JULIUS MASON: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you very much for joining us today for the 2025 United States Ryder Cup captain announcement. The 45th edition of one of the world's most unique and special competitions will take place at Bethpage State Park in approximately 13 months. And today we are pleased to officially welcome the person who will lead the 2025 United States Ryder Cup team. And for that I would like to say good morning to the director of golf at the Country Club of Lansing in Michigan, the president of the PGA of America, Mr. John Lindert.
(Applause.)
JOHN LINDERT: Thank you, Julius, and good morning to everybody. It's great being here in New York. Since 1927 we've hosted this event at some very historic sites, Rome, Paris, Chicago, Boston. In 2025 we're coming here to New York City and Bethpage Black, and it is trending to be one of the most spectacular events in the history of the PGA of America, and I am really looking forward to being here next September.
JULIUS MASON: John, thank you very much. Speaking of Bethpage Black it's time to say hello to our 2025 United States Ryder Cup captain.
JOHN LINDERT: It is.
So, for over a hundred years the role of the Ryder Cup captain is one of the most prestigious titles in our sport. I'm here to announce our Ryder Cup captain on behalf of the over 30,000 PGA professionals across the country.
Let me go through a little bit of his history. So, he has had eight career worldwide victories, including the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. He played on the 2012 and 2014 Ryder Cup teams, has a 4 & 3 record. He's currently ranked 19 in the world. He is the son of PGA of America professional Mark Bradley, who is the teaching professional at Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club in Wyoming. He's also a standout star from St. John's University, and he was coached by Frank Darby, who is also a PGA of America member.
So now it's my honor and my pleasure to announce the 2025 PGA Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley.
(Applause.)
JULIUS MASON: Congratulations, Keegan, on being named the 31st United States Ryder Cup captain. You've been sitting on this news for a couple of weeks now, can you share with us today right now your emotions officially of getting this information?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, I'm incredibly humbled and honored to be the Ryder Cup captain for Team USA. Being on a Ryder Cup team changes your life forever. Being in the room with those guys and feeling the extreme pressure of this tournament will change you. The dream of being a Ryder Cup captain is something that a lot of us don't even think about because it's so, such a prestigious honor, and I never knew if I would get this opportunity. I always felt like this is something that I would love to do and be able to handle, and I'm so honored to be able to be the leader of this team and going to Bethpage to win the Ryder Cup back for America.
JULIUS MASON: So, Keegan, take us a little inside here. Tell us where you were when you got the call and who you got the call from.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So, I had just finished three weeks on the road. I drove home from Hartford with a three and a six year old, three-hour drive. So we were back home, we finally got them down to bed, and I sat in my chair and I finally had some time to relax. I had three weeks off.
And the phone rang and it was Seth Waugh. I answered it and he had some pretty incredible news that I had no clue was coming. Zach Johnson is the one who told me that I was going to be the Ryder Cup captain in 2025. I think it just speaks to what kind of man and person Zach Johnson is. I have just such respect for him. He was one of my idols that I looked up to when I first came out on the TOUR, and I feel terrible for what he's had to go through, and I'm so honored that he was the one who called me. I'm going to represent this decision to the best of my abilities and I'm really excited.
JULIUS MASON: Let's go back to 2012 at Medinah Country Club just outside of Chicago for your very, very first Ryder Cup. You partnered with Phil Mickelson and you won your first three matches out of the blocks. Tell us what you remember about that journey.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: To be honest with you, what I remember most is the fun that we had on the course and just the getting on the first tee and sort of just being giddy to go play. Knowing we were going to win. I remember the camaraderie of the team. I remember going to our first Ryder Cup dinner, the TOUR Championship, and having just the 12 guys, and looking around the table and seeing Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson and being in complete awe that I was in this room, and that, two, three years earlier I was playing the mini-tours and now all of a sudden I'm representing the United States in the Ryder Cup.
I remember thinking to myself, you can never miss any more of these ever again. This is -- you hear so much about the Ryder Cup and then when you experience it, it's so much more. I just loved every second of it. I loved being in the team room, I loved riding to the course with the guys, I loved winning our matches and going out and cheering. I loved every second of it.
