Although Xander Schauffele acknowledges that Keegan Bradley’s selection as the US Ryder Cup captain for 2025 is “surprising,” he still believes Bradley will perform admirably at Bethpage Black.
On Monday, Tiger Woods announced that he would not be leading the team in New York the following season. Bradley was then named captain.
The 38-year-old Bradley was left off the squad for the games played in Rome the previous year, so many people were surprised by the decision, notably Schauffele, a two-time Ryder Cup player.
The world number three stated, “Yeah, it’s surprising,” at his pre-Scottish Open news conference at The Renaissance Club.
“I think a lot of people were banking on Tiger to do it. He obviously has a lot on his plate. Keegan publicly expressed his love for the Ryder Cup, which we all saw. I haven’t talked to him or seen him yet but I’m sure he’s over the moon and is going to do a great job.” “You typically expect someone that’s a little bit older to get selected as a captain.”
Zach Johnson did not choose Bradley out of the six captain’s picks, going instead to Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler, and Justin Thomas, despite Bradley’s two victories on the PGA Tour last year.
Because of this, Bradley—who was a member of the American teams that lost in 2012 and 2014—may feel pressure to win, and Schauffele has encouraged him to bring fervor and fire to the team’s attempt to win the cup again following a 16½–11½ loss to Europe in the previous year.
The 30-year-old Schauffele, who captured his first major championship in May at the USPGA Championship, continued, “He is so laid back off the course.”
“He is a huge sports fan and will speak about sports all night long if you catch him in a meal situation.
“He’s a really driven person. He competes and is intense on the course; that’s who he is.
“As a captain, he’s going to have a mixed bag and he’s not going to be afraid to hold a speech with the guys and get everyone going.”
Schauffele feels the players must perform well in the end to reclaim the cup, even though he thinks Bradley’s presence will benefit the club the next season.
Schauffele, who managed just one point from four games in Rome the previous year, acknowledged, “When you lose that many cups overseas, you definitely start to get in your own head.”
“You start to wonder what’s wrong when you look in the mirror, much like I did when I went two years without winning a tournament. They will point in every direction, albeit that is slightly different.
”
However, we players didn’t perform well in the end. I haven’t watched many international cups when the competition was fierce, both teams performed well, and one team lost.
“I thought that I played really poorly. It seemed to me that I was late to the game and could not have played well until the last round.”