Keegan Bradley makes Ryder Cup captain’s picks: Who did he choose?
- U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley announced his six captain’s picks, opting not to select himself as a playing captain.
- The 2025 Ryder Cup will be held at Bethpage Black in New York from September 26-28.
- European captain Luke Donald will announce his picks on Sept. 1.
The eyes of the golf world were on Keegan Bradley on Wednesday morning.
For a year now, ever since Bradley was named the captain of the United States team for the 2025 Ryder Cup, his six captain’s picks – and the possibility he could pick himself as a playing captain – loomed as a defining storyline for this edition of the biennial team event pitting the best from the U.S. and Europe. Bradley called it the biggest decision of his life.
But with less than a month to go before the match-play action gets underway at Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York, Bradley chose not to make history. In fact, he made the choice awhile ago, he said, ‘and I’m glad it’s over.’
Bradley announced his captain’s picks during a news conference from PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas, and did not make himself the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Instead, Bradley added Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns as captain’s pick to the United States team’s six automatic qualifiers.
‘The decision was made awhile ago that I wasn’t playing. The last 48 hours or so we had the team set. We weren’t scrambling at all,’ Bradley said. ‘This was a really tough decision. I would say there was a point this year where I was playing awhile ago, and all these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way on this team. That’s something that I’m really proud of and something that I really wanted.’
Bradley was ranked 11th in Ryder Cup points after the 2025 PGA Tour season and won the 2025 Travelers Championship. Young (14), Cantlay (15) and Burns (16) all finished below him in the standings. Maverick McNealy (10), Brian Harman (12) and Andrew Novak (13) were the highest-ranked American golfers to not be selected based on Ryder Cup points.
‘It broke my heart not to play,’ Bradley added, ‘because you work forever to make these teams, but ultimately I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be the captain of this team and my ultimate goal when I started this thing was to be the best captain I could be, and this is how I felt I could do this. If we got to this point and I felt like the team was better with me on it, I was going to do it. I was going to do whatever I thought was best for this team, and I know 100 percent for certain this is the best choice.’
The 2025 Ryder Cup begins with foursome and four-ball matches on Friday, Sept. 26 at Bethpage Black, with the United States attempting to recover on home soil after Europe won the Ryder Cup convincingly in 2023. Europe has won five of the past seven Ryder Cups, but has not won in the United States since 2012.
Europe captain Luke Donald is scheduled to announce his six captain’s picks on Monday, Sept. 1 at 9 a.m. ET on Golf Channel. Here’s a breakdown of the United States captain’s picks, as well as the Ryder teams, date and format:
Ryder Cup 2025 US captain’s picks
- Justin Thomas
- Collin Morikawa
- Ben Griffin
- Cameron Young
- Patrick Cantlay
- Sam Burns
2025 Ryder Cup teams
United States
- Scottie Scheffler*
- J.J. Spaun*
- Xander Schauffele*
- Russell Henley*
- Harris English*
- Bryson DeChambeau*
- Justin Thomas
- Collin Morikawa
- Ben Griffin
- Cameron Young
- Patrick Cantlay
- Sam Burns
Europe
- Rory McIlroy*
- Robert MacIntyre*
- Tommy Fleetwood*
- Justin Rose*
- Rasmus Højgaard*
- Tyrrell Hatton*
Europe captain Luke Donald is scheduled to announce his six captain’s picks on Monday, Sept. 1 at 9 a.m. ET on Golf Channel.
*automatic qualifier
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When is the 2025 Ryder Cup?
The 2025 Ryder Cup is scheduled for Sept. 26-28 at the Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York. The event will be broadcast nationally by NBC and USA Network and available via live stream on Peacock and Fubo. Times and schedule have not been announced yet
Ryder Cup format 2025
The three-day competition features four foursome and four four-ball matches on the first two days of competition. The winner of each match earns a point for their team. The order of the events each day is determined by the home team’s captain.
The final day of Ryder Cup competition concludes with 12 singles matches in which a point is awarded to the team of the winning golfer. There are 28 total points to determine the Ryder Cup champion, with half-points awarded for matches that end in ties.
