Biggest golf moments of 2025 No. 6: Keegan Bradley‘s decision

When the PGA of America surprisingly tapped Keegan Bradley as the 2025 ryder Cup captain in the summer of 2024, the writing was on the wall for the dilemma he was about to face.

After Zach Johnson left him off the 2023 team,the PGA of America named Bradley,who had no prior vice-captain experiance and was still one of the best American golfers in the world,captain,seemingly because they felt bad about what happened in Rome. At the time, Bradley said he would only be on the team if he automatically qualified.Naturally, he played great golf in 2025, won the Travelers Championship and started to move the goal posts about whether or not he’d use a captain’s pick on himself for the 2025 squad.

For months, Bradley’s decision loomed over the professional golf world. Everyone was asked about it constantly. They were asked what Keegan Bradley shoudl do, if he could do it and what was best for an American team that would be a slight favorite at Bethpage Black. Bradley said he “agonized” over the decision, but ultimately made the selfless decision not to pick himself. In a cruel twist of fate, bradley, who lives for the Ryder Cup, had his dream taken from him again. Despite being clearly one of the 12 best American players, he would not be teeing it up at a course he used to sneak onto while he was at St. John’s. He had a different job to do. A new dream to try and accomplish.

“I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys, and it broke my heart not to play. It really did,” Bradley said. “But ultimately I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be a captain.”

But Bradley’s decision not to play wasn’t the end of the story. It was just the beginning.

the week at Bethpage saw Bradley’s flaws as

The past 12 months had a little of everything – a career Grand Slam, Ryder Cup chaos and so much more. with 2026 on the horizon, our writers look back at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they mattered.

No. 15 – The zero-torque putter movement | No. 14 – ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ takes golf world by storm | no. 13 – joaquin Niemann’s big 2025 (and crucial 2026) | No. 12 – J.J. Spaun slays Oakmont | No. 11 – The Internet Invitational | No. 10 – Jeeno Thitikul’s record year | No. 9 – tiger Woods’ next role | No. 8 – Tommy Fleetwood breaks through | No. 7 – TGL’s launch