The metaphor wrote itself, Keegan Bradley earning the winning point at the Presidents Cup in Montreal to signal the shift toward Bradley’s captaincy at next year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. It’s a shift toward a younger generation in American golf and away from the U.S. “task force” strategy of players working their way up through assistant captaincies and a shared vision for a long-term future in cups.
And as the U.S. celebrated its 18 1/2 to 11 1/2 victory over the Internationals on Sunday, at least a third of the questions in the booze-filled news conference were for Bradley, because he is now the man calling the shots as the U.S. attempts to take back the Ryder Cup in 2025.
Bradley got to see the U.S. team up close, and so did we. So with roughly a year until Bethpage, let’s pull out some takeaways from Montreal and general thoughts on our mind leading into another juicy Ryder Cup year.
The U.S. has its dogs
No matter how much this seems like common sense, it’s unbelievably important and not always a given. Yes, the U.S. can boast four or five of the 10 or so best players in the world, but guess what? Those stars had a losing record in Rome. Xander Schauffele was a weak spot all week. Scottie Scheffler went winless and lost the biggest blowout in cup history. Collin Morikawa went 1-3.
In Montreal, those top players dominated. Schauffele, Cantlay and Morikawa all went 4-1 playing in all five sessions while playing great golf across the board. Cantlay cemented his place as a team golf X-factor with a 15-6-1 career record, and Schauffele was probably the best player on the heels of two major wins this summer. Even Scheffler, having a pretty down week by his standards, won three matches because his elite iron play allowed him to hunt for pins late in the 18 holes.
No, the Presidents Cup competition isn’t the same as going up against Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Ludvig Åberg, but to pretend the U.S. didn’t make a statement is disingenuous. Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Tom Kim and Sungjae Im are all top 25 golfers, and Si Woo Kim was having the week of his life.
The U.S.’s new big four will go into Bethpage as experienced, top-tier players who Bradley knows can face off with the absolute best in the world and close out matches.
Russell Henley the biggest winner
Russell Henley has always been the definition of consistently good but equally underwhelming, with the incredible ability to seemingly always finish no better than 10th but no worse than 30th. And it’s easy to undervalue that, but the data nerds argue how impressive it is. It’s why a 35-year-old golfer whose lone win in the last seven years came at a fall event is ranked the No. 7 golfer in the world by DataGolf.
After last week, people understand what Henley can bring to U.S. teams. He is one of the most accurate drivers off the tee. He’s an incredible ball striker, especially with short irons and wedges. And he’s a positive putter. He’s so balanced and controlled that he can theoretically play with everyone and offers a key contrast to the many long and exciting American players.
That’s why the greatest win for Henley was not his impressive 3-1 record in Montreal (including a 3 and 2 win over Sungjae Im) but was going 2-1 with Scheffler. As Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan wrote last week, Henley proving he’s a perfect counterpart for the best player in the world is invaluable for his future cup chances. Scheffler has not succeeded playing with his good friend Sam Burns or the five-time major champ Brooks Koepka. Maybe he needs Henley, who hits it straight and easy in more ways than one, to balance him out.
Also, Henley showed some killer tendencies in clutch situations, and let’s not forget he’s taken a huge step recently finishing fourth at the 2023 Masters, T7 at Pinehurst and fifth at the Open. Don’t take him lightly.
Sam Burns gets some vindication
He played well at the 2022 Presidents Cup but got dunked on for a 0-3-2 record. Then, he got criticized for only making the 2023 Ryder Cup because he was Scheffler’s buddy, and captain Zach Johnson inexplicably put them out first in foursomes (they lost) when it was widely understood they only made sense in four-ball together.
Burns needed to get people off his back, and the “Scheffler’s buddy” stuff didn’t help.
Burns going 3-0-1 as the only undefeated player in Montreal — and to do it without pairing with Scheffler a single time — is huge. I wouldn’t say Burns was exactly one of the best U.S. players. He actually lost strokes, per DataGolf, and was certainly helped by his successful pairings with Cantlay and Morikawa (who he also won a match in Rome with). Still, on overall ability Burns is a Ryder Cup-caliber player. He exists in a place of good-golfer purgatory, a young-ish top-20 talent with four PGA Tour wins who just hasn’t become the actual force he’s capable of becoming. But it’s also not fair to use what somebody isn’t to ignore what they are. Burns is really good. He now has some match play wins to show it.
The players we can move on from
There are really only two, with one in limbo. Brian Harman was probably the most questionable pick for Montreal. He absolutely deserved to be in Rome and played well there! When he finished second at the Players this March, I was all in on Harman staying around at age 37 as a top player. Unfortunately, he’s had just two top 20s since the Players and one top 10. He’s fallen from No. 18 on DataGolf to No. 35. He then was the worst player in the Presidents Cup field, losing 8.5 strokes total and four in approach. I’d love to see a bounceback year from a cool character in golf, but, for now, he’s off the cup radar.
Then there’s Tony Finau. Credit where it’s due, Finau was in the abyss for most of a year before a really nice summer. He finished T3 at the U.S. Open and had his best year overall since 2021. We also just have enough data to show Finau isn’t exactly a trustworthy player. His form is volatile. He went 1-2 at the Whistling Straits Ryder Cup. And in Montreal, he was the second-worst player out of 24. His two wins came with Schauffele carrying the team, and ending with a 5 and 3 loss to Corey Conners doesn’t help.
The limbo golfer is Wyndham Clark. In two cups, he’s combined some epic moments with infuriating ones. Broadly speaking, he has not been reliable. He’s now 2-3-2 in cups, which is obviously not bad. He’s just a confusing player to break down. He deserves credit for his Pebble Beach signature win in February, but the final round was canceled. He’s gone toe-to-toe with Scheffler in legitimate battles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players. And he ended the season on a great run of top 20s. But Clark also missed the cut at three majors and was T56 in the fourth. Next year will tell us so much about whether Clark is truly a top-tier player or somebody who had an awesome 12-month heater. We should withhold judgment until then.
Sahith Theegala is safe. He’s young. He’s talented. And he got slightly screwed getting benched for a bad foursomes performance, the one format we all assumed he’d struggle in.
It’s going to be a truly tight year
While in recent years the final cup spots have been debatable reaches (Scheffler vs. Kevin Kisner in 2021, Burns and Justin Thomas over Bradley and Cam Young in 2023), there’s a chance 2025 leaves off some really great players.
Let’s say Scheffler, Morikawa, Schauffele and Cantlay are guarantees. Then, let’s assume Bryson DeChambeau is pretty comfortably on the team (or at least should be). And unless Koepka plays terribly in the 2025 majors, I’d assume he’s in. That’s half the team.
Yes, certain players will be automatic qualifiers, but for the sake of debate, who are you sure gets one of these last six spots? Henley has made a really strong case, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Burns is generally always going to be in the mix. But again, let’s say that’s eight.
Theegala is young and volatile. He needs to keep improving and have another good year to make the team. He’s not a sure thing. Clark is on the fence big time. Max Homa has solidified himself as one of those guys who gets cup golf. Still, Homa fell so hard in 2024 he’s ranked No. 95 by DataGolf. If he has another season like this, you cannot pick him no matter his reputation.
Then there’s the glaring Thomas and Jordan Spieth questions. I believe Thomas should have been in Montreal. If he builds on a better 2024 season he’s on the team, but that’s far from a sure thing. And Spieth finally got his wrist surgery. I think everybody involved wants Spieth to bounce back healthy and reclaim his place, but it’s not even up for discussion before that.
Then you add in the players we don’t know are coming. Does Nick Dunlap take a sophomore leap? Some thought Akshay Bhatia deserved a Presidents Cup pick. The 22-year-old making the next step would be no surprise. And you can never leave out Young. And Bradley himself! You also have to allow for someone off-the-radar to win a major and claim a spot on points, as Clark and Harman did in Rome.
(Top photo of Keegan Bradley: Harry How / Getty Images)
