Keegan Bradley was supposed to just be a vice captain on Jim Furyk’s U.S. Presidents Cup team this year.
But then the BMW Championship happened.
Bradley’s BMW win, the seventh of Bradley’s PGA Tour career, snapped a skid of seven starts outside the top 20 while putting Bradley firmly in the discussion for one of six captain’s picks, which will be determined following this week’s Tour Championship.
“There’s part of me that feels terrible I put him in this position,” Bradley said Wednesday at East Lake, where he’s one of 30 players – and several potential picks – in the field.
Bradley, who finished 10th on the final U.S. Presidents Cup points list, said he spoke to Furyk following his win Sunday at Castle Pines. Furyk knows the position that Bradley is in, having himself been in the conversation as a playing assistant before being passed up for the 2016 Ryder Cup, and for the most part, Bradley says, Furyk has left Bradley to concentrate on his golf.
Bradley’s golf is now almost finished. Bradley doesn’t consider the Tour Championship and its staggered-start format to be much of a decider on who rounds out Furyk’s 12-man team and who doesn’t.
In many ways, his fate has already been decided – and he’s OK with that.
“I want to do what’s best for the team,” Bradley said. “I truly, truly mean that. If what’s best for the team is for me to play, then I want to play. If what’s best is for me to be the vice captain, and there’s better pairings, then I’m happy to do that.”
Bradley added that as it relates to his 2025 Ryder Cup captaincy, he’s thought about the pros and cons of playing versus assisting at Royal Montreal next month.
“I think certainly being a vice captain would help me being a captain at Bethpage because when you’re playing, your mentality changes a bit,” Bradley said. “You’re more stressed out. You’re thinking about, geez, I’ve got the alternate-shot hole, I’ve got the tough drive. So, there’s other things in your mind.
“But also being inside the ropes with these guys in the battle, in the heat, reminding myself how tough this is, and if a situation arises where I am playing at Bethpage, playing this, playing at the Presidents Cup would certainly help. … Whatever happens, I’m going to have to figure out how to make the best of it.”