The BIG Ryder Cup Twist NO ONE is Talking About

Keegan Bradley has been selected as the 2025 Ryder Cup Captain…but there’s another big Ryder Cup surprise that has fans talking…

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from Cut to Captain talk about a turn of events Keegan Bradley the same guy who was so infamously snubbed by Zack Johnson at last year’s Ryder Cup will now be the Ryder Cup captain himself but that’s not the only shocking and major twist in fact there’s one that not many people are talking about and that’s the fact that we may see Phil mikkelson as Keegan’s Vice Captain and of course as much as it was a huge surprised to see Keegan get the captaincy we’re going to talk in a second about whether or not we think that was a wise decision the other surprise of course is the fact that Tiger Woods was offered the position first and turned it down and a number of big names have weighed in on Tiger’s decision to turn it down we’ve got a lot of those quotes that we’re going to dive into in just a second but of course we have to talk about whether it was the right decision to have Keegan Bradley take on the captaincy and what will be undoubtedly a pivot little moment for the US team as they try to make up for a disastrous 2023 and remember although Keegan has played on two Rider Cup teams he has never served as a Vice Captain and usually that’s a pivotal stepping stone towards the captaincy and what we’ll talk about in a minute also is that Keegan Bradley is now the second youngest to ever Captain the Ryder Cup team second only to Arnold Palmer so there’s a lot to dig into there but before we we do of course we want to thank this week’s sponsor titlist and guys we all want to believe in the golf ball we’re playing and if you’re looking for a golf ball that gives you low flight low spin an incredibly soft feel the Titus AVX might be the right fit for you and look who does not want more distance the AVX is long from TAA green and it’s got that large highspeed High gradient core but I think what my favorite part about it of course is the soft field I really love playing a soft field golf ball and we all know how important scoring is 100 yard and in and that soft feel really helps with that feel and control around the greens but what I can’t emphasize enough is go out there try it get fit go to titleist.com to find out more about the AVX and to find a place where you can get fit and try it for yourself now Mike we’ve got a lot to talk about here sure do man I mean the the first and foremost thing I mean I want to get into this kind of this this crazy twist where and maybe even not so crazy cuz some people had speculated that Phil Mickelson would make a great Vice Captain but there’s no denying that’s going to shake things up quite a bit Yeah but before all this could happen one thing that had to happen and that was that tiger had to turn it down yes right we know and from seeing everything like the speculation it all came true everyone knew the rumors was that the job was going to be Tigers if he wanted it and that was the big question the if he wanted it and it was and from what we’re hearing it was offered to tiger and there’s no doubt tiger would have made a great Captain sure but he said no yeah I think Tiger’s got a lot going on I think more than what people think I mean honestly I mean I could see tiger being a captain of a Ridder Cup team but I think maybe after he hangs it up right I don’t think he’s going to be a playing I mean this personal believe he’s got Charlie who’s blossoming he’s probably just wants to be think about what’s goes into those two years of prep the travel over to Beth pagee and you know the scouting and the planning the press conferences not only that tgl starting right it’s his new indoor golf league he’s wrapped around that he’s focusing on his game and getting better and competing so it’s like hey do you want to be captain at that point it’s just like dude I can’t right now it’s just too much player Advisory Board I mean a to boot so that was exactly what was echoed by steuart sink who by the way is another person whose name was kind of floated around as a captain he’ be a great choice he could be a great choice as well and that’s why I want to dig into whether Keegan was the best choice you know with guys like Stuart sink Freddy Couples as possibilities for Ryder Cup captains but there’s also some I think a reason why this shakeup was at the right time but exactly as you’re you’re expressing was similarly expressed by steuart sink he was asked whether he was surprised if T why that tiger ultimately declined the invitation to be the captain and when he said it doesn’t surprise me that he’s turned it down because since he stepped into the board position the PGA Tour is pretty busy right now and he’s got a lot away from the course too with his injuries and trying to uh recover and get himself in the kind of condition that he can play he wants to play I’m not surprised that he turned it down it’s probably a pretty big role when you consider adding up you know adding it to it all that stuff so there was an interesting part of that though like Tiger’s still wanting to play yeah I love that I love that that that’s great that means that’s number