NAPA, Calif. — With 10 of the 12 U.S. Ryder Cup team members playing in the Procore Championship this week, captain Keegan Bradley on Wednesday called this group of players “the closest team I’ve been a part of.”
“It’s really fun to be together as a team outside the Ryder Cup because the Ryder Cup is so intense and nerve-wracking,” Bradley said “So it’s fun to see the guys interact. It’s a little lighter scene here.”
The choice to have a training camp of sorts this week was something Bradley decided early in his tenure as captain. Only two players, Justin Thomas and Max Homa, played the Procore ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup that the United States lost and this time, several players, including world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler, circled the event on their calendars.
The Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black is just two weeks away, Sept. 23-28.
“I think the players knew it was important. This Ryder Cup means everything to them,” Bradley said. “This group of players, they’re truly friends and they’re friends off the golf course, which in my teams that I played before this, I don’t know if we exactly had that as much as this group does.”
For Bradley, the week has presented an opportunity for team bonding — he and the assistant captains are all staying in a house that hosted a team dinner Tuesday night that included LIV’s Bryson DeChambeau — as well as a chance to watch players as a captain and nail down the crucial pairings for foursomes and four-ball formats.
“It’s really fun for me to be the captain in front of the guys and not be playing because when I’m out there playing I have to still be focused on that job and practicing and getting ready to play,” he said. “I was chosen to do this job, to do it maybe a little differently as well.”
The 10 members of the team in attendance were paired with other players from the team during a nine-hole practice round Tuesday. Collin Morikawa and Harris English played together while Scheffler played with Russell Henley and J.J. Spaun as Patrick Cantlay, Thomas, Sam