JULIUS MASON: Very good. So, through the lens of Netflix, the world sort of saw your disappointment when you weren't selected as captain's pick for the 2023 United States Ryder Cup team, yet moments later you and your family are sitting in the comfort of your living room cheering on Team USA. Help us understand that moment and who you are as an individual and the makeup of who you are.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So, that moment was real. I was crushed. It took us awhile to get over that. Our whole family. We were devastated. But I'm American, I root for the Americans to win the Ryder Cup. I watch, whether I'm playing or whether I'm not. I know all the guys on the team and I bleed red, white and blue. I was thrilled to be able to watch these guys and I was pulling for 'em and I, it was a weird feeling knowing that I could have been there and maybe helped the team, but I know what a tough decision Zach had. Picking the guys that he picked were great choices. I would have done the same. I have nothing but respect for all those guys and what they do on the course and off the course.
Now, sitting here as the captain, I kind of have a different perspective of what he was going through. Because I've only been the captain for two weeks and I'm finding myself staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m. thinking about every single situation. So, I have a different perspective now, and I have nothing but admiration and respect for Zach Johnson.
JULIUS MASON: John mentioned that your dad, Mark, is here, and you actually fell in love with the Ryder Cup at age 13 when dad took you over to the Country Club in Brookline, right? Talk about that a little bit.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, so that moment changed my life forever. We went on Friday and Sunday and I couldn't believe that I was at a golf tournament that felt like this. It felt like going to a Patriots game or a sporting event that was loud and raucous. So, fast forward to Sunday, I was on my dad's shoulders on the 18th green and I could see through to the Justin Leonard putt. I couldn't exactly see it, but I saw him putt, I heard this big roar, and I saw all the red shirts run after him. And everyone in the crowd was trying to figure out what happened.
And then again fast forward to the U.S. winning the Ryder Cup, the fans all ran out on the 18th green. I was 13 years old, I wanted to run out on the green. So I said to my dad, how do I -- we didn't have -- no cell phones then. And I said, I really want to run out there. And he goes, All right, I'm going to stand by this crooked tree here, and you run out there and I'll meet you right here. And I think now for my son I would say, You're not running out there (laughing). And I remember running out, I remember seeing David Duval, I remember seeing my heroes, and, you know, I'm looking at these guys like, you know, they're giants, they're super heroes. It was a moment that literally changed my life forever. I cherished being there. The energy of the tournament and the passion of watching the guys play and seeing Michael Jordan walk the fairways there, just was a moment in my golfing life that altered everything.
JULIUS MASON: You played golf at St. John's University. There's a rumor that you would skip classes to go over with your teammates to Bethpage to play. True or false.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, my mom's here, you shouldn't be telling her that (laughing).
Yeah, we were lucky enough to -- by the way, my entire St. John's golf team is here, which means a lot to me. We would get to play Bethpage Black on Mondays when it was closed. I promised Coach Darby and Craig Currier, who was the superintendent, I would stop telling this story, but why not tell it one more time for the cameras.
So we would play the inside loop. So we would park at the maintenance area and we would play 3 through 14. And we were told explicitly to never cross the road. And so my senior year I was playing with George, who is here, George Zolotas, and we were just like, We're going over, screw it. So we, you know, imagine you're in college and you're looking at 15 through 18 at Bethpage Black and you can't play it. It was brutal. So we did it. And we got in so much trouble. They called the police. Coach Darby wasn't happy, but we did it and it was a great memory of the place.
JULIUS MASON: Very nice. Finally, before we go to Q&A, I would like to call your attention to something that you posted a very long time ago. It reads, This is my suitcase from the 2012 Ryder Cup that I haven't opened since that Sunday. I promised myself I wouldn't open it until I won a Ryder Cup. That week changed my perspective on golf forever. The Ryder Cup suddenly became very important to me.
