Captain Keegs may never get over the disaster at Bethpage.
A month has passed since Europe held on to beat the U.S. in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, yet American captain Keegan Bradley hasn’t even begun to get over the defeat. In all likelihood, he’ll never get past the sting of the loss in New York.
Speaking at the Travelers Championship media day for the first time since the biennial event concluded last month, Bradley shared what life has been like since the Europeans spoiled the party.
Things haven’t exactly been jovial for Bradley, to put it mildly.
“You win, it’s glory for a lifetime. You lose, it’s ‘I’m going to have to sit with this for the rest of my life,'” Bradley said. “There’s no part of me that thinks I’ll ever get over this.
“Since the Ryder Cup to now has been one of the toughest times in my life,” he continued. “You put so much into something that I think even if you win they call it the Ryder Cup hangover, where you’re just mentally and physically gone.”
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Keegan Bradley deserves some blame for the 2025 Ryder Cup, but certainly not all of it. (Photo by Michael Reaves/PGA of America/PGA of America via Getty Images)
The first two days of the Ryder Cup went as poorly for the Americans as anyone could have ever imagined. After jumping out to an 8.5-3.5 point lead after the first three sessions of the event, the Europeans extended their lead to 11.5-4.5 leading into Sunday’s singles matches.
The U.S. put up one of the strongest fights the event has ever and likely will ever see on that final day, ultimately losing by a final tally of 15-13, but the hole the Americans dug was simply too deep to climb out of.
Bradley narrowly missed out on automatically qualifying for the U.S. team before deciding not to use one of his six captain’s picks on himself and serving as a playing captain at Bethpage. He admitted that he made peace with that decision during the playing of the event itself.
“I’ll forever wonder and wish that I had a chance to play there,” Bradley said. “The first practice day, I was out on the tee, and I was watching the guys walk down the fairway all together, and I said: ‘I wish I was playing. That’s what it’s all about. I’m missing out.’
“By the second or third day I was like ‘It’s a good thing I’m not playing,’ because I was so physically exhausted…Good thing I didn’t do it, because it would have been bad. I just didn’t think I could do both jobs.”
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As for his claim that he will have to sit with the 2025 Ryder Cup loss for the rest of his life, there’s no reason not to believe him.
Bradley famously never unpacked his suitcase from the 2012 Ryder Cup, which Europe won 14.5-13.5 at Medinah Country Club in Illinois. He was a member of that team, going 3-1-0 for the week, but was one of eight Americans who lost in the 12 Sunday singles matches that final day.
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