{"id":155870,"date":"2025-09-19T23:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T23:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/155870\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T23:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T23:07:07","slug":"keegan-bradleys-kind-gesture-to-snubs-and-picking-a-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/155870\/","title":{"rendered":"Keegan Bradley\u2019s kind gesture to snubs? And picking a winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I\u2019m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We\u2019ll have thoughts. We\u2019ll have tips. We\u2019ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ryder Cup week is near. Let\u2019s do another 9 for the 9, where we look at nine items that I\u2019m interested in because I think you\u2019ll be interested in them ahead of a big event. This time, we\u2019ll write it in a Q&A format.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 1: All right, we know that the Ryder Cup starts next Friday at Bethpage Black<\/a> in New York, and that the matchup pits the best dozen Americans against the best dozen Europeans. We also know that the U.S. captain is Keegan Bradley<\/a> and the European captain is Luke Donald<\/a>, and that the home team has won the past five Ryder Cups. But why is this important to players?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hey, I asked that one last week at the PGA Tour\u2019s Procore Championship<\/a>, which also served as a de facto U.S. Ryder Cup team training camp. The answers<\/a> I heard? There\u2019s the idea of playing for your 11 mates. And for your country\/continent. Because of those reasons, the event became motivational for Bradley. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a part of it,\u201d he said, \u201cit really, it changes you forever, it really does. It changes the way you prepare, it changes the way you set your goals for the year, for your career.\u201d He then offered what appears to be his message<\/a> to his team. It\u2019s an existential one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Play it as if it were your last \u2014\u00a0because it might be. Bradley played in the 2012 and \u201914 Cups, believed he\u2019d play in more \u2014 but has come up short ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, at some point this is going to end for all of us,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to end for Scottie [Scheffler]<\/a>. I tell them it ended for Jack Nicklaus<\/a>, guys like that, best player, one of the Mount Rushmore players ever. You have to enjoy these moments because you never know when it\u2019s done. You never know when it\u2019s your last dinner like last night, you never know when it\u2019s your last time hanging in the team room with the guys, so you have to cherish every second.\u201d<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 2: Are the players getting paid this time?<\/p>\n

The Americans will<\/a>. Each will get $500,000 \u2014 $300,000 of which will go to charities, and the use of the remaining $200,000 will be determined by the player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 3: How crazy is Bethpage going to get?<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think crazy crazy. It\u2019s New York. GOLF\u2019s Alan Bastable wrote a wonderful piece on the subject, and you can read it by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 4: How much were\/are tickets?<\/p>\n

They were $750 for a day and are sold out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friday afternoon, you could purchase re-sale tickets through the Ryder Cup\u2019s site<\/a> for $1,177 for Friday; $1,154 for Saturday; and $888 for Sunday.<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 5: Hey, Mr. Weekend 9, have you ever gone to a Ryder Cup as a spectator, and, if so, what\u2019s your advice for watching?<\/p>\n

I have! Three friends and I went to the 2012 event, at Medinah in Illinois. Best advice? If you\u2019re interested in the results, get the radio, if it\u2019s offered. (Thirteen years ago, it was free, too.) Also understand that, at most on Friday and Saturday, there\u2019ll be only eight golfers on the course at one time \u2014 and thousands of fans. So if you want to see the action, jump three or four holes ahead, grab a beer and a hot dog, and wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 6: How did the European visit to Bethpage go this week?\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday and Tuesday, the European Ryder Cup team played Bethpage. How did things go? The video below<\/a> may offer a hint.<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 7: Any other recent bits from Bradley?<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the gang calling the action for NBC participated in a media conference call, and analyst and longtime pro Brad Faxon<\/a> shared that players learned they didn\u2019t make the team on the Sunday night after the Tour Championship<\/a>, as part of a kind gesture from Bradley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Faxon\u2019s telling of what happened:<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say one of the things that\u2019s hugely important is the communication from the captains to all the players and how he does that. And I think a great example, I had lunch with Ben Griffin<\/a> a couple of weeks ago after the selection \u2026 and I asked him when he got the call from Keegan \u2014 it was Monday morning after the Tour Championship \u2014 and I asked him if he knew when he got this call that he was in or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, I didn\u2019t know for sure. I thought I was going to be picked, but I didn\u2019t know until I got the call.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what he said that I thought was very interesting was that Keegan called all the boys on Sunday night. He didn\u2019t want any media around, like what happened to Keegan at \u2018Full Swing,\u2019 around the guys that he was going to tell, no, you\u2019re not going to be part of the team this year, because of what happens at \u2018Full Swing\u2019 and how that was put on camera. I think that was a big effect on Keegan, how he didn\u2019t want that to ever happen to anyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd those are certainly the smaller details that both captains are going to have to have in order to have success this week. And I think that was a great nugget from Ben Griffin to hear that, that he didn\u2019t want to have to put a player in an uncomfortable situation like he was, and something he learned going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on Bradley, the video below<\/a> is also great.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“><\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 8: Who\u2019s going to be the MVP?<\/p>\n

