Keegan Bradley’s stunning victory at the Travelers Championship on Sunday – snatching the win from Tommy Fleetwood at the last – has left fans clamoring for Tiger Woods
Calls are growing for Tiger Woods to step in for Keegan Bradley(Image: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Fans are pleading for Tiger Woods to be installed as Team USA Ryder Cup captain after Keegan Bradley’s dramatic victory at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.
Bradley birdied the 18th hole and profited from a bogey from Tommy Fleetwood to win by one shot in a thrilling finale at TPC River Highlands. The victory strengthened the case that Bradley should play in September’s Ryder Cup rather than captain the team.
The 39-year-old was an outside-the-box selection to captain the Americans at Bethpage rather than play, given that the one-time major champion remains among the elite players in the sport.
READ MORE: Decision made on suspending MLB announcer after accidental use of homophobic slurREAD MORE: Scottie Scheffler ‘stressed’ after police ‘running around green’ at Travelers Championship
And the case for the New England native to be on the 12-man team is stronger than ever after Sunday’s triumph, which has propelled him to a career-high seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has moved into ninth in the Ryder Cup qualification rankings, with the top six automatically qualifying for Bethpage.
Some pundits have speculated that it would be too big an ask for Bradley to be the first playing captain in the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer more than 60 years ago, calling for him to relinquish the captaincy if he were to decide to play against the Europeans.
Woods was the favorite to be named captain for Bethpage before the job was given to Bradley, with the 15-time major champion expressing that it was the wrong time for him to take the role due to his involvement at the helm of the PGA Tour amid ongoing peace negotiations with LIV Golf.
But with much of the preparation work already done by Bradley and his vice captains three months out from the event, some feel the table could be set for Woods to step in a lead the way. In the immediate aftermath of Bradley’s victory in Connecticut, many took to social media to plead their case for Captain Woods.
Subscribe to our golf newsletter for all the latest news and views from the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and beyond
Bradley snatched victory from Tommy Fleetwood on the 72nd hole at TPC River Highlands(Image: Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)
One wrote: “Keegan Bradley should be on the Ryder Cup team. So, here’s the plan: Call Tiger, cajole him to take the gig. Put Keegan in and don’t let him walk anywhere at Bethpage without an American flag on a pole.”
Another said: “Not too late to enlist Tiger and let Keegan be on the team. I genuinely think he’s good enough but I don’t think being captain and playing is a good idea. Gotta pick one.”
A third added: “Appoint Tiger as vice captain, and then Keegan plays while Tiger steers the ship from a cultural standpoint,” and a fourth posted: “Keegan is playing well, so he should just focus on play at the Ryder Cup. Tiger should come in to assume the captain role. Keegan should take the captain’s role when he is not playing.”
Woods’s taking the captaincy would doubtless please fans, and it is becoming increasingly clear that Bradley merits a spot on the 12-man U.S. team. But Bradley has given no indication so far that he would be willing to step back from the captaincy role, revealing that the PGA of America planned from the beginning for him to be a playing captain.
“I got the call [asking me to be captain] at 8 p.m. tonight a year ago today,” Bradley said in his winner’s press conference. “So I’ve been getting these questions for a year. Whether I play well or play poorly, it’s something that I have become used to.
READ MORE: Tommy Fleetwood shows true colors after unwanted $31.2M PGA Tour record takes cruel twistREAD MORE: Rory McIlroy magically takes extra $25K from Scottie Scheffler in one PGA Tour moment
“To be honest with you, I never really planned on playing. I really wanted to just be the captain. I really felt strongly about that. I want to serve the guys. They asked me to do a job. I want to do it to the best of my abilities.
“Now, with the amazing vice captains that I have, and I have a better perspective of playing in the Presidents Cup and being around a lot of the guys, I feel a lot more comfortable if I went that route. I’m really proud of the guys that are vice captains and, obviously, you’ve got Jim Furyk, one of the greatest players to play and also an incredibly great captain at the Presidents Cup.
“When they called me and told me that I was being the Ryder Cup captain, the first thing they said was, We want you to be the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1962. And I mean my head was spinning, I didn’t know what they were talking about, but they knew that that was a possibility and that we would have things in place for that.
“But you know I’m always trying to be the best that I can be, and I feel like I’m playing the best golf of my career right now. A year ago I don’t know if I would have thought I would be 7th in the world, but I certainly thought I would be, you know, contending in tournaments.”
