Farmingdale, NY – So who will be your American captain in 2027, when the Ryder Cup is played in Ireland and the team is anchored by Scottie Scheffler?
Scheffler offered the answer on Sunday evening, just a few minutes after the two -points, wildly close to our defeat, was signed and sealed. He was interviewed by Damon Hack from NBC Sports. Hack asked Scheffler to the American captain, Keegan Bradley. And then Scheffler, that Friday morning and afternoon and Saturday morning and afternoon in four lost to teams, became emotional. His voice burst. A second or two, he got stuck with his words.
And that’s when you knew it. Keegan Bradley will be offered again by the PGA of America, and he will absolutely take it.
How can you be so sure? Because Scheffler and all other 11 players were traced by the track that Bradley did, and because Ryder Cup captains are selected by a committee consisting of three players and three PGA from American officials. Bradley was elected by a committee with Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. It is likely that Scheffler will be on the committee to choose a captain for the next outing. Anyway, he will have a loud and influential voice. Scheffler, a man who says exactly what he means, said this to hack about his captain: “Keegan has been great.”
Bradley brought the comedian Nate Bargatze to a pre-cup, players and women and extensive team performance. And killed Bargatze! The team loved it. Bradley had them loose.
The Europeans, in Luke Donald, had the perfect professional as their captain, just as they did in Italy two years ago when they won. Donald is flexible and composed and whole, very British. Bradley is the opposite in all respects, and that makes him very, very American. He is much more like the late Lou Carnesecca, the legendary and fiery basketball coach in St. John’s, where Bradley went to school. American athletes, golfers including Fiery. In a Ryder Cup team, the players should like their captain. It is a necessary starting point.
And then there was his remarkably candid comments at a press conference Sunday evening, half an hour after the last putt of a loss of 15-13 that was about two hours, as if it could be one of the most remarkable Sunday stories in the long history of Sunday stories. Bradley, who spoke in his Let-IT-OUT way, took full and total responsibility for the American defeat and (as you would expect) not a little credit for the amazing success of the Americans on Sunday.
“I definitely made a mistake during the arrangement of the course,” said Bradley. The fairways were wide, the rough was down. “I should have listened a little more to my intuition. For whatever reason, that was not the right way to set up the course.”
The Europeans won only one of the 11 games that were played on Sunday. A! That of course means that the Americans played well, but that Bradley also made some good, well -trained guesses about what the matchups could be.
“I had to learn a lot right away,” said Bradley on Sunday evening, asked what he would tell the next captain. “I had to trust many people. I went against an incredible team, and you know, in my eyes I think Luke Donald is the best European Ryder Cup captain of all time.
The 12 players in the losing team clapped their captain. This was not an intern or a PR exercise. This was an approval.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments on michael.bamberger@golf.com.
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