A potential scenario, one that may be necessary to maintain some of the exalted status already accorded to the 2025 Ryder Cup. The first sounds around the event are so chaotic that Coco the Clown feels like a suitable mascot for Bethpage as host country of Europe in the US.
Through this theoretical plan, Keegan Bradley continues his climb back to the top of professional golf. He qualifies for the team of which he is temporarily captain. Because it is supposedly impossible to combine playing for a modern Ryder Cup team with captaining a team, Bradley has been forced to pass on his duties.
Enter Tiger Woods, who by then will have conveniently skipped a level of media and other external obligations he could do without, to lead the US. Woods guides his country to victory – not exactly a daring concept, because home teams win the Ryder Cups just as Tuesday follows Monday – and thereby write a new and necessary chapter in a career that is, for the time being, forgotten. He could remain in position for Adare Manor in 2027, where it has always been assumed that Woods will become the Ryder Cup captain due to his long-standing alliance with Irish gazillionaires.
The likelihood of this situation occurring is for others to judge. Woods had lengthy discussions about taking over the captaincy in 2025 before the PGA of America surprisingly turned to Bradley. The shock also extended to Bradley himself, who admitted he had not discussed with officials before they offered him the role. Bizarre, yes, but also a harbinger of the early road ahead. Bradley wasn’t so much a left-field pick as a panicked one, after Woods somewhat unimpressively delayed the process for far longer than necessary. Any sense of America’s Ryder Cup strategy went out the window when the 38-year-old Bradley received the call.
It has been revealed that it will cost $750 per day for anyone “lucky” to receive tournament day tickets to Bethpage through a public vote. You can do the math for a family of four. A volunteer package – where the designation is definitely not in the title – costs $350. Both awards represent a PR disaster area. It is a major sporting anomaly that golf federation types recoil in horror when the idea of players being paid to participate in the Ryder Cup is floated, given the increasingly outrageous cash grab that the event entails. Amid the Ryder Cup’s formulaic tangents – PRIDE, PASSION, NOTHING BEATS TEAM GOLF – it’s worth remembering that this tournament long ago became the domain of the corporate classes. This was why Rory McIlroy’s parking rampage in Rome was so important, as a rare display of authenticity.
Bradley spoke at the recent press conference of the Ryder Cup, which has one year left, but remained completely opaque about what will happen if he qualifies for the US team. Bradley is the twelfth ranked golfer in the world and number seven among Americans on the same list. Even taking LIV-related qualifying conundrums into account, it’s highly likely that Bradley will be one of dozens of names the US plans to face McIlroy and co. Bradley’s desperation to play in the Ryder Cup again was only heightened by being overlooked for Rome in 2023. The idea that he would give that up to give speeches and make couples is fanciful.
Yet this all comes as an apparent shock to the US Ryder Cup contingent. Instead of saying unequivocally what will happen if Bradley makes the team, the core topic has been left floating. Bradley himself should have made it an absolute priority to put a plan in place. “It’s so far gone now that I’m not going to worry about it anymore,” Bradley said. “Once we get closer to the tournament and [if] I am at the top of the points list, then we will think about it.”
Is that two months after the show? Two weeks? This is hilariously disorganized, a far cry from anything European captain Luke Donald would ever commit to. Bradley was asked about changes that have been made at the Ryder Cup venue. “I haven’t been to Bethpage in a long time, so I’m not entirely sure about the changes,” was his response. Flying past the chair of his plus fours.
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Woods’ last bulletin was usually a medical bulletin. It remains to be seen whether he will be fit to compete in the Hero World Challenge or the PNC Championship in December. The fifteen-time Major League winner is said to have immersed himself in talks aimed at reorienting golf’s elite after LIV upended the status quo.
Woods has a clear horse in that race; his legacy is intrinsically tied to the PGA Tour, which in turn had to form some sort of alliance with the Saudi Public Investment Fund before running out of money in its attempt to fight the same organization. We can only hope that Woods is more impressive at a boardroom table than he has been with the countless opportunities he has had to publicly shape the direction in which his sport should move. Woods has been woefully vague on that front. There have been none of the statesmanlike speeches that many expected.
A position in the Ryder Cup would be commercially useful for Woods, keeping him at the forefront of golf. The chances of the US winning in New York are significantly higher than in Ireland, which should appeal to him. This is precisely why Bradley could be heralded as a great appointment if he remains captain. It’s the ‘if’ that makes this situation so unclear. If the US took the Ryder Cup nearly as seriously as they want paying punters to believe, they should have set Bradley’s position in stone a long time ago.