What moved you to do that, make that post, and where did the whole idea come from?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, we -- the 2012 Ryder Cup is such a strange feeling for me. Because for every day but the last day it was my fondest memories on a golf course. Sunday was the worst day on the golf course and one of the worse days of my life. I got home and I kept staring at the suitcase and I couldn't open it, because it was so, it was just, I was so sad and, you know, the stuff inside the suitcase was just going to make it worse.
So I put it off, I put it off, and then I kept looking at it and it was just, the memories inside there were so extreme on both sides that I decided, I'm going to wait, I'm not going to open this up until I've won a Ryder Cup. And fast forward a decade, it's still in my house and hopefully some day I'll get to open it.
JULIUS MASON: That was 13 years ago. Do you have any idea what's inside that bag?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I have some idea. There's a lot of cool stuff in there. I hope to open it some day. The Ryder Cup is so important to the game of golf, but also to us players, especially if you played in it and you realize the importance of what goes on that week. It changes your perspective on what's important in the game and it changes the way you are as a player, because you need, you need to be in those rooms after you play in one. And losing Ryder Cups is really, really tough. I had this thought in my head that I was going to play in Ryder Cups my whole career, and, you know, so, you know, my message to the guys is always, make sure you treat this like it could be your last one, treat this match, treat this point as if this is your last point, because it's that important. You never know when your next shot is going to be to be in this room, try to win this trophy, and the magnitude of it is heavy.
JULIUS MASON: Very good. Thank you, Keegan. Ladies and gentlemen, we will open the floor and our Zoom calls for questions right now.
Q. There's no question about your passion about this event, what it means to you, you've spoken a lot about that in the past, we heard some remarks along those lines just now. I think anybody who might be skeptical of this decision is going to point to your lack of experience, having played in only two Ryder Cups, no captaincies. What would you say to somebody who is sort of raising their eyebrows and wondering whether you're best suited for this job?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I'm going to say I'm going to take a fresh look at vice captains, they're going to be a lot younger, closer to playing. I think that I'm going to be out there with the guys. I'm going to be playing in the same tournaments they're going to be playing in. I'm going to be playing in majors with them. I'm going to be playing week-to-week, I'll be alongside these guys in the locker room, practice rounds, dinner. As opposed to in the past with Ryder Cup they got to fly in, they got to schedule all these things and I'm going to have a year of being with the guys as a peer. And one thing that is important to me is I want to play on the team. I feel as though I'm still in the prime of my career and can make this team. So, you know, it's a great honor that my peers chose me to do this, and, you know, I don't have the experience that a lot of the other captains had, but I know these guys really well, I'm connected to these guys and I see 'em week-to-week.
Q. Just to follow on, we're awhile away from you having to make decisions on captain's picks, obviously a lot's going to happen between now and then including your own form, your own game. But if it gets to a point where you're on the fence as you were last year, maybe you could take us through how you're going to work through that decision process, and also whether what happened last year, is that going to color or inform your opinion at all about whether you'll give yourself a shot next year?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: No, I will either make the team on points -- I don't see myself picking -- I'm not going to pick myself. The only way that would happen is if the team was insisting on it, but even if they did, I don't see that happening. I want to make the team on points, otherwise I'm going to be the captain.
Q. Tiger Woods was the heavy favorite to receive this captaincy. Knowing that, what was your reaction to that call from Zach and have you spoken to Tiger?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I was -- I don't think I'll ever be more surprised of anything in my entire life. I was, I had no idea. It took awhile for it to sink in. I wasn't fully comfortable with some of the people that were passed over. I have a lot of respect for the people that came before me and people that deserve to be in this position, so that was a heavy thought and moment.
I've spoken to Tiger a bunch. I spoke to him this morning on the phone. He's been very helpful. Tiger has always been really helpful to me. He's a great voice to hear and he's been nothing but -- he's been reaching out to me helping me, which has been amazing.
