Keegan Bradley Press Conference | Day 1 | 2025 Ryder Cup

Keegan Bradley Press Conference | Day 1 | 2025 Ryder Cup

United States Rder Cup captain Keegan Bradley joins us now. We’re going to go ahead and jump right into questions. Starting right over here with Adam. Hey Keegan. Um, Data Golf, very respected, reputable source out there, has their info that they did, they found that Harris English and Colorawa, the 132nd best combination of all the possibilities, the last one. What do you have in your information that had them in your top four and you’re sending them back out again tomorrow morning? Well, we have a plan uh of what we’re going to do and they beat us today, but you know, we we’re really comfortable with our plan. We’re really comfortable with those two players. Um excited who they’re playing tomorrow. Um be exciting match and uh you know, we’re sticking to our plan. We’re not going to panic. We’re not going to you know, do uh panic and make those sort of mistakes. So, we’re going to stick to what we know and uh we have a lot of confidence in them. Do your data analytics suggest they work really well together or is this more of a gut feeling? Uh I would say it’s a little bit of both. Uh they’re they were really bummed out that they lost their match today. Eager to get back out there in the course and that’s why we did that. Right here in front Cameron Keegan. I know Cameron sat this morning, but he came out this afternoon and seemed to be one of the bright spots for you guys today. How proud are you of him and is that something that maybe you expect expect out of him to play as well as he did? Yeah, Cam, that was really cool to see. You know, he came back to his home state at a golf course that he’s played. Uh was really proud to watch him go out there and play the way he did. He really played awesome. He’s been he’s been playing great for a long time. Um we’re excited to have him in the lineup tomorrow. Uh putted great, hit the ball great. Uh few fist bumps for Cam, which is a little exciting for him, but uh it was fun watching him out there. and then pairing him with Bryson tomorrow. Obviously, two big hitters. What went into that decision? Because both of Bryson’s teammates today obviously didn’t kind of match his level in either match. Oh, I don’t I don’t know if they didn’t match his level, but we just thought, you know, this was an option for us uh before the week started. Uh we really like this pairing. Uh their golf ball’s very similar. Um and we feel like they’re going to match up really well together. Up to Paul Keegan. Uh just when you go about o assessing the overall day 6 and 1/2 2 and 1/2 what do you think kind of went into why that played out? Uh five and a half two and a half sorry five and a half two and a2 um well we play we’ve played 25% of the points played the first quarter of a football game or a basketball game. So they went out there they played better than us today. They made more putts. Uh but listen we we we knew this was going to be difficult. We knew this was going to be tough. We didn’t expect to come in here in this not to be a difficult week. So, uh, our boys are in great spirits. I just spoke to them. They’re really excited to get out there tomorrow. Uh, what a what a stage to what an opportunity that that they have to go out there tomorrow and prove to everybody, you know, they’re they’re now they’re down now. They got to go catch up. And, um, I like that. I was going to ask, what was your message to them afterwards? Well, I think, you know, we’re we like I said, we’ve played 25% of the RDER Cup, a little bit more, but 25% and uh we knew this was going to be difficult. The Europeans played great. Sometimes you go out in sports and you prepare and you do everything you can and your opponent just beats you. And they played awesome today. It was really incredible to see, you know, the Europeans come into a uh hostile environment and go out there and perform the way they did. They’re great players. We knew that. and you know, we got to go out there and match what what they do tomorrow and uh make a few more putts. Let’s go up top to 17. Hi, Keegan. Um obviously the atmosphere ramped up a notch before the afternoon when the president came out. Um just wondering what he said to you and the guys and if the timing was sort of what was the timing like? Was it a bit awkward given how the morning session had not gone your way? No, it was great. Uh that was really cool experience seeing the uh acted active president on the grounds of a Ryder Cup or at a golf event. What a cool thing. the fly over with Air Force One. Um, I’ll never forget that the rest of my life. It was really cool. Over to 16. Hey, Keegan. Uh, Scotty, heated up a little bit late with a couple birdies, but what did you just see from him overall today and in both his matches? Yeah, I mean, I think if you asked Scotty, he would, you know, say he’s excited to go out tomorrow and play his best golf. Uh, you know, when you’re number one player in the world, you know, you’re you have a day that maybe wasn’t his best, normally you bounce back. We’re we’re not worried about Scotty Sheffller. Um he’s been in great spirits in the team room. Um he’s eager to get back out there tomorrow. Down to Brody on nine. You’re clearly sticking, you know, you said you have a plan, you’re going to stick to it. I’m curious just like in those emotionally, you know, you go down 3-1, five and a half, two and a half. How challenging is it to be like I’m sticking to the plan and not maybe try to, you know, deviate? Well, I think you know your your natural instinct is to do that, but we we came in here this week with a plan and the players are prepared for that plan and we aren’t going to we’re going to stick to that plan and keep make sure the players are ready to play and you know we we we feel really confident about this lineup. Um and we love all those players. Shane, go ahead. Yeah, I I feel my question may be redundant, but you you know, Justin Thomas did struggle this morning a little bit, played quite well this afternoon. JJ Spawn this afternoon, played a little bit