LAST FALL, IN THE MOMENTS AFTER he\u2019d delivered the clinching point for the U.S. Presidents Cup team, Keegan Bradley stood off to the side of the 18th green at Royal Montreal Golf Club and mulled the impossible decision already looming. <\/p>\n
Bradley had just secured a back-and-forth 1-up win over Si Woo Kim, putting the finishing touches on his 2-1-0 week as an emotional leader<\/a> in an American victory. Bradley was ecstatic. He was relieved. And he was exhausted. It felt unfair to ask him to look ahead \u2014 but this was perhaps the best time to evaluate the potential challenge awaiting the next year\u2019s Ryder Cup captain. Just minutes removed from the fires of team match-play competition, did Bradley think he\u2019d be up for the dual task of playing and leading the U.S. team?<\/p>\n \u201cJeez,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter going through it? I don\u2019t know if I could, honestly. I would love to. But I couldn\u2019t imagine doing [U.S. captain] Jim [Furyk]\u2019s job and playing. I don\u2019t know how you could physically do it.\u201d<\/p>\n He paused, reluctant to let the idea go completely.<\/p>\n \u201cI will have great assistant captains and \u2026\u00a0I\u2019ll cross that bridge later. I\u2019m going to have to do some special stuff to get on that team.\u201d<\/p>\n Bradley outlined the stresses of that morning: He\u2019d felt so sick in the team room he couldn\u2019t eat; he thought he might throw up instead. He\u2019d never felt quite that way, he said. Not contending at majors, not holding leads at big tournaments. It felt like there was a current of electricity running through his body.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a captain\u2019s pick, you don\u2019t want to let the guys down and you don\u2019t want to let the captain down. It was just really heavy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Through the roller coaster months that followed \u2014\u00a0Bradley\u2019s string of top-15s to start the year, his T8 at the PGA Championship and T7 at the Memorial, his win at the Travelers Championship, his rise inside the top 10 in the world \u2014\u00a0I kept going back to that moment, to that word \u201cheavy,\u201d and wondering if really heavy meant too heavy. On Wednesday we got our answer: Bradley left himself off the 12-man U.S. team despite a top-12 resume. It was a moment of selfless leadership. But there was a painful subtext to the announcement, too:<\/p>\n Keegan Bradley got robbed.<\/p>\n THE DREAM WAS NEVER to be Ryder Cup captain. Not yet, at least. Not when Bradley\u2019s every golfing moment this past decade-plus has been devoted to the idea of being a Ryder Cup player, in part because of how much he lives for those big-time match-play moments and in part because he\u2019s been chasing redemption after heartbreaking losses in 2012 and 2014.<\/p>\n \u201cI think about it every second,\u201d Bradley said<\/a> ahead of team selection in 2023. \u201cI would like to sit here and lie to you guys and say I\u2019m not thinking about it, but periodically throughout the round, it will pop into my head. It\u2019s impossible for me not to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n When he just missed that team \u2014\u00a0likely No. 13 on Zach Johnson\u2019s 12-man list \u2014\u00a0he admitted it nearly broke him. But it also fueled him; Bradley doubled down, he kept winning and he played his way into a second career prime. That was what made it particularly tricky when he was selected as the U.S. team\u2019s next Ryder Cup captain last summer. The captaincy was a huge honor. It also came as a shock, because Ryder Cup captains aren\u2019t Ryder Cup players.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be more surprised of anything in my entire life,\u201d Bradley admitted on the day he was introduced as captain. But he laid out a second goal, too: \u201cOne thing that is important to me is I want to play on the team. I feel as though I\u2019m still in the prime of my career and can make this team.\u201d<\/p>\n In the months that followed he won the BMW Championship, played his way onto the Presidents Cup team and starred in Montreal. That made his playing candidacy for Bethpage feel more real. But the demands of the week also made it clear just how hard that would be. The dream felt closer but also further away.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, as he left himself off the team, he spoke to those coexisting, clashing emotions.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I sort of knew in the back of my mind that I just wanted to be the captain,\u201d he said. He also added this:<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play. It really did. 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. My ultimate goal to start this thing was to be the best captain that I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n THERE IS SOMETHING NOBLE about Bradley stepping aside. And there were cool subplots and signs of selflessness that came from his vacancy. <\/p>\n In 2023, the biggest snub besides Bradley was Cameron Young, who finished the year No. 9 in Ryder Cup standings but was passed over. This year? Bradley picked Young over himself.<\/p>\n