Q. You mentioned some of the people who were passed over. Do you think your selection as Ryder Cup captain marks kind of a shift in the United States' Ryder Cup leadership strategy?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I mean, I do. I don't think that this is something that where the U.S. team needs to like totally re-invent the wheel here. I think that sometimes you go to tournaments and you don't play well. I think that the guys would say that's what happened in Rome. I want to -- all I'm looking to do is put these guys in the best position to play their best. I think one of the things that is interesting would be to have some of the vice captains that are still close to the PGA TOUR and play and know the guys, I think that would be super helpful. Again, the captain doesn't play, so I got to do my best to put these guys in the best spot that they can to play their best.
JULIUS MASON: Speaking of Tiger, we have a statement from Tiger that we're very happy to share with you right now. He says, With my new responsibilities to the TOUR and time commitments involved I felt I would not be able to commit the time to Team USA and the players required as a captain. That does not mean I wouldn't want to captain a team in the future. If/when I feel it is the right time, I will put my hat in the ring for this committee to decide.
Seeing no other question -- oh, one other question over here.
Q. Given your experience with the Ryder Cup and the way that you followed it, outside of talent and skill, what do you think are some of the intangible qualities that make for a great Ryder Cup team member?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So, I think the biggest thing is that week all coming together as a team. It's very difficult -- us golfers are individuals and we celebrate wins by ourselves, losses by ourselves, and that week is about coming together as a team, doing what's best for the team. Whether that's will partnering up with somebody a veteran to a younger guy, that's what happened to me with Phil, and that helped me with not only the Ryder Cup but the rest of my career. I think that the guys need to be willing to put the team first, and sometimes that's difficult. I think that this group of guys does a great job of that. One of the things that I love about this group, and I'm not ashamed to say that as an older player that's been out there longer, I look up to these guys, they genuinely love each other and they're friends. When I came out on TOUR I had a much different outlook. I was, I looked at everybody as the enemy and I made everybody out to be against me and I really regret that. I love this generation of how they have gone about their careers and their friendships and it makes the life on TOUR a lot better. That's what I admire most about this group and I think that's what would make them great teammates.
Q. Also, related to your familiarity with the course, do you think that Bethpage Black lends itself to selecting people who have a certain group of strengths in their game?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I do. I do. I think that Bethpage also the fans are going to be our 13th team member, and I think that I've always been, I've always been under the impression that Bethpage is New York's home course. Winged Foot and Shinnecock are amazing courses, but you talk to a real New Yorker, they brag about Bethpage. And I've always, in my mind, I've always thought of Bethpage as New York's home course, which is now America's home course, and I want the fans to treat it that way. They need to defend this course in the right, appropriate way, but this is where the fans and the New Yorkers need to come out and support this team. And the guys on the team that are out there, like what you were talking about, they're going to embrace that and they're going to, these New York fans are going to be pulling for us hard and I love that.
JULIUS MASON: We're going to take a step away from NASDAQ real quick and take some Zoom calls.
Q. Couple things. One, obviously what happened on Netflix has to influence anybody that was watching it and had some thoughts about you and how you will be as a captain. In Rome, Netflix wasn't part of the process in regards to the team room. My question would be for you in this case, would you want Netflix in the team room?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So, I had an unbelievable experience with Netflix. They were great to me. It was a big decision to put my family on TV. That's not a decision that's for everybody. And I've only been captain for two weeks, I have not broached this subject, I have not even thought about it, I don't know who is going to be on the team, but it's definitely a decision that's going to be based on what's best for the team. It's not something that is for everybody, it's a nerve wracking process to go through being filmed all the time and that's something that I'll have to cross later on.
Q. The other thing is, is the selection process is usually something that's put together with your self and I'm assuming individuals at the PGA of America, points, how many points there are, where they get points, so forth and so on. How much are you going to take a look at the system that's in place currently and look at potentially changing that, if at all?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think the point system is good. I think maybe looking to take adding a few more automatic spots, we've just started to look into that. I think the majors being most important, most points, I think that they have got this pretty figured out by now. We just want the tournaments with the best fields and the biggest events to have more weight. Because when you get in the, under the gun in this tournament it's pretty intense, so you need guys that are going to be ready for that.