one for him still competing and that’s what we want to see we want that more than tiger in the captain’s role it’d be great to have Tiger Woods as the Ridder Cup captain for America and like I said we will see it we will see it it’s just a matter of time and and this ultimately the decision you guys jump jump in the comments and let us know what you think is the right path forward for Tiger but I kind of like listed it out and took a took a kind of like what are his fork in the road decisions of where he could go right now and and one is and because I I truly do think that it’s too much on someone’s plate to try to take all this on so that there’s not one answer where you can say I’ll just do it all so tiger one he said he can take on that heavy leadership role which is what we’ve been seeing him assume with PGA Tour which will now be PGA Tour Enterprises and leading that into the future that’s what we’ve seen Tiger Tiger heading up the talks we’ve been talking about here week in and week out uh with the pi you know the Saudi fund all that type of stuff where that’s going to go how that funding is going to come in it’s now pretty much tiger at the table right he’s taking the lead on that you also as you mentioned having tgl uh which is going to be gearing up real fast and starting in just about 6 months and that too is under his tomorrow Sports which he started with with Rory and has a key investment with it with the PGA Tour so that’s in the PGA Tour I mean tiger is deep deep deep in all of that leadership stuff he also has the option to say I can set all that aside and just focus on getting healthy and playing well right look at Rory maroy when he got too involved in leadership stuff he found that he needed to back it off in order to focus on his game but Tiger and Rory are two different points in their career yeah totally you know and and there’s been a lot of speculation especially after this most recent performance at Pinehurst of whether tiger really the most wise time investment for him is trying to continue to play yeah totally and and we all know that tour wants him to play in fact they’re looking at doing like a special exemption if they if they’ve passed it through yet I’m not sure but just where he’s automatically in every signature event yeah because the the ratings The to wants him in the field but could also be not only what’s best for Tiger but he could be thinking what’s best for the tour is it best for me to find a way to get healthy to play in as many events as possible or is it best for me to step back and be a leader right in different ways um and then the other thing the other path that I think he could take is kind of step out of the PGA Tour and more so say my primary focus is going to be on majors and international events in which case he would do what he needs to do throughout the year to get himself in the best playing condition play in the majors and to be whatever that important role is whether that’s Captain Vice Captain playing Captain for both the presidents yep and the uh the Ridder cup so he’s got a lot of PS to pick yeah he sure does I’m curious where I mean the one thing we forgot to talk about is his golf course design that dude’s all over the place doing that he was just in New Jersey recently checking out one of the new spots so I mean that and like we said before Charlie I mean I’m sure he wants to be there for Charlie as he’s like really getting comp and moving pretty quickly in the golf world so I don’t know man it’s it’s let me ask you a question do you would you say the Ryder Cup Captain’s role is a thankless job with an honor like would you label it as that thankless in what’s way like if you win it’s like you didn’t you’re not the the the reason for it maybe you are we put a lot of blame on Zach Johnson they L like when they lose it’s all on them I think the captaincy is an incredibly vital job mhm not only is it from a the the mentoring and the team the creating a cohesiveness of the team rallying the team but also just being wise in saying and you’re up against some big personalities which we’re going to talk about in a minute because I think that Keegan pick might shake some of this up but you’ve got big personalities that you need to pick when they’re going are you going in the morning session are you going to be a double session guy cut out with I think he’s un cut out he knows how it works I think he’s uniquely cut out for it for a reason and I want to talk about why why that is cuz I want to dive into you know the next big thing is like this decision and of itself was giving Keegan the nod the right thing so there’s a couple things that bring doubt in in my mind okay and there’s a couple things that I think reassurance right starting with the doubt the first one being is that there were other choices sure there were other what would have been very smart very viable choices I think the top two choices would have been either steuart sink or Freddy Couples right steuart sink both of those are much more traditional paths to the captaincy right so steuart sink plays in five Ridder cups was Vice Captain last year that’s a lot of experience sure right I think in a lot of ways you know he knows the guys he knows the landscape he could