Keegan Bradley emerges from a fairway bunker during the Truist Championship. He competes in the PGA Championship this week.
Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Keegan Bradley still carries the sting of captaining the United States to a home Ryder Cup defeat last year, but he admits he would love to make the 2027 squad as a player.
“It’s going to be really hard … but how fun would that be?” Bradley said.
The 39-year-old took full responsibility after his U.S. side stumbled through a disastrous first two days at Bethpage Black last September, falling to a record 11.5‑4.5 deficit before a spirited comeback fell short.
Bradley faced heavy criticism during the event for his pairings, and speaking ahead of this week’s PGA Championship – which he won in 2011 – he confessed that the memories of New York still haunt him.
“It was tough after the Ryder Cup and it still is. I’ll be driving down the road and things will pop into my head, and I think about things I had done or wish I had done different,” Bradley said at Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia.
Jim Furyk was recently named U.S. captain for next year’s showdown at Adare Manor in Ireland, where Luke Donald will try to lead Europe to a third consecutive victory. Furyk captained the U.S. to a heavy defeat at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018 and served as one of Bradley’s vice‑captains last year. Bradley nearly qualified for the 2025 team on merit and says he would love to rewrite his “brutal” Ryder Cup story by playing under Furyk.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about that,” he added. “It’s going to be really hard, I know that. I’ll be 41 when that happens. But what a cool story it would be. How fun would that be?
“I’ve sort of resigned myself … Ryder Cup’s just been so brutal to me over the years in every way. In every single way, it’s been brutal, and I have a tough time focusing in on something like that because of how tough it’s been.
“I’d really like to make that team in Ireland. I’d really love to play for Jim Furyk, who is an idol of mine, but also become a great friend and mentor. Getting to know the guys on the team last year changed my life, changed who I am as a person, and I would love to play on a Ryder Cup with them.”
Three‑time major champion Jordan Spieth again arrives at the PGA Championship aiming to complete the career grand slam. Spieth, whose last major win came at the 2017 Open, said: “If I could win one more tournament in my life, it would obviously be this one for that reason. It would be amazing because it’s a very, very short list in history.”