better than three of the guys you have going in the morning. There was never a thought to to maybe inject those guys in the morning, seeing as how the deficit is a little bit more than expected, maybe. Yeah, I think, you know, we want the guys to get a little rest. Um, you know, we we have a very specific plan for each player that we’ve spoke to them. Um, and I think that they all want to do what’s best for the team. They they all would have played if we asked them to. They all would sit if we asked them to. They just want to win the RDER Cup. And um, you know, that that’s what makes this group so great. We’re we’re three points down. It’s not that that’s easy. We can come back from three points down. I I I think it feels a lot worse because it’s just the day is over, but we got a lot more of the RDER Cup to play in front here with Ryan. Got it. Good. Okay, Adam. Keegan, this being captain has been a theoretical thing. What did you learn about the job today being out there? And what did you learn about your team? Well, I learned that Patrick Kentlay is a tough dude. I watched him out there hit a lot of great shots, make a lot of incredible putts. Um, proud of the way the guys fought. It’s not easy when you’re down in a matches in Ryder Cup and trying to fight back. And, you know, we that was a really important half we had on the last hole. That was a really important win that X and Patrick had in the morning session. Um, and I’m really proud of them for doing that. That kept us in this firmly. You know, um, I think it’s difficult to watch from the it’s it’s more difficult to watch than actually play because you want them to play well so bad and you don’t have control over it. But, um, it was fun watching them play. I I look forward to celebrating tomorrow, making a few more putts and winning more holes. Way up to 15. Keegan, Bryson had talked a lot this week just about what it meant to be back in this tournament. He had kind of that drive on the first tea in the morning to fire up the crowd. Some some good, some bad the rest of the day. Just how do you think he sort of handled the return to this this stage and what did you see from him today? Yeah, he he played great. I mean, he hit a lot of incredible shots. The shot he hit off was great. Um, but you know, ultimately we needed to make more putts and I think everyone on our team would say that. I think that they would say that, you know, we we got to go out tomorrow and roll those putts in. And we didn’t do that today, but like any other day at a tournament, you know, you you some days you’re so happy for the round to be over just so we can get a break, come back tomorrow and and have a fresh start. Over here with Keith. Keegan, I know the pairings are relatively the same, but do you anticipate keeping the same odds, evens, rotations tomorrow morning as well? Yeah, I think we’ll keep that uh to our team um and what we’re going to do there. Mike 2, please. I’m just wondering feels like a lot of the time when the US lose sessions, it’s a it’s about making more putts. H how do you try and make more putts because surely the players are trying as hard as they can to make every putt? Yeah. Well, you know, one of the weirdest uh things about golf that doesn’t apply to other sports is the harder you try, the worse you play. So, you actually have to try to give up control to to do stuff like that. One of the things I struggle with the most is trying too hard. And when you try too hard in golf, you don’t play as well. So, and we go out tomorrow, we get back into our process. We have a whole different mindset. We’re playing from behind. Um, you know, we’ll go out there and and all the horrible cliches that you guys hear all the time. One shot at a time, process, process, process, and they’ll start going in. and Mike six in the middle there, please. You said, I think you said yesterday, you said throughout this process, you’re sticking to the plan, you have a plan. Are there things though that you see as today unfolds, as the week goes on that that force you to change the plan or to reconsider, you know, what you’ve told the guys about their role and and how this comes about? Yeah, I think there’s definitely some things that you have to adapt to. But um you know we ran into uh some really incredible play by the Europeans today. So you know we look at the data, we look at the strokes gained and you know in the morning session we just didn’t make any putts re really hardly any at all. And you know the everything else was pretty good. We actually hit more fairways and less greens. But um you know we we that that middle match with Colin and Harris they went up against a group that shot five six seven under something like that an alternate shot which is which is tough to beat. We finish up with Ryan right here on three. While walking around today, did you kind of get confirmation that it would have been very difficult to captain and play? Yeah, I mean it certainly the the my role would have been a lot different on this team if I played. Um, you know, we’ll never know how that’s ever going to be, but um I my role certainly would have looked a lot different than it does this week. Thanks for your time, Keegan. We appreciate it. To watch another RDER Cup video, click here. To subscribe, click here.

Watch Keegan Bradley’s press conference following Day 1 of the 2025 Ryder Cup held at Bethpage Black.

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The 2025 Ryder Cup is the 45th edition and runs between September 25 – September 28. Luke Donald is the European Team Captain and Keegan Bradley is the U.S. Team Captain. The European Team are the reigning champion after winning 16 ½ – 11 ½ at Marco Simone in 2023. Every two years, 24 of the best players from Europe and the United States go head-to-head in match play competition. Drama, tension, incredible golf, camaraderie and sportsmanship are served in equal measure, captivating an audience of millions around the world. It’s an event that transcends sport, yet remains true to the spirit of its founder, Samuel Ryder.

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