The Ryder Cup, after last being played two years ago, is now just four days away. But that’s also 96 hours. Or 5,760 minutes. Or 345,600 seconds. The point being, the biennial matches are as close to us as a hole on a par-3 — but yet feel as far away as one on a brutally long par-5. The second hand can seem stuck until Friday.
And then there are the press conferences. They, too, can mostly drag. After all, there are only so many ways to slice a golf ball, so to say.
But there are tasty morsels.
So, over the next four days, as a means to get us to the moment when the balls are in the air at Bethpage Black, we’ll offer a highlight or two. They might be technical. They might be insightful. They might be emotional. They might be technically insightful, emotionally said.
Monday, for 25 minutes, just U.S. captain Keegan Bradley and European captain Luke Donald talked, and we heard about pay-for-play and a “powerful moment” on the first tee.
The pay-for-play questions
A question on Ryder Cup pay-for-play was asked. Then a few more. Two years ago, the subject was much discussed after a report had surfaced that Team USA’s Patrick Cantlay believed players should be paid to play the Ryder Cup and that he was not going to wear a team hat to demonstrate his frustration — then Marco Simone fans started to wave their hats at him and chaos followed.
This year, the Americans will get $500,000 — $300,000 of which will go to charities, and the use of the remaining $200,000 will be determined by the player. (Previously, U.S. players had received $200,000, all of which went to charity.) And Bradley answered four questions on the topic on Monday. A few thoughts were repeated. The questions are in italics.
About the U.S. team getting paid for the first time this year, can you just explain to us why you’ve decided to give all of your money to charity? And just to clarify, are all your team going to follow your example? Have you got a unified approach to this?
“Well, the PGA of America came to me, they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into the present day,” Bradley said. “The charity dollars hadn’t changed since 1999 and they asked me to sort of shepherd their way into making it into 2025.
“I think for everyone it’s a personal decision. A lot of guys aren’t comfortable sharing what they’re going to do with their money, but we’re going to donate.
“For us, the PGA of America, this happens after the Ryder Cup, so this is something that we’ll worry about after. But ultimately, the PGA of America asked me to help out with this, and this is the best way we came up with to do it.”
To clarify, why are you giving your stipend as well as the charity donation?
“I think that’s a personal decision,” Bradley said. “I don’t donate to charities to publicize what we’re doing. These guys on our team are incredible people, and they do a lot of incredible things with charity dollars and with their foundations. A lot of them aren’t comfortable sharing that sort of information, and I feel the same way.”
Keegan, just following on from the question there about the payment for your team, what do you say to those who take that as evidence that it means more to Europe?
“Well, I’m not concerned about what Europe does or what they think,” Bradley said. “I’m concerned about what my team is doing.
“I was tasked with a job the PGA of America asked me to do, and this was what we decided. We wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into today’s age, and we felt like this was the best way to do it. We copied a lot of what the Presidents Cup does.
“We did the best we could, and I think a lot of good is going to come from this. I think the players are going to do a lot of good with this money, and I think it’s great.”
Obviously you rightly recognize that the players are able to do a lot of good with it, but I think the optics of it are questionable, given the finances already involved in golf. Do you have any regret about that aspect?
“I don’t really get that,” Bradley said, “but I think the goal here was that the charity dollars hadn’t been raised in 25, 26 years, and that’s what we started out doing.
“Again, we did a lot of what the Presidents Cup did, and these players are going to do the right thing and do a lot of really good with this money. You can say that, but I think that the players are really good people and are going to do a lot of good things.”
The takeaway: Expect this to be asked a few times throughout the week. But there seems to be some speaking points. As for the Presidents Cup example, last year, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported that players and captains were given $250,000 to do with as they pleased; previously, according to the event’s website, they allocated “an equal portion of the funds generated to charities of his choice.”
The playing question
In making his captain’s picks, Bradley did not choose himself, and he was asked if he’s been wondering about if he had.
Yes, Bradley said — and he also said he’d been thinking of something else.
“I’ve also thought about how impossible it would be,” he said. “… I was picked to do this job as captain, and there’s been certain things that I’ve done during the week or lead-up that if I was playing, I don’t think I could have done at the level that I needed to do them at.
“I catch myself every now and then looking down the fairway, seeing the guys walk down the fairway and think how badly I’d like to do that, and how badly I’d want to be in the group with Scottie Scheffler and seeing him play and being his teammate.
“But I feel like I’ve been called for a bigger cause here, to help our guys get ready to play and play at the highest level. But in the back of my mind, I’m always thinking, ‘I could have been out there.’ But ultimately, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed being the captain and how I’ve enjoyed not having to worry about getting to sleep and getting my rest or how I haven’t had to think about what time I’m going to go practice or meet my coach and then meet the guys. It simplified things a lot for me.”
The takeaway: If Bradley and the U.S. win the Cup, he’ll be praised for the decision. If they lose, one of the biggest questions will be why the world’s 13th-ranked golfer wasn’t playing at the Ryder Cup.
‘A powerful moment’
Monday morning, Bradley brought together his team on the 1st tee. The national anthem was played. The group huddled close. Bradley said he’d been thinking of doing something like that for about a year.
But why?
“Well, I think anytime that guys can be together,” he said, “I think it’s really powerful to be on that first tee without the crowds and just be you guys.
“Every second that the guys are together and can have a powerful moment, I think it brings them closer together. That was a really fun time to be out there with those guys and share that moment and hear the national anthem.”
Did anyone’s reaction catch him by surprise?
“Well, I wasn’t really surprised; it was a powerful moment,” Bradley said. “You’re looking around and seeing all the guys staring at what we were doing and so into it in such an emotional way. A lot of people have worked really hard to get to this point in their lives.
“Like Luke said, you never know when your last Ryder Cup is. You never know if you’re going to play one or 10 or whatever. For a lot of guys, whether it was the players, the caddies, the coaches, to be on that first tee in New York City at Bethpage Black at a Ryder Cup is a very powerful moment.
“Sometimes in your life and in your career, you have to take stock in what’s happening around you. I think one of my biggest regrets earlier in my career wasn’t enjoying things more. And for that moment out this morning, guys were really taking that in and enjoying it, and that was a beautiful thing.”
The takeaway: Bradley’s captaincy appears to have no shortage of motivational moves. Don’t be surprised if you see the video of this scene later in the week.
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