Q. You said that it was a very emotional decision and process for you to be on Netflix last year and with the way everything went down. Do you feel in a way like maybe that helped you get this job?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I really, you know, in my heart I would think that it didn't because, you know, this is such a huge decision and I don't think it would be ever based on how someone was portrayed on TV. I think that the Ryder Cup committee has a very serious job, especially with the event being at Bethpage in New York, in America, to make a decision that's best for the team. I couldn't imagine that they would decide based on how Netflix portrayed me in filming. With the Ryder Cup's decision, I was very grateful and I would be very surprised if any of that went into that decision.
Q. A quick follow-up here. We were all so surprised when we first heard your name for this. What was the first conversation you had with someone about even the possibility and what was your reaction when they reached out?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I didn't have one conversation with anybody about this until I was told I was the captain. I got a call from Seth and John and Zach and I had trouble talking -- when they called me I felt funny after the call because I don't think I reacted in the way that they were expecting me to. I was in complete shock. It was heavy. Like I said earlier, I was a little bit uncomfortable with some of the guys, you know, my idols, that were looked over for this position and I needed a second to figure that out. Again, I don't think I'll ever have a bigger surprise in my life, but something Seth said to me was, You know, your number was called, it's time for you to step up. When he told me that I sort of, it sort of hit me, you know, that this is a heavy job and this is a group of people that trusted me in this and it's time to step up to the plate and be the captain of this team.
Q. Are you planning on assembling the leading candidates for the team for a few practice sessions to see who plays together best?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, I think I would love to bring the boys up for a practice round at Bethpage, not so much to get to learn the course, more of I just think when from my personal experiences of the Ryder Cup it was really great when the 12 guys were together for the first time. There's so many meetings leading up to it where there's 20 or even 30 or, you know, 15, 18 guys and you know that this isn't how the team's going to look. And when the team's finalized and you do things as a team, there's a different feel. I would really love to do that with the team. I think that that's, I think that that could be an important trip.
Q. You referred to Tiger a minute ago. Have you discussed with him or do you plan to discuss with him potentially about being a vice captain, obviously that wouldn't take as much time off his plate as being the captain would have. Just as a follow, beyond Tiger, are you thinking about, potentially, some out-of-the-box assistant captains that maybe might not even be directly involved on the PGA TOUR?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Definitely involved in the PGA TOUR. What's personally important to me is I would like to have the vice captains set up the future of the Ryder Cup to captain the USA. I think that's important.
As it comes to Tiger, I have told him he can be as involved as he wants to be. I haven't, we haven't talked about vice captains, I haven't talked to vice captains with really anybody. So we, as players, we all look up to Tiger and his opinion means a lot to us. Being in team rooms with Tiger, the public doesn't realize how important this is to him. It's everything. He lives and breathes this event. I think it shows you how much he cares by not, by turning this position down, because he didn't feel like he could put in what he needed to do with all of his responsibilities with what's going on with the TOUR. I've been grateful -- before I accepted this job I needed to talk to Tiger and I wanted to make sure I -- I wanted to hear from him. We had a great conversation. I certainly need his input.
Q. You're such a fan of the Ryder Cup obviously, is there a captain in recent history who you admire and who you are going to look to possibly strategize next fall?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, I think the sort of obvious choices are, I thought Paul Azinger get better really did a great job. Steve Stricker recently with this kind of group of guys. He did a great job. I think they would be two really different styles, but, you know, one of the coolest things that's happened to me over the past 24 hours is I've gotten over 300 text messages and my favorites have been from the old captains that have texted me guys like Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite and Curtis Strange. I haven't gotten back to them because I don't want to respond with just a thank you. Ben Crenshaw was captain at Brookline and to think that they're texting me about being captain is pretty incredible. So these guys are all important and I plan to call every U.S. captain and kind of pick their brain on what they thought they did right and what they thought they did wrong, whether they won or lost. So, I was in rooms with Davis Love, he was amazing. I think they all have a lot of insight that even the ones that won I think would have some insight on what they would have done differently.
