Xander Schauffele at this week’s 2024 Genesis Scottish Open.
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It wasn’t just golf fans and the media that were surprised by Wednesday’s announcement of Keegan Bradley as captain of the 2025 US Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” Xander Schauffele said Tuesday at the Genesis Scottish Open, becoming the first Ryder Cup 2023 player to comment on the new captain. “Normally, you expect a slightly older person to be appointed as captain. I think a lot of people were banking on Tiger to do it. He clearly has a lot on his plate. So Keegan made his love for the Ryder Cup public, for all of us to see. I haven’t spoken to him or seen him yet, but I’m sure he’s over the moon and will do a great job.”
Last year, Bradley was named captain but was one of the first players to leave the team. Netflix’s “Full Swing” captured the moments when Bradley, and his wife, Jillian, found out he wasn’t chosen. As someone who had been expressing for a long time how important this event was to him, he was devastated.
“I think about the Ryder Cup every waking second,” Bradley said, weeks before the 2023 team was announced. “My biggest thing right now is to try not to think about it when I’m playing because it’s important to me.”
Bradley, 38, has played in two Ryder Cups, both losses in 2012 and 2014, and has a 4-3 career record in the event. He was a high-pressure player in those Cups – and still is on Tour today – although Schauffele says he’s not always like that outside the ropes.
“He’s very retarded academically,” Schauffele said. “If you bring him in for dinner or something, he likes sports. He’ll talk sports all night if you want. You are a person of great interest. On the track, he’s strong. That’s how you compete and how you are. I am sure that as captain you will have a mixed bag. He will not be afraid and will take everyone out. I don’t know if he has coached or captained any other teams in his life, be it his children’s teams or something like that, but when a person is passionate about something, he usually does very well.”
Although, according to Schauffele, there are certain things the captain can do to make life easier for the team. For starters, he said, he hopes Bradley will take down all the mandatory and Ryder Cup conditions.
“Taking a bunch of pictures while wearing them. I’ll be the first guy to run away quickly. “It seems like all of this is smaller, even group dinners or things like that, we can have it quickly and indoors compared to going out, getting dressed and all that stuff,” Schauffele said. “It’s just the little things. I think there are two or three meals we have to go to that are kind of mandatory-ish, and I think if we could narrow it down to one or two versus three that would be a really big deal.
“I don’t dress up to eat out,” he continued. “I play 24 events, and I don’t think I get dressed and go to one meal in all 24 events. And my wife, she’s amazing, maybe a souvenir or something like that. You know when I’m here, it’s to put my head down and compete and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Captain Bradley already has his first proposal.
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