The past twelve months have had a little bit of everything: a Grand Slam career, Ryder Cup chaos and 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 putter motion without torque | No. 14 — ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ takes the golf world by storm | No. 13 — Joaquin Niemann’s big 2025 (and crucial 2026) | No. 12 — JJ Spaun kills Oakmont | No. 11 — The internet invitation | No. 10 — Jeeno Thitikul’s record year | No. 9 — Tiger Woods’ next role | No. 8 — Tommy Fleetwood breaks through | No. 7 – The launch of TGL
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 would face.
After Zach Johnson left him off the 2023 team, the PGA of America named Bradley, who had no previous vice-captain experience and was still one of the best American golfers in the world, captain, apparently because they felt bad about what happened in Rome. At the time, Bradley said he would only be on the team if he qualified automatically. Naturally, he played great golf in 2025, winning the Travelers Championship and starting to move the goalposts on whether or not he would use a captain’s pick for himself for the 2025 roster.
For months, Bradley’s decision hung in the air in the professional golf world. Everyone was asked about it all the time. They were asked what Keegan Bradley was should dolike him could do it and what was best for an American team that would be a slight favorite at Bethpage Black. Bradley said he was concerned about the decision, but ultimately made the selfless decision not to choose himself. In a cruel twist of fate, Bradley, who lives for the Ryder Cup, was once again robbed of his dream. Despite clearly being one of the top 12 American players, he wouldn’t take the court on a court he often snuck onto while at St. John’s. He had another job to do. A new dream to try to realize.
“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. That really happened,” Bradley said. “But in the end I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen as 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 shortcomings as an inexperienced captain, but on full display. He brought out the worst possible American foursome and sent them out again after they had fled. He sent the Scottie Scheffler-Russell Henley up the wrong tees in pairs and that mistake was not corrected until Day 2 at the suggestion of the caddies. He admitted he made a line-up error, allowing the Europeans to roar to a commanding lead before holding off a furious American rally on Sunday.
Ultimately, a home loss in the Ryder Cup fell at Bradley’s feet. That is a pain that cannot be erased.
“Probably the darkest time of my life,” Bradley said during the Hero World Challenge about life after the Bethpage defeat. “I mean, I don’t know how else to describe it. Definitely, especially in my career.”
Every Ryder Cup loss leads to overreactions and questions. Is there any way the US can compete at Adare Manor in 2027? Do they have to start all over again? What’s the path back to Ryder Cup relevance for an American team that currently seems lost?
But with Bradley’s selfless Ryder Cup decision and subsequent loss in the rearview mirror, the picture before us becomes clearer.
We are just four years removed from the Americans’ resounding 19-9 victory in Whistling Straits, the product of supreme talent and a successful and competent American operation that was expected to be the foundation for teams for years to come. The shellacking the Americans received in Rome, combined with Tiger Woods’ decision not to become captain in 2025 and Phil Mickelson’s exodus to LIV, saw the Americans go off the board by choosing Bradley, a sympathetic figure after the 2023 snub, as the surprise captain. Then everything that could go wrong happened. Bradley was put in a position to fail and ultimately found himself in an impossible situation after, unsurprisingly, he played well enough to be on the team, had anyone else been captain. After choosing captaincy over returning to the Ryder Cup, Bradley failed to set his team up for success as his lack of experience in the American Ryder Cup system became apparent.
America’s failures were everywhere at Bethpage Black, and yet the path ahead is not difficult to see.
On paper, the Americans still have a talent advantage. The Europeans are a well-oiled machine, but it wasn’t that long ago that the Americans had seemingly learned from their opponent, resolved their failures and looked poised to have the upper hand after European youth dominance. A road loss and a confluence of bad decisions led to a Bethpage disaster. But the US doesn’t need to remake the wheel; perhaps it should simply get back on the path it was on before Rome. There doesn’t need to be an overreaction to Bethpage, just a simple course correction.
Bradley’s future in the Ryder Cup is less clear, leaving a question hanging in the air. Will Bethpage be the end of Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup saga? Or is there another chapter to be written?
“I would like to avenge that loss, but that’s not up to me,” Bradley said about potentially being captain again. “That’s not up to me. I don’t think it’s fair to come out here and say that. But I would like to do it again at some point. I don’t know if that will ever happen, probably not. I think if you ask a losing captain if they want to do it again, they all want another chance.”
The hardest thing to do in life is to forget. Forget your scars, your mistakes, your decisions. Forget what could have been, what could have been.
For Keegan Bradley, an unexpected run as the Ryder Cup captain took something away from him and left him hoping for a chance at Ryder Cup redemption.
We simply have no idea if that opportunity – as a player or captain – will ever come.
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