Within the tragedy that was the US Ryder Cup performance of 2025, there was one main character.
Tommy Fleetwood inflicted the most pain on his opponents from across the pond at Bethpage with four golden points, earned in each of the four pairs sessions on day one and two.
Rory McIlroy absorbed the worst comments he could have imagined in the usually quaint atmosphere of golf to make a huge contribution to the winning team, capping off a year in which he joined the immortal realm that is the major grand slam club.
Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick also produced some of their best golf when it mattered in the hostile Long Island cauldron to win the Ryder Cup away from home for the first time since 2012.
They all served captain Luke Donald with distinction, an understated, softly spoken former World No.1 who could now be looking at a third consecutive tenure as the continent’s skipper, following consecutive victories at home and abroad.
They weren’t the main characters, though. And nor were the American players, despite the best efforts of rookie superstar Cameron Young, fellow rookie and US Open champion J.J. Spaun and, to his credit, the team cheerleader Bryson DeChambeau, who was given the task of sending his country out with a mission of reddening the scoreboard at the start of the first two days.
The spotlight comes down, instead, on Keegan Bradley, the US captain who was given the job by the PGA of America in the middle of 2024 to his own immense surprise.
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While the fools among us had Stewart Cink, Fred Couples and Tiger Woods lined up as the main candidates to clean up the mess left by captain Zach Johnson and the beaten US side of Marco Simone two years ago, Bradley was picked, mostly out of the sympathy recieved from not being chosen for said 2023 side, the fallout of which was shown on Netflix.
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And while the Bradley saga continued right up until Jon Rahm hit the first tee shot of the 45th Ryder Cup matches in September of this year, Europe quietly chugged along with largely the same backroom team that won in 2023 and what became virtually the same 12 players too, short of swapping Nicolai for Rasmus Hojgaard.
No matter what story made headlines on the week-by-week PGA Tour beat, there was a lingering Bradley sub-plot. He’s played well again. Is he going to pick himself? Is he going to automatically qualify for his own team? Both possibilities were alive almost until the end of the qualifying period, finishing with the BMW Championship in August.
The PGA of America wanted him to be the playing captain, as he revealed they told him upon his appointment. The Bradley Show was on primetime every week that he teed it up, and even more so when he actually won the Travelers Championship three months before the Ryder Cup.
There were pockets of discussion about who would be chosen in his six captain’s picks. Would Ben Griffin make his debut? Is Collin Morikawa the guaranteed pick we all think he is? But these figures were mere guests on Bradley’s studio sofa.
Has a captaincy ever portrayed the fundamental failings of the US Ryder Cup team, that have existed for decades, more than this one? The ability to put the ‘i’ in team and, the lack of, to forget who you are at the door was personified by this captaincy.
This brings us on to Woods. What you might argue about a Woods Ryder Cup captaincy is that if the 12 Americans who play cannot motivate themselves to fight for the greatest golfer ever, then who will they fight for?
That may be true. But if this 15-time major-winning sporting icon is named as the US captain for Adare Manor, the Bradley roadshow will be duplicated, just in a slightly different form. It will be Tiger’s Ryder Cup in Ireland.
J.P. McManus, the owner of the Limerick Estate set to host the first Irish Ryder Cup since 2006, would surely love Woods on-site, given their friendship and the eyes it would bring to the event and the venue. The stars might align in 2027, but this would only be to Europe’s advantage.
Team Europe harnesses camaraderie, spirit and togetherness to beat America. They don’t win all of the time, but have only failed to on four occasions since 1995. These qualities lead to better golf, and better golf in the stripped-down, exposed format of match play often beats the Americans.
Some fans might cover their ears to this ego-less drum that Europe beats from its high horse, but it is all true.
Woods won less than 40% of the 37 points he could’ve won across his Ryder Cup career. His record in the event is night and day compared with the utter dominance he showed on the PGA Tour and in the majors. Not that this should have a bearing on his leadership qualities, but Woods can’t exactly look back on the good times when it comes to the Ryder Cup (He has won it once).
Of course, all of this might be caveated by his physical state. Dr Sheeraz Qureshi performed lumbar disc replacement surgery on his spine on October 10 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
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In this statement, Woods said prior scans revealed he had a collapsed disc in L4/5 of his lumbar spine, disc fragments and a compromised spinal canal. Much like many months of the previous umpteen years, Woods will need to focus on walking again, as opposed to a prospective Ryder Cup captaincy.
Fitness aside, though. Appointing the great man would just repeat the mistake made with appointing Bradley. The event would become about one person and not a team again – the antithesis of Europe’s approach.
A Woods captaincy would be more evidence on an already huge pile that says the USA just doesn’t get it.
NOW READ: Ryder Cup 2025: Our report cards rate each individual player’s performances at Bethpage
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