LIVE | Press Conference | Captains Luke Donald & Keegan Bradley | Day 1 (PM) | 2025 Ryder Cup

LIVE | Press Conference | Captains Luke Donald & Keegan Bradley | Day 1 (PM) | 2025 Ryder Cup

people want to play with way up top there to 16. Hi Luke. Um obviously a lot was made of the president being here today. I know he was supporting America, but given he’s such a big golf fan, just wondering did he say anything to you or any of your guys at all when he was out there on the on the tea? Yeah, I saw the the pre Mr. President um and shook his hand and uh said said hello and he said, you know, well, you you’re becoming a a real great leader. So, it was very nice of him to say that and um yeah, it was again nice of him to support this event and uh um yeah, you’re in the middle 13. Luke, you got three and a half points today out of Rory and John Rom knowing the dynamics that are involved with trying to win a road game. What’s it like to be able to lean on those two guys in particular? Uh yeah, I mean in massive I I don’t think John has lost in a a team um one of the team the four balls or forsomes um since Paris. You know, he’s incredible leader for us on on and off the course mostly, you know, with the way he plays uh leader. Rory’s, you know, probably slightly more vocal in the team room, but uh again, Rory’s talked about what the Ryder Cup means and the disappointments we saw in Wisconsin. um and how much he relishes RDER Cups and and the opportunity to try and be a part of them and and hopefully be on on winning teams. You know, he’s made it quite clear um that is one of his big goals was to to win an away rider cup again and um yeah, he played fantastic golf today. Over to Paul on 14. uh Fitzy, given his track record in this event, just with the way he played and and how that went, was that particularly pleasing for you to see him play that well and just what you thought of him and Levig together, seeing them for the first time in this event? Yeah, they um they jailed very well and you know, you never know when you’re trying new partnerships under intense pressure, but uh they seem very relaxed. You know, their personalities really gelled and their games were um fantastic. Fitzy especially played some scintillating golf. I mean, he looked very comfortable out there. Uh he looked very confident and um just great to see because, you know, there’s been some media about his his his RDER Cup record and you know, I I’ve always kept telling him, you know, you just never know when you it’s time to to to go and and and make some points. And you know I mentioned it even two years ago that you know Seby’s first two Ryder Cups I think he made one point and now he’s the legend of Europe. So uh there’s always time there’s always this moment um that he can contribute and you know it was really good to see how well he played and how comfortable we looked out there. Mike 12 please. Hi Luke. Um, it appeared during the afternoon there there was a an incident where Rory made a gesture towards the crowd. Are you aware of that? Can you comment on it at all? I’m I’m not aware. What hole was that? Uh, after the the 11th hole. Um, sorry, I’m I’m not aware of that. Okay. But, um, you know, I was definitely proud of the guys and uh how they handled the situation. Um, you know, the a tough environment out there. Go right in front here to Cameron. Back to John. Is he a guy that you’ve had conversations with about going out first? Like is he someone who’s come up to you and said, “I I want to go out first. I I want to be in this spot.” Not necessarily. I think John is looking to always just help in any way he can to contribute to the team. Um but he has a good track record of going out first. So it’s uh he likes to lead. He’s, you know, again, I feel like he’s someone that he wants to do a lot of his talking with his golf clubs and that’s, you know, what he brings to the brings to our team and our team room and, you know, people um all our teammates really respect that. Over to Brody on nine. Luke, I mean, we’ve been asking questions for two years about, you know, the challenge of playing on the road and winning. I mean, is there anything specific that you saw today that kind of showed that whatever preparations or strategy you’ve been doing has it kind of played out? A lot of um mental resilience, I think. You know, you just look at some of the the putts these guys hold when when it uh when it mattered is is pretty gratifying for for a captain. Um, obviously this morning, you know, to create a little bit of history with the three matches and and how how they were won was great. History is nice to accomplish. It doesn’t mean anything unless we get to 14 and a half points uh on Sunday. But I just think, you know, even this afternoon with, you know, it gets louder as as it goes. you cross the road and there’s a lot of grand stands, there’s a lot of hospitality in the afternoon, you know, maybe guys have had a couple more beverages and um you know, it gets it gets loud and and the guys handled it with absolute class and uh and poise and um you know, I obviously talked about that um you know, to be prepared for an away rider cup, you have to deal with that and um I thought they deal dealt with it amazing. Shane on 10. Hey Luke. Um, going back to Rome now. You have five guys on your team who are three and 0 in the forceman sessions, the two in Rome and of course today. I know we don’t have pairings yet, but I imagine they’ll all be out tomorrow. Who gets credit for that beyond the players for forming these teams and giving you what I think of as almost a firewall with these guys who are so good in that format? Yeah, I’d say a couple people. Um, we do a little bit of profiling. So we we look at, you know, people’s general characteristics and how they match up. I think that’s important with forsomes especially. Um but also I got to give a lot of credit to Dada. I mean, I think he’s so switched on, um, statistic wise. Um, you know, probably out the all the vice captains, he’s the one I I talk to the most just because it really has a a big part of our our strategy and and how we go about the pairings, the orders. Um, you know, he’s he’s very tuned in to that stuff and, um, yeah, he’s he’s a big big asset to me. Can I ask a quick followup on that? Um, you talked about the things that go well together. I know you’re referring to parts of their game and statistics. What about personality? Is that a consideration when you look at a Forsome’s team? I think so. Um, yeah, it’s it’s a little bit easier to put four ball fourball guys together in personality, but Forsomes, it’s a little bit more of a team, isn’t it? I mean, you have to rely on on your teammate even more. Um, I just look at the successful partnership I had with Sergio. I thought we were quite different personalitywise. He was energetic, upbeat. I was pretty stoic, pretty just in my own little lane, but it seemed to work very well. So, you know, I think um I’ve learned a lot from from that successful partnership. Thanks for your time, Luke. We appreciate it. You 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 K Morawa, 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. They 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 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 putty 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 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, six and a half, two and a half, 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 a half. 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 and 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. Like 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 acted active president on the grounds of a rider 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 ask 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. You 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 Can 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 home was great. Um, but, you know, ultimately we needed to make more putts. 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 two, please. 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, you know, 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. 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 had 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. Thank you.

Watch Ryder Cup Captains Luke Donald (Team Europe) and Keegan Bradley (U.S. Team) give separate interviews after the afternoon session on Day 1 of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

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Every two years, 24 of the best players from Europe and the United States go head-to-head in match play competition. The European Team are the reigning champions after winning at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in 2023. 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. The 2025 Ryder Cup is set to take place at Bethpage Black in New York.

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