be a wise choice secondarily Fred Couples Vice Captain three times he’s been three times which in a lot of ways would say like it’s his turn right you would think like this is Freddy’s opportunity this is Freddy’s turn before he gets any older sure right and and you get to a certain point I know this comes up every two years but you think if Freddy’s going to get it at that point when like he should have that opportunity as well but keep in mind both of those guys they’re older guys they’re not as involved in the daytoday I was just going to say that like is the tour trying to get younger with things I mean they are competing with Liv having a younger face like Keegan as the boss of the team right strategic move I don’t know it is and it comes with both again there’s good and there’s bad we’re weighing this out and you guys jump in the comments let us know your your thoughts was it the right decision to get Keegan in there but speaking of age Keegan’s 38 years old that makes him the second youngest Captain the only younger Captain was Arnold Palmer who’s 34 years old back in 1963 okay the game was different fact it was a now I’m not taking anything away from AR Palmer’s the right decision all that type of stuff but it was it was different um it’s now like we’ve we’ve got what we’ve set was a kind of a culture and a trend around the Ryder Cup where it is some of the older guys now Zack Johnson’s not that old he still plays competitively but 38 is a swing in the young direction there’s no doubt about it um also the other big one the the elephant in the room the lack of leadership experience of Keegan Bradley he has never been a Vice Captain usually like I said that is the stepping stone to serve under a captain watch the way they do things and then use that experience to then put your own spin on it when you step into the captain role he’s not had that he doesn’t have it I mean he’s got his his the fact that he’s a PJ tour veteran PJ tour wins I think guys respect him they respect him enough to look up to him as a captain and his fire like we all see his fire but and he’s and he’s loved you know what I mean like Zack Johnson became the most hated golfer on the planet after the Ryder Cup yeah I think he wasn’t really well like leading into it anyway personality stuff but like the world got to know who he was through Netflix through the Ridder cup all that stuff I think Keegan’s going to go into this with his Captain’s picks everything that he plans based on what should have happened for him you know what I mean think he’s not going to pick friends he’s going to show you this is how it should have been done but to be 100% clear you think he’ll do it the right way the way it should been done but not cuz this is a subtle little difference not in a way of Revenge not in going to do it the right way okay cuz I think there’s some people who could take that saying like oh he’s he’s mad about how it went he’s going to he’s going to do some Revenge picking I think that’s not true either I think it’s more subtle that he’s going to do it the way it should have been done no doubt it’s the breaking of the boys club correct because and I want to talk about that as a benefit too in a second but the the last little reason that raises a little bit of Doubt on Keegan side is that him being still so in his his competitive point in his career granted towards the tail end but in his competitive point which he proved last year there’s also no ruling out at this point that Keegan couldn’t make the team right true so Keegan could have a good season next season um he could be another guy who puts himself in the running as a captain’s pick he could be another guy who could win who outright get in there so by taking the captain say yes I’m not going to rule out the idea of being a player captain but that’s far more unheard of in the rider cup at least in modern era so it does make me kind of Wonder like I is this him kind of taking his hat out of the ring what a story that would be player Captain probably goes like you know undefeated carries USA and his team what a bounceback story that would be that’d be kind of cool do you know when the last time they had a player Captain I don’t remember I I the last that I can remember tiger 2019 presents cup that said let’s talk about the positives right so those are the doubts and you guys got to see what does the doubts outweigh the positives for you because again the stakes are high we can’t have another year of a of a doubt cast and a mistake around the captain yes I don’t think it’s it almost feels like the safe play would have been to go with sink or with Freddy and just being like we’re just going back to the way we used to do things we’re going to put the Zack and stuff behind us and just move on right but this is a gamble um couple reasons one is that as proven by the Netflix show and we saw the insight into it he is not part of the boy club that’s not to say he’s not well-liked and well respected right he is but he doesn’t it’s it’s very obvious he doesn’t get involved in that click so to speak of the boys club so by having an outsider you’re going to break that cycle of having kind of the the boys club same type of same things what I think that might end up doing