Keegan’s ‘Powerful Moment’ Moves Emotions: Ryder Cup Day 1 Best Lines

The Ryder Cup is, after being played two years ago, now only four days away. But that is also 96 hours. Or 5,760 minutes. Or 345,600 seconds. The point is that the biennial games are as close to us as a hole on a par-3 but feel as far away as a brutally long PAR-5. The second hand can hold until Friday.

And then there are the press conferences. They too can usually drag. After all, there are only so many ways to cut a golf ball, so to speak.

But there are tasty bite.

So, in the next four days, as a means to bring us to the moment that the balls are in the air Bethpage BlackWe offer a few highlight or two. They can be technical. They can be clear. They can be emotional. They can be technically insightful, said emotionally.

Monday, for 25 minutes, only we captain Keegan Bradley and European captain Luke Donald spoke, and we heard about pay-for-play and a “powerful moment” on the first tee, which you look at here and read more about:

Ask the pay-for-play

A question about Ryder Cup-Pay-For-Play was asked. Then a few more. Two years ago the subject was much discussed after a report had surfaced that Patrick Cantlay from Team USA believed that players had to be paid to play the Ryder Cup and that he would not wear a team hat to prove his frustration – then Marco Simone fans started waving their hats to him and chaos followed.

This year the Americans will receive $ 500,000 – $ 300,000 of them will go to charities, and the use of the remaining $ 200,000 is determined by the player. (Previously American players had received $ 200,000, all of whom went to a good cause.) And Bradley answered four questions about the subject on Monday. A few thoughts were repeated. The questions are italics.

About the American team that is being paid for the first time this year, can you simply explain why you have decided to give all your money to a good cause? And to clarify, will all your team follow your example? Do you have a uniform approach to this?

“Well, America’s PGA came to me, they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup to the current day,” said Bradley. “The charity dollars had not changed since 1999 and they asked me to raise their way a little to make it in 2025.

“I think it’s a personal decision for everyone. Many guys are not comfortable to share what they are going to do with their money, but we are going to donate.

“For us, the PGA of America, this happens after the Ryder Cup, so this is something we will worry about afterwards. But in the end the PGA of America asked me to help with this, and this is the best way we have come up with it.”

Why do you give your stipend and the charity donation to clarify?

“I think that’s a personal decision,” said Bradley. “I don’t donate to charities to make known what we are doing. These guys in our team are incredible people, and they do many incredible things with charity dollars and with their base. Many of them are not comfortable to share that kind of information, and I feel the same.”

Keegan, who has just followed the question there about the payment for your team, what do you tell those who consider it proof that it means more for Europe?

“Well, I’m not worried about what Europe is doing or what they think,” said Bradley. “I am worried about what my team is doing.

“I was instructed to do a job that the PGA of America asked, and this was what we decided. We wanted to bring the Ryder Cup to today, and we thought this was the best way to do it. We copied a lot from what the Presidents Cup does.

“We have done our best, and I think a lot of good things will come from this. I think the players will do a lot of good with this money, and I love it.”

You are clearly justified that the players can do a lot of good things with it, but I think its optics are doubtful, given the finances that are already involved in Golf. Do you regret that aspect?

“I don’t really understand that,” said Bradley, “but I think the goal here was that the charity dollars had not been collected in 25, 26 years, and that is what we started to do.

“Again, we have done a lot of what the President Cup did, and these players are going to do the right thing and do a lot of good doing with this money. You can say that, but I think the players are really good people and do many good things.”

The collection meals: Expect this to be asked a few times all week. But there seem to be some speech points. As for the example of the President Cup, last year, Adam Schupak from Golf Week reported that players and captains had $ 250,000, as they wanted; Earlier, according to the website of the event, they have assigned: “An equal part of the funds generated by charities of his choice.”

The play question

When making the choices of his captain Koos Bradley himself and he was asked if he wondered if he had done that.

Yes, Bradley said – and he also said he had thought of something else.

“I also thought about how impossible it would be,” he said. “… I was chosen to do this work as a captain, and there have been certain things I did during the week or that I was playing, when I was playing, I don’t think I could have done where I had to do them at the level.

“Every now and then I catch myself through the Fairway, the boys turn the fairway walk out and think how much I would like to do that, and how much I would like to be in the group with Scottie Scheffler and to see him playing and being his teammate.

“But I feel that I have been called for a greater goal here to help our boys prepare to play and play at the highest level. But I always think in mind:” I could have been there. ” But in the end I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed being the captain and how I didn’t care about sleeping and getting my rest or how I didn’t have to think about what time I am going to practice or then simplify the boys. “

The collection meals: When Bradley and the US win the cup, he is praised for the decision. If they lose, one of the biggest questions is the reason why the world’s 13th golfer did not play with the Ryder Cup.

‘A powerful moment’

Monday morning, Bradley brought his team together On the 1st tee. The national anthem was played. The group wriggled close. Bradley said he had thought about it for about a year to do something like that.

But why?

“Well, I think when boys can be together,” he said, “I think it is really powerful to be on that first tee without being the hustle and bustle.

“Every second that the boys are together and can have a powerful moment, I think it brings them closer together. That was really a nice time to be there with those guys and to share that moment and to hear the national anthem. I really think I had this vision to do that for about a year, and to see and see how emotionally the boys was a really special time for our team.”

Has someone’s response surprised him?

“Well, I wasn’t really surprised; it was a powerful moment,” said Bradley. “You look around and see all the boys staring at what we were doing and so in such an emotional way. Many people have worked very hard to get to this point in their lives.

“As Luke said, you never know when your last Ryder Cup is. You never know if you are going to play one or 10 or whatever. For many boys, whether it was the players, the Caddies, the coaches, to be on that first tee in New York City in Bethpage Black at a Ryder Cup is a very powerful moment.

“Sometimes in your life and in your career you have to take the balance in what is happening around you. I think one of my biggest regret rather in my career no longer enjoyed things. And for that moment, boys really took it up and enjoyed it, and that was a wonderful thing.”

The collection meals: Bradley’s captain does not seem to have a shortage of motivating movements. Don’t be surprised if you see more all week. You can watch below on Monday.

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