On the American side, it\u2019ll be Scheffler. Bold to pick the world No. 1, I know. But I believe the memory of the defeat two years ago sits maybe strongest with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the European side, let\u2019s go with Robert MacIntyre<\/a>. I think he\u2019ll feed off the opposing crowd the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 for 9 No. 9: Who\u2019s gonna win the thing?<\/p>\n

USA, on a Scheffler 10-foot birdie putt on 18, in the final singles match, against Rory McIlroy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Analyst and longtime caddie Jim \u201cBones\u201d Mackay wants the Sunday pairing. (You can read about that here<\/a>.) I want it, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 for 9 bonus! Do you have a Long Island story?<\/p>\n

You had to ask. Yeah, I do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, in this space<\/a>, I\u2019d written that I once had an internship on Long Island. But I trained for it in Philly, and another intern and I drove out to LI after it was done. Our first stop? We wanted Long Island iced teas from somewhere, because Long Island, right? (We were just out of college, and this was a college-age thought, for sure.) A \u201crestaurant and bar\u201d sign on a place seemed promising. Maybe it was an Applebee\u2019s or something close to it. Good enough. (This was pre-smart phones, keep in mind.) We pulled up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And a valet came out. Hmm. Might be a club. We were still good with going. We walked up to the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And there was a $30 cover charge. Hmm. Yeah, it must be a club. Still no worries. I paid for the two of us. We walked in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I went straight to the bar and ordered. As I waited, I looked to my right.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n \"ryder <\/a><\/p>\n

This New York Ryder Cup will be crazy. Question is, how crazy?<\/a><\/p>\n

By:<\/p>\n


\n Alan Bastable <\/a><\/p>\n

A woman was dancing on the bar. Hmm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I looked behind me. There were other women dancing, and the men weren\u2019t, and I\u2019ll leave it at that. Put another away, no, we were not at a Chili\u2019s-type place.<\/p>\n

I looked to my left. The woman I drove with looked at me with a look that makes you want to include it in a story about Long Island. About 10 seconds later, we left.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I did drink the drink, though. Quickly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A takeaway from the week that was\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. As we talk about the Ryder Cup, there\u2019s also unfortunate news that the U.S. Solheim Cup team is without a charter flight to its event next year in the Netherlands. The story comes from Golfweek\u2019s Beth Ann Nichols \u2014 it can be read in full by clicking here<\/a> \u2014 and these paragraphs are notable:<\/p>\n

Team USA hasn\u2019t used a charter to fly overseas since 2011. Two years ago in Spain, Danielle Kang\u2019s clubs got stuck in Amsterdam, and both Kang and captain Stacy Lewis took to Twitter to beg for help. Eventually, Lewis sent her father, Dale, to the airport to retrieve Kang\u2019s clubs.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Lewis is on board with having a charter for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the look of it, too,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cIf we have players getting on a private plane, it just makes it feel bigger and more important, and it obviously helps out logistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another takeaway from the week that was\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. This week, the U.S. Mid-Amateur was played, and Golf Channel\u2019s Brentley Romine reported that six of the eight quarterfinalists were one-time pros who had had their amateur status reinstated \u2014 and folks had some thoughts. For example, on X, GOLF\u2019s Claire Rogers asked for comments, and she alone received 195 as of Friday afternoon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her post is below<\/a>. Brentley\u2019s story can be found by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An instruction tip for your weekend\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. I thought this was good. On a recent episode of Barstool\u2019s Fore Play podcast, Xander Schauffele<\/a> was asked what work he did to not \u201cspiral\u201d if he hits a bad shot, and he answered this way:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was more so as a conscious \u2014 when I\u2019m in tournament mode, when I\u2019m trying to compete at a high level, I just have to stay pretty even keel. I feel not like a robot, but I\u2019m at work, and at work, I\u2019m pretty ho-hum. If I hit a good shot, doesn\u2019t really matter. If I hit a bad shot, it doesn\u2019t matter because at the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t really matter. So in my mind, I\u2019m like, I practice really hard to do certain things really well, and as long as I can attack those shots correctly or with a clear head, I will \u2014 I\u2019m more likely to hit the correct shot. And then if I don\u2019t, then I go back to the drawing board and I start over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complete episode can be found by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A story that I found interesting\u00a0<\/p>\n