is you might end up leading to a very different looking Ridder Cup team keep in mind two longtime arguably Boys Club Staples of the Ridder cup have been Justin Thomas and Jordan spe in recent years sure both were captains picks y now I again I will put this on record I do not think that if either one of those guys has a great season and they’re like the you know the man right on the edge you know yeah I don’t think that he would out of spite not put JT on that team I think he would do it based on just the win right so that’s what I’m saying like this is where I think you might have a year where if those two guys are not having particularly good Seasons this might be the first time in a long time you don’t see them on the rder Cup team yeah they shouldn’t have saw Justin Thomas on last year’s just my opinion JT overall performance wasn’t terrible right it’s just that there were other guys who were in better form trending better form right where I disagreed with and we’ll continue to disagree with Zack Johnson’s decision is I didn’t like his justification is like I don’t remember his exact quote but it’s like how can you how can you not have Justin Thomas at the Ryder cop yeah again just because that’s the way things were have been doesn’t mean they need to be going forward um the other thing is that I think makes a huge positive for Keegan Bradley is that it’s well documented we’ve seen it we saw it in the Netflix thing we’ve seen it in countless you know uh interviews articles headlines he lives and breeds Ryder Cup yeah when when it comes to if you’re saying someone who putting their passion into something I don’t know if there’s a better pick than Keegan Bradley here’s a guy who never unpacked from the last Ridder cup remember that whole story uh here’s a guy who he said said on record not a day goes by that he’s not thinking about the rider cup that’s cool that’s what you need as a captain right you know so I think that that is a huge plus I think that he’s going to spend every minute over the next year plus in preparation of of this and it’s a semi home game prep too it’s East Coast he’s a Boston guy or probably a Florida guy but still like it’s not a European location right you know so I see Keegan doing the damage I see Brooks is going to be on that team no matter what even you think no matter what for I think no matter what what that guy did in 2019 at Beth Page sure but he he set the course record but but that was a long time ago you’re right that goes against what we just said but the other guys but uh yeah but what I do think is that now what’s on the table which wasn’t prior is guys like Bryson Des Shambo if they’re if he continues his hot streak and playing the way he’s playing I don’t think he gets overlooked just because he’s not a crewing the points he would have to be a captain’s pick he’s a no-brainer that that already shows you a dramatic change like if you were to see if and this is assuming if there’s a lot that can happen the next year if Jordan spe and Justin Thomas don’t have particularly good seasons and they have to to rely on a captain’s pick and if um guy like Bron Des Shambo is having a great season at live and maybe in the uh in the majors and has to rely on a captain’s pick you know if he has a great Enough season the majors he might get in like Brooks but you know what I’m saying I think with Keegan in there in that role you never know yeah you never know you could he’s the all bets are off the boys club is broken and anything can happen anything can happen right speaking of anything that happened we got to get into this major twist because it does involve tiger it also involves Phil Mickelson in the vice captaincy and there’s a very clear path for Phil how’s that going to shake up to be the captain and and the Vice Captain I’m sorry Phil to be the Vice Captain and if he is the question is would tiger be involved and what would be his involvement because of what’s going on right now with the negotiations not being in the best place right now still with Liv and stuff like that so we’re going to dive in that in a second let’s do a quick word from our sponsors so FootJoy is the number one shoeing golf because they offer the widest selection of sizes Styles and performance options of any golf shoe out there whether it’s the spikeless performance of the 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in any capacity you know it’s back here in the states doesn’t require traveling you know to Europe uh it’s a place that Tigers had a lot of success Beth paage black um it would almost seem silly to not have him in some capacity it just whether that’s going to be a formal capacity or not and uh I was listening to to Smiley Kaufman’s take on this the other day and it was it actually you know brought an interesting point and this is where Phil Works in so what Kaufman said he said the vice captains is going to be is interesting because I think Phil Mickelson’s a really close friend to Keegan but I have to imagine that since tiger turned it down it’s hard not to see tiger being a vice captain and I just don’t see a world in which tiger and Phil will be Vice captains together so with that being said I don’t know who else they they could have picked so okay think