Q. Just wondering, how have you thought about how you're going to manage all the off-course responsibilities that come with being the captain over the next 15 months, balanced with your full-time PGA TOUR schedule.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, it's going to be a lot. Like I said, I still feel like I'm in my prime, I still want to make this team. But I have John Wood who is the manager of Team USA, which has never been a position for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and he's been in a lot of team rooms, he knows all the guys aren't already has been an amazing help. I'm going to lean on my vice captains, and also some of the older players that -- I think Davis Love and Fred Couples and all these guys that have been in so many team rooms -- I hope that they will be willing to help me and I have a lot of people that are around to help me. Part of me thinks this is going to be a great distraction from playing on the TOUR and getting away from worrying about my personal what's going on on week-to-week tournaments. I look forward to getting to know the younger guys more that just have come out on TOUR. There's a great group of young players that I don't know that well that I'm looking forward to learning more about. Also talking to, you know, the studs of the American team, Xander and Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler, Jordan and JT and all these guys, and their enthusiasm for this tournament is very, very high and I look forward to leading those guys.
Q. When did you get the phone call, how many days ago was it, and for John, do you mind just taking us through what the committee's thought was on naming Keegan and somebody who you had not interviewed, it sounds like.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I got the call two weeks, two Sundays ago. Right at about 7 or 8 o'clock at night. So I didn't, we didn't tell anybody for a long time. I haven't told really anybody until the last couple days.
JOHN LINDERT: Yeah, and the process, we had a couple phone calls and talked about a variety of different attributes that we would want in our next captain. As you start to check off the boxes, and you have a PGA Champion, you have somebody who went to school here, is familiar with the New York base, the fan base, is very familiar with Bethpage Black, is the son of a PGA member. There are a lot of boxes that Keegan checked off and his enthusiasm for the Ryder Cup stood out above everything else and we just felt that that was the ah-ha moment. When Keegan's name was mentioned it was all hands went up and we were a hundred percent behind it.
Q. Wondering what you've learned about captain's picks, how that will shape your decisions on your picks, and wondering, you said that your captains you kind of want close to the TOUR, wondering if that rules out Phil Mickelson, somebody that you played well with or if maybe he'll be in the picture of advice and such as you go through this.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, as it comes to captain's picks, you need to first find out who is going to be on the team, obviously. Then, a lot of the captain's picks I think are important if they can be a dynamic player to partner with multiple guys, of players that fit the course layout of Bethpage Black, players that can handle the pressure that they're going to be under, the extreme crowds, and we're going to look into analytics and how they stack up in this.
As it comes to Phil, I still have a great relationship with Phil, I don't think he's interested in being a vice captain and, to be honest with you, he's a, he's a captain some day, I think. But I haven't spoken to Phil, I don't want to speak for him at all, but I think he's pretty busy with what he's doing and I have nothing but great things to say about Phil and our memories together and what we did at the Ryder Cup is really my fondest memories in the game.
Q. John, wondering if the PGA's looking at maybe a break from captains being vice captains first or kind of the process of believing that Keegan is able to do this without first being a vice captain?
JOHN LINDERT: I don't think that, we didn't really discuss that kind of procedure and whether we wanted to move away from a captain having a vice captain's position prior. We were really trying to find the best person to lead Team USA to a victory and it very simply came down to one person and that was Keegan. Keegan, as I said, checked a lot of boxes, and his passion for the game, his passion for the Ryder Cup is evident and just him being from around this area and how the people around here, all the text messages that we received about Keegan has been absolutely outstanding, and the amount of support that he's received from the community and from New York City is fabulous. I think that all went into the decision and we picked the best person that we knew to pick and put everything else aside.
