United States captain Keegan Bradley unselfish in selecting Ryder Cup team | News, Sports, Jobs

FILE – Keegan Bradley participates in a news conference in New York, Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in which he was introduced as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Last week, Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley announced his picks for the final six spots on this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup squad.

While American stars Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russel Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau had already earned enough points to automatically qualify, Bradley had the difficult task of deciding which players would fill out the U.S. team’s final six spots.

Many believed Bradley would pick himself and fill the dual-role of becoming the first playing captain in nearly a half-century, but that wasn’t the case.

In the end, Bradley decided on Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantley and Sam Burns to fill the 12-man roster.

There were plenty of people who were disappointed that Bradley didn’t pick himself for the team, but I wasn’t one of them.

Sure, Bradley has had a terrific year on the golf course and has been playing at a really high level, but there was very little upside to picking himself for the team — and if he happened to play poorly, he would have received more than his share of the blame.

With that said, Bradley will have plenty to keep him busy during the upcoming, intense Ryder Cup competition scheduled for the last week of September at New York’s Bethpage Black golf course.

I can hardly wait to watch and root for a U.S. victory.

Scotch Valley Invite

The last major best-ball tournament of the year will take place Sept. 20-21 at Scotch Valley Country Club.

This year’s event will see a significant change as the format of the tournament has changed from match play to medal play. Golfers will be flighted and compete over 18 holes of stroke play on both Saturday and Sunday.

Last year’s winning team in the championship flight, Sean Brannan and Anthony DeGol, will be returning to defend their title.

Cypress Point

True golf fans are in for a real treat this weekend as the world’s most scenic and beautiful course, Cypress Point, will be featured as the host for this year’s Walker Cup matches.

The extremely private Cypress Point Club, located in Pebble Beach, California, last hosted a PGA Tour event in 1990 and has rarely been seen on television since.

This weekend, the Golf Channel will be televising one of amateur golf’s biggest events as the Walker Cup action can be seen during the late afternoon hours on both Saturday and Sunday. That will give golf fans a chance to see some of the most dramatic holes in the world, along California’s beautiful Pacific coastline.

70 years ago

During the first week of September in 1955, Bob Powers defeated Dr. Skip Hughes in the finals of the Blairmont Club championship.

Powers birdied the 16th hole of the match to win, 3 & 2. By also winning the prestigious Blairmont Invitational a month earlier, Powers concluded a rare sweep of the two biggest events in Blair County that year.

Ken Love covers local golf for the Mirror. He can be reached at GLTR777@atlanticbb.net.