Why I have sympathy for Keegan Bradley

No matter what you may think of Keegan Bradley - and there are plenty who have little time for him - you would need to have a heart of stone not to have felt for him as he finally opened his heart on the USA’s Ryder Cup defeat.

Watching him play is akin to admiring paint drying. All those club twirls, backing off, calling in his caddie for the umpteenth time - it’s not pretty.

But almost a month after Tyrrell Hatton holed the putt that won the trophy for Luke Donald’s European team, it was painful to watch the press conference Bradley gave in which he addressed the aftermath. It is abundantly clear that the defeat has had a profound and lasting effect on him and it was not easy to hear what he had to say.

He said that he may never get over what he described as the toughest time of his life. Having had time to reflect, Bradley admitted that he had made mistakes with his pairings and the way he set up Bethpage Black. He had the rough hacked back, thus removing the course’s greatest defence. It was supposed to benefit Bradley’s team but it backfired in spectacular fashion.

Bradley has now been involved in three Ryder Cups - two as a player - and has been on the losing side on all three occasions. He famously has never unpacked his suitcase from the defeat at Medinah in 2012 when an Ian Poulter-inspired Europe produced that stunning fightback from 10-4 down late on the Saturday afternoon.

As a proud American, this was how a crestfallen Bradley summed up his feelings about Bethpage: "You win, it’s glory for life. But I didn’t and I’m going to have to sit with this for the rest of my life. There is no part of me that thinks I will ever get over this. This event has been so brutal to me. I will forever wonder and wish.

"You put so much into it, and you have all this planning and the first two days went as poorly as we could ever have thought. The first practice day I was out on the tee and I was watching the guys walking down the fairway all together and I said to myself, ‘I wish I was playing - that’s what it’s all about. I’m missing out’."

He can be forgiven for hating the Ryder Cup - and I blame the PGA of America for their extraordinary decision to appoint him as captain. 

You will recall that he was controversially overlooked as a captain’s pick by Zach Johnson for the 2023 match in Italy. It was a mistake not to pick him but appointing him as captain at the age of 39 was calamitous.

There was every chance that Bradley would play himself on to the team for 2025 and by naming him as captain the powers-that-be robbed him of his chance to represent his country one more time. 

Bradley has always worn his heart on his sleeve. It comes as no surprise to me that he has taken this defeat so personally. 

What the PGA of America should have done was to have waited 10 years before naming Bradley as a Ryder Cup captain. 

By putting him through this they may have damaged his playing career beyond repair. 

I have never really rooted for him - in fact, I was gutted when he beat Tommy Fleetwood at the Travelers Championship. But I make no apologies for saying that the next time he finds himself in contention I will be cheering him on. 

The problem is that his brain is now so befuddled that you cannot help but wonder if he will ever be able to recapture the form that took him so close to selection in 2023 and gave him such a dreadful dilemma in 2025. 

Should he have played at Bethpage Black? Of course not. The demands on a modern-day captain are simply too great for him to be able to consider playing and leading the team into battle.

But Bradley should never have been put in such a position in the first place. There is much chatter about who will succeed him for the match in Ireland in two years’ time and it has even been suggested that he may be asked to do the job again. I think it is safe to assume that if the PGA of America come calling again he will be turning them down in no uncertain terms.