Q. How do you plan to handle the LIV players? Will you be going to events to check those out?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I'm going to have the 12 best players on the team. I don't care what, where they play. So we're, we have a mission to win this tournament. I'm not worried about the LIV stuff. I want the best players on the team. By the time we get to Bethpage in 2025 we have no clue how the layout of the golf world's going to be. As it comes to going to LIV events, if there's guys that are on the fringe, I'm willing to do that. Again, I've only been the captain for two weeks and we haven't really even gotten the real points started, which start next year. So I'll have to wait and see how everything shakes out and my biggest concern is having the best players on the team.
Q. Are you going to wear a Yankees or Giants hat at all?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: (Laughing). The one -- the interesting thing about me is I did grow up in New England and I love Boston sports, but I also love New York. Everything about New York is special to me. Coming to school here was a big undertaking from a kid that grew up in Vermont. And, you know, living in Queens and being a New Yorker, really, for four years was some of the best times of my life. I go around this city, and I was telling my wife, I just love it here, I love the energy, there's something in the streets of New York. So I have very, very fond feelings of New York, not so much the sports teams, but I have nothing but love for New York and I always have. Some of my best memories have happened here and, to be honest with you, when I played at Bethpage it's the most support I've gotten, I get in the entire world, so it's pretty cool.
Q. You weren't chosen for Rome, can you, how do you envision telling someone who is on the bubble like yourself that they're not going to be going to Bethpage?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think that I will just be totally up front with them and just say I'm going in another direction. And, you know, I've been on the end of three of these calls where I figured I was about the last guy out. So I've been on the other end of -- I got picked at Gleneagles and that was special -- but I've also been on the end of these multiple times, so the way I like it is just the facts, and I won't, it won't be any fluff in it. I think as a player I always respected just, like, we're going another direction. I think it's going to be difficult, something that I never thought, you know, you never think that you're going to have to make those calls, but inevitably that's coming. So again, that's another thing I'll have to ask other captains about as well.
Q. One other question, on the Bethpage setup, the captains always play an instrumental role, Europeans have always favored basically high rough, slower greens, maybe not as long. Bethpage has been setup for U.S. Open, PGA Championships, how do you envision, even though it's early on, the setup for Bethpage in terms of how you want to see it play out for something like a Ryder Cup match?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, so we're going up to Bethpage tomorrow to check out the course. I haven't put much thought into how we're going to go about that. I think that at the end of the day we're still playing golf and no matter what the setup is, there's going to be teams playing against each other. I'm not too concerned about how the course is set up. I think that we got 24 world-class players and you could go play, you know, a perfectly manicured course and something that's not and you're still playing the Ryder Cup. So, I'm not completely concerned about that, but something that we'll look into.
Q. John, could you take us specifically through the time line from when Tiger told you he was not going to take the job and you had presumably just a matter of a couple weeks, like what was that decision-making process like from the moment that you knew it wasn't going to be Tiger to figuring out, to sort of getting where we are today?
JOHN LINDERT: Well, we didn't have a timeline on it, per se. We knew we wanted to announce a Ryder Cup captain before the one-year-to-go event and we just wanted to get together -- with the Ryder Cup committee you have to balance the schedules of the players and of the PGA of America representatives to try to get on a call together to try to discuss it. So the first opportunity that we had to organize a call we did. We had a nice conversation about potential captains. Without any really timeline set we came to a pretty quick decision. This came about very rapidly to get this done in two weeks.
Q. Did Keegan's name surface in that first conversation and if so, who was sort of lobbying hardest for him?
JOHN LINDERT: There was no lobbying. When Keegan's name was mentioned it was a slam dunk.
Q. Do you recall who mentioned Keegan's name first?
JOHN LINDERT: I don't recall. We had a list and we were kind of bouncing through the list and we were all looking through the list and Keegan's name kind of jumped out, and as soon as it was mentioned Keegan Bradley, it was, yeah, absolutely, a hundred percent.
Q. And this would have been like three or four weeks ago, something like that?
JOHN LINDERT: It was about two and a half weeks ago. We didn't sit on it very long after we made the decision. We decided that we needed to let Keegan know and so we got on a call with Keegan that Sunday. The conversation I believe was on a Wednesday.
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