-mistake-keegan-bradleys-shocking-ryder-cup-admission\/\" target=\"_self\">Bradley himself admitted he made mistakes<\/a> in the course setup and took full responsibility. Not many leaders in sports would take the blame so directly, and that honesty is a reason why he may actually be the right man to lead the team again.<\/p>\n<p>The captain made mistakes with his pairings too. He ran the same partnerships more than once, even when they were not working. His decision to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmonthly.com\/news\/keegan-bradley-mistake-harris-english-collin-morikawa\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pair Collin Morikawa with Harris English<\/a> twice drew criticism, with some analysts pointing out that the combination didn\u2019t work. These errors cannot be ignored, but they are also the kind of lessons that a first-time captain can learn from and correct in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Bradley also showed a lot of passion in the build-up to the event and during the competition itself. He was always present on the course, urging his players on and celebrating their good moments. Even when it looked like Team Europe was running away with it, the 39-year-old was visible and engaged, not withdrawn or defeated.<\/p>\n<h3>Bradley Retains Full Support Of The Team US<\/h3>\n<p>Bradley was also able to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/bradley-on-team-bond-closer-than-ever-ahead-of-the-ryder-cup\/\" target=\"_self\">build unity in the American locker room<\/a>. Past Ryder Cups have often exposed divisions among US players, but this time it was different. The team spoke highly of their captain and rallied around him despite the defeat. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler publicly praised Bradley for his leadership, saying the players had full confidence in him throughout the week.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_436979\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-436979\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-436979\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27188056_168416623_lowres-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27188056_168416623_lowres-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27188056_168416623_lowres-1024x668.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27188056_168416623_lowres-768x501.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27188056_168416623_lowres-1536x1001.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27188056_168416623_lowres-2048x1335.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-436979\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[US, Mexico &amp; Canada customers only] Sep 27, 2025; Bethpage, New York, USA; Team USA captain Keegan Bradley and vice captain Jim Furyk during the four-balls on the second day of competition for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Mandatory Credit: Paul Childs-Reuters via Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>Although Europe eventually won, the US fought hard on Sunday and came close to staging a historic comeback. That resilience under pressure says something about the captain\u2019s ability to keep the team motivated despite the odds. Analysts like Rich Beem have said the US \u201cfinally outplayed Europe on Sunday\u201d and praised Bradley for keeping the players motivated when results weren\u2019t going their way.<\/p>\n<p>Continuity may be the best thing for the US as they begin to plan for the next Ryder Cup in 2027. Europe has usually thrived by trusting captains and vice-captains for multiple terms, while the US usually changes leadership after every loss. But Bradley deserves another Ryder Cup captaincy to use the lessons from Bethpage Black and show what he can do with experience on his side.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think? Should Keegan Bradley get another chance as Ryder Cup captain, or should Team USA look for new leadership?<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Team USA has just lost in front of their fans to Team Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup, and the dust is yet to fully settle. However, there have been debates about whether Keegan Bradley should continue as captain as the US looks forward to the next Ryder Cup in 2027. Bradley\u2019s Leadership Qualities Unquestionable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5425,"featured_media":437001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,19],"tags":[119,188,234,154],"class_list":["post-436994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-pga","tag-collin-morikawa","tag-keegan-bradley","tag-ryder-cup","tag-scottie-scheffler"],"modified_by":"Ajayi Segun","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436994"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":437021,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436994\/revisions\/437021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}