The 2023 Ryder Cup was a brutal event for the Americans. For 30 years, Team USA has not won on European soil, and the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone was no different. With a score of 16.5 to 11.5, the Americans handed victory to the Europeans and walked home heartbroken. However, the 2025 Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley, has vowed to build a stronger and better team. Fresh off a victory at the BMW Championship, the 7-time PGA Tour winner was asked at the press conference if there will be tweaks in choosing the 12 golfers for the Ryder Cup.
Notably, for Team USA, six players are the captain’s choice, and six are chosen based on money earned between the 2022 and 2023 BMW Championships, thereby amassing points to be ranked. Bradley announced that the criteria wouldn’t change, which means Bryson DeChambeau wouldn’t make the team by the automatic criteria. He said, “I don’t see there being in the tweaks. I think the system — to finish in the top six is really difficult.” Thus, he explained that the six chosen are not always the best pros on the US side. The problem arises because players on the breakaway circuit can’t make the 6 automatic qualifiers.
Bradley expressed, “The only weird area is the LIV guys, what they do, and where they fall on the list.” So, instead of altering the points list, the 2025 captain revealed that he will work harder to choose the best from the captain’s picks and form the team through the same criteria, as the system has worked so far and no other captain has ever complained about it. Yet, Bradley noted, “We’ll look into it.”
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USA Today via Reuters
Aug 25, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Keegan Bradley plays his shot from the ninth tee during the second round of the TOUR Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
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However, despite reassuring that he would give all the best players from the men’s golf world a fair chance of making it to Team USA for Bethpage, there was one criterion that Bradley knew DeChambeau and other LIV Golf players would have to meet.
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Keegan Bradley will make sure LIV guys follow just one thing
Last year, only Brooks Koepka from LIV Golf made the Ryder Cup team, so Keegan Bradley was further asked at the press conference if the LIV Golf players were ineligible for not being members of the PGA Tour and if he could still choose them for captain’s picks. He reassured, saying, “I’m going to have the best 12 players, so the PGA of America… they need to figure that out if that’s the problem.”
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The only stipulation Bradley revealed for making the Ryder Cup team is that the golfer should be a member of the PGA of America. Hence, he will make sure the players coming from LIV Golf are members of the PGA. He said, “We’ll make sure if some of those guys that we think might make the team [from LIV Golf’s side], we’ll make sure that they are a member.”
Hence, despite missing out on automatic qualifications, players like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and others will have a chance of making it to the 2025 Ryder Cup and hopefully, winning the prestigious trophy from the Europeans on their home soil.
