{"id":411001,"date":"2024-07-09T20:56:27","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T20:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=411001"},"modified":"2024-07-10T06:07:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T06:07:41","slug":"surprise-backflip-one-year-after-boys-club-allegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=411001","title":{"rendered":"'Surprise' backflip one year after 'boys club' allegation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keegan Bradley was just as shocked as anyone when Zach Johnson told him he'd been selected as the 2025 US Ryder Cup<\/a> captain.<\/p>\n

It was two weeks ago on a Sunday night \u2014 the children had just been put to bed, and Bradley was ready to kick his feet up and relax after three weeks on the road.<\/p>\n

Then came the phone call.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be more surprised of anything in my entire life,\u201d Bradley said this week as he was introduced as the captain at NASDAQ headquarters in New York. \u201cI had no idea. It took awhile for it to sink in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t fully comfortable with some of the people that were passed over. I have a lot of respect for the people that came before me and people that deserve to be in this position, so that was a heavy thought and moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Keegan<\/p>\n

Once Bradley composed himself, he realised he had his own phone call to make. It was to Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been grateful \u2014 before I accepted this job I needed to talk to Tiger and I wanted to make sure \u2014 I wanted to hear from him,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cWe had a great conversation. I certainly need his input.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods was widely viewed as the heir to the captaincy, but after considering his current obligations, he decided it was in the PGA's best interest to go with someone else. The PGA read a statement from Woods at Bradley's introductory news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my new responsibilities to the tour and time commitments involved I felt I would not be able to commit the time to Team USA and the players required as a captain,\u201d Woods said in the statement. \u201cThat does not mean I wouldn\u2019t want to captain a team in the future. If\/when I feel it is the right time, I will put my hat in the ring for this committee to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-time Ryder Cup player and current World No.3 Xander Schauffele\ufeff conceded he was surprised with the Bradley appointment.<\/p>\n

A year ago Bradley was snubbed from the team altogether, leading to accusations the USA team selection was a boys club<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Yeah, it's surprising," Schauffele said.<\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

"You typically expect someone that's a little bit older to get selected as a captain. I think a lot of people were banking on Tiger to do it."<\/p>\n

With Woods out, the PGA of America had to look in a different direction to succeed Johnson, the previous captain who is on the Ryder Cup committee.<\/p>\n

They decided to go with the 38-year-old Bradley, the youngest US Ryder Cup captain since a 34-year-old Arnold Palmer in 1963.<\/p>\n

Bradley competed in the Ryder Cup in 2012 and 2014, both losses for the Americans. He has long talked about wanting to redeem those results, famously holding onto his packed 2012 bag and vowing not to open it until he's a Ryder Cup winner.<\/p>\n

After two PGA Tour victories, a runner-up finish and six top-10s last season, including in the Tour Championship, Bradley was considered a candidate for the 2023 team. But he was not selected by Johnson. That devastated Bradley, whose reaction to being rejected was captured on the Netflix golf documentary series \u201cFull Swing".<\/p>\n

Now the team captain, Bradley still believes he's got what it takes to qualify for the team. He is No.19 in the world ranking, after all. And he was clear in his intention to do just that, a feat that would make him the first US Ryder Cup playing captain since Palmer in '63 if he could pull it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel as though I\u2019m still in the prime of my career and can make this team,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n

Bradley is perhaps the most familiar American player with the 2025 course, Bethpage Black on Long Island. He grew up playing there in college, where he attended St John's University. He even joked about skipping class to play at Bethpage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to pick myself," Bradley said. "The only way that would happen is if the team was insisting it but even if they did I don\u2019t see that happening. I want to make the team on points, otherwise I\u2019m going to be the captain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keegan Bradley was just as shocked as anyone when Zach Johnson told him he'd been selected as the 2025 US Ryder Cup captain. It was […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=411001"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411005,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411001\/revisions\/411005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/352182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=411001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=411001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=411001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}