ATLANTA — Keegan Bradley met with reporters quickly, shuffling in and out of the media center in less than 10 minutes due to his busy schedule. But the main point of discussion during that brief time was not his recent triumph at the BMW Championship. No. It mostly revolved around the Presidents Cup and how the 38-year-old Bradley might make this year’s U.S. team.
Captain Jim Furyk will solidify the American squad on Tuesday, making six more picks after this week’s Tour Championship. Bradley, next year’s Ryder Cup captain, is currently eighth in the standings, but he would better serve himself and next year’s prospects at Bethpage Black by sitting this one out.
Instead, he should serve as one of Furyk’s assistants. Furyk already tabbed Kevin Kisner, Stewart Cink, and Justin Leonard as vice-captains, but it would benefit everyone if he included Bradley, too.
“I certainly think being a vice-captain would help me as a captain at Bethpage because when you’re playing, your mentality changes a bit,” Bradley said Tuesday.
“[When you are playing,] you’re more stressed out. You’re thinking, ‘Geez, I’ve got the alternate shot hole or the tough drive. So there’s other things in your mind.”
Bradley has not played in a Ryder Cup since 2014 and made only one Presidents Cup team, representing Team USA at Muirfield Village in 2013.
A decade has passed since Bradley was part of an American locker room. It’s not like Bradley has lost that feeling or the understanding of how those relationships work, but he would be better served to assist Furyk in decision-making. He would learn to lead a team in this compelling competition, one that will set him up nicely for the Ryder Cup next fall.
Yet Bradley is currently one of the best Americans on the planet. He arrives at East Lake ranked fourth in the FedEx Cup rankings and has a great chance to win the trophy and the $25 million that comes with it.
He knows that, too.
“Being inside the ropes with these guys in the battle, in the heat, reminding myself how tough this is, and if a situation arises where I am playing at Bethpage, playing this, playing at the Presidents Cup would certainly help,” Bradley said.
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“I’ve gone back and forth, and I think that there are pros and cons to both of them. Whatever happens, I will have to figure out how to make the best of it.”
A scenario can arise in which Bradley makes next year’s Ryder Cup team. He would have to finish among the top six in the Ryder Cup standings because he previously said he would not pick himself as a captain’s pick. He almost made this year’s team, finishing eighth in the standings. Last week’s BMW Championship finalized Team USA, as Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, and Sahith Theegala finished among the top six. But now Furyk has six captain’s picks to make, and Bradley is among his possible choices.
“You’ve always got to remember that these guys were players, too, and Jim is a Hall-of-Fame player. He was explaining a situation to me; I forgot which Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup it was; he was in a very similar spot to me; he was a vice-captain, but he was still trying to make the team. So he knows what I’m going through,” Bradley said.
“I think as it comes to this week [at the Tour Championship], I think with the different [starting-strokes] format and stuff like that, I think it shouldn’t come down to one week that you decide whether a person is going to play a month later. But there’s part of me that feels terrible about having put him in this position. But I want to be as upfront with him and honest with him, and he’s been great.”
As patriotic as he is, Bradley wants to do what is best for the team. But even though he is currently one of the PGA Tour’s top players, watching this Presidents Cup from outside the ropes, lending his opinion to Furyk, and learning from these brilliant minds will help the Americans in the long run.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