5. The post below<\/a> was interesting. If you started posting scores on Memorial Day and stopped after Labor Day \u2014 a span of 99 days \u2014 that would mean the person who posted 294 scores \u2026 played a lot of golf.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another story that I found interesting\u00a0<\/p>\n

6. The video below<\/a> was interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What golf is on TV this weekend?<\/p>\n

7. Here\u2019s a rundown of golf on TV this weekend:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Saturday\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 a.m.-6 a.m. ET: La Sella Open first round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

7 a.m.-11:30 a.m. ET: FedEx Open de France third round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 p.m.-4 p.m. ET: Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital Championship third round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 p.m.-6 p.m. ET: Walmart NW Arkansas Championship second round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

6 p.m.-9 p.m. ET: Pure Insurance Championship second round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Sunday\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 a.m.-6 a.m. ET: La Sella Open third round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

6:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. ET: FedEx Open de France final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 p.m.-4 p.m. ET: Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital Championship final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 p.m.-6 p.m. ET: Walmart NW Arkansas Championship final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

6 p.m.-9 p.m. ET: Pure Insurance Championship final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 a.m. (Sunday)-6 a.m. (Sunday) ET: La Sella Open final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you\u2019re emailing me\u00a0<\/p>\n

8. Two weeks ago, I\u2019d asked for your Bethpage stories, and one is below.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have a Bethpage Black-specific story; more just a recollection of the playing experience to share with you.<\/p>\n


\n \"The <\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the Ryder Cup arena: Bethpage Black hole-by-hole tour<\/a><\/p>\n

By:<\/p>\n


\n Josh Sens <\/a><\/p>\n

As teenagers in the summers of 1969 through 1972, we would often go to Bethpage on a Monday or Thursday to play, taking a break from caddying at a Long Island private club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In those days, prior to the renovation of the course for the 2002 U.S. Open, the Black was not only a difficult layout, but was sometimes in less-than-ideal shape: bare tees, and weeds and rocks in bunkers. Then, as now, it was a long hot walk in the heat of the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is interesting how the reputation of the course has grown since the Opens, PGA and now the Ryder Cup. When we played Bethpage (always as walk-ups), we usually tried to play the Red, Blue or Green. After arriving at 6:30 a.m., waiting times could be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2-plus hours. Since we didn\u2019t want to wait too long, the Black was our course of last resort, as tee times were seldom more than a 45-60 minute wait. So, we played the Black quite a bit \u2014 only because it was usually the easiest to get on. Hard to imagine given today\u2019s situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The food shed near the 6th tee was always good for a buttered roll, hot dog or Yoo-hoo, and then you could catch it again on the 12th fairway. Bethpage is a wonderful facility and I have great memories of playing there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I now live in North Carolina and have been out to Bethpage only a handful of times since the 1970s. I was able to attend the Opens and PGA, but sadly \u2014 although I had access through the lottery \u2014 the price of Ryder Cup tickets is just too much.<\/p>\n

A non-golf thought\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

9. I haven\u2019t posted NFL picks here yet, so let\u2019s do that now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s the Buffalo Bills year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another non-golf thought\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

10. Let\u2019s do 10 items! Saturday is my wedding anniversary. Sometime soon, I\u2019ll share some stories about the greatest woman I\u2019ve ever met.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yes, she\u2019s heard the one about the Long Island bar written about above.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I\u2019m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-155870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}