'I Know For Certain That This Is The Right Choice' - Keegan Bradley Explains Why He Will Not Be Ryder Cup Playing-Captain At Bethpage

Team USA Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley has confirmed that he will not be a part of the 12-man roster to take on Europe at Bethpage Black next month.

Adding on to the six who automatically qualified to represent their country, Bradley shared that his picks included Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young and Sam Burns.

Once the sixth pick was named, shockwaves reverberated around the golfing planet as the realization that Bradley - who had competed at such a high level on the PGA Tour for months and won his 13th pro title in June - would not be teeing it up in Farmingdale.

Explaining his decision to solely focus on captaining Team USA during a press conference at PGA Frisco on Wednesday, the 39-year-old said: "I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play. It really did.

"You work forever to make these teams, but ultimately I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be the captain of this team. My ultimate goal to start this thing was to be the best captain that I could be. This is how I felt like I could do this.

"If we got to this point and I felt like the team was better with me on it, I was going to do that. I was going to do whatever I thought was best for this team.

"I know 100% for certain that this is the right choice, and these six guys, again, played so incredibly coming down the stretch here and made my decision a lot easier."

For months leading into the Ryder Cup, so many debates had taken place surrounding whether Bradley could or indeed should combine playing with captaincy duties.

His victory at the Travelers Championship in June further muddied the waters in regard to his potential role at Bethpage, with Bradley admitting that he considered himself a part of the playing 12 at that stage of the year.

However, the two-time Ryder Cup player went on to share that, given what has happened since, he does not feel he would strengthen the team by playing in it.

Bradley said: "The decision was made a while ago, that I wasn't playing. The last 48 hours, we had the team set, we weren't scrambling at all.

"This was a really tough decision. I would say there was a point this year where I was playing, and all these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way onto this team.

"That's something that I'm really proud of and that's something that I really wanted, but it was an extremely difficult decision and one that I'm really happy with. I'm really happy with these six players, and I'm glad that it's over."

Whether or not Bradley would become the first Ryder Cup playing-captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 was arguably the biggest talking point in all of golf for large periods of the past 12 months.

Bradley said he found the popularity of the subject "really strange" and reiterated his view that playing at the 2025 Ryder Cup was not as high on his list of priorities as some might have imagined.

He said: "I've been really surprised at the attention that this has gotten. I understand the weight and the history and all that comes with it, but I was really focused on being the captain the whole year.

"I never really considered playing until after Travelers. Then that was really on the table for a while.

"But I really was interested in being the best captain that I could be, and ultimately I felt like I was really comfortable with the guys, like extremely comfortable, and I feel like I can best serve the team this way.

"I don't care if I play, don't play, as long as we win on Sunday. There's no outcome that -- that's the only thing I care about. This is the decision that we made, and it's strange that it's got so much hype, but I don't know, the Ryder Cup is a big deal apparently."