about this for a second so I’ve I’ve heard and I don’t know how close their relationship remains but I’ve heard plenty of of times Keegan talking about it that he was he’s a close friend of Phils at least he was I don’t know that I haven’t had an update in the very recent years if you guys know more about it let us know in the comments but uh there speculation that they play a lot of golf together um in in so many words uh Keegan referred to Phil as kind of almost a mentor to him um so now you think about this combo like what if it is Phil as a Vice Captain under Keegan now it’s like boys club Broken like shatter there’s no boys club anymore right and but but does is that too controversal does That Swing the pendulum the other way it makes me wonder for as much as we are hailing uh the ability of Keegan Bradley to be seemingly unbiased right does Phil make it biased in the other direction would you see Phil who understandably that’s been his role of pushing the agenda of live could you see Phil coming in and in the ear of it’s ultimately the good news it’s going to be up to up to ke but he’s in his ear now staying about guys and how they’re playing on Liv you know you see what I’m saying how does that change the dynamic yeah I don’t know I don’t know I mean I think you’re right in that if if Phil is Vice Captain I don’t think tiger would be it would be an incredible Rider if you had Phil and tiger as Vice captains and then you had Michael Jordan as like a locker room inspiration well that was the other big note I have here cuz like think about it MJ yeah is one of you know Keegan’s Idols fan yeah uh he he’s been around the rer cup so much um ke been wearing the MJ shoes right and and I I could definitely 100% see and that’s where too just goes he has such a silent influence Michael Jordan you know just having the competitive nature of Michael having him in that locker room just having him on the sideline watching sometimes you know with that look where he’s just watching make sure you perform something about when the greatest of all time at something is in your presence can you imagine a Ryder Cup I mean I’m getting chills just think about it New York you know it’s it’s this huge Sports Arena Beth Page black you got a young captain in Keegan Bradley whoever his vice is it’s going to be an interesting Dynamic whether that’s tiger whether that’s Phil or somebody else and imagine you have Michael Jordan come in and give the locker room speech to get them riled up on day one jeez come on what do you want that’d be incredible right um but there’s so so much that can play out as tiger continues to have his role in PGA Tour Enterprises and as they continue to indicate although not we’re really not seeing it you know the the the actions and the words matching too much yet but if a deal gets done with the PF if if a merger happens whatever it may be maybe things change dynamically with Phil and and and uh tiger as part of those negotiations and maybe this becomes the bridge the coming together it might be you know where now that maybe the leagues are are working together and now you’ve got Keegan Bradley and your Vice captains are tiger and Phil I I mean as much as I get with the point that Smiley’s making I don’t want to rule it out either if we’re at that stage in the game if everyone’s friendly and now it’s just we work together to put the best team forward they got a couple of PG tour guys a couple of live guys who knows could be like the biggest New York area sports event in history you know what I mean no doubt like a possible healing moment for the game of golf and a total healing moment for golf it very well could be or it could be the opposite it could continue to is it their opportunity now to bring it together it’s so golden right but a lot still has to happen a lot still has to happen and that’s where tiger and that leadership role and it’s been keeping him so busy so you know who will it be we’re going to continue to watch that closely who’s going to be that Vice Captain’s pick if you’ve got some of your own ideas remember continue the conversation in the comments um and it just it could be a very interesting Dynamic but at this point um I think it was a bold decision to put Keegan as the the the captain and I’ll be honest up going record right now would answer the question that we keep posing I think it was a wise decision yeah I you agree y yeah because I think I think at the end of the day that having a guy who lives and dies lives and breathes you know he cut him and he bleeds you know Ridder cup red whatever you want to call it yeah he a guy who’s that invested a guy who is going to be a shake up and possibly outside of that normal Boys Club but that being said I would still like to see one day Freddy to get that nod if he wants it maybe behind the scenes he doesn’t it’s a lot of work but uh I think it was a wise and I from a fan of Team USA I think it’s positive going forward it makes me look forward to it even more yeah I think there’s no other guy out there more hungry to win a rider Cup right now so they made the smart move true the hunger the hunger matters so that’s everything we have for you guys subscribe wherever you get your podcast we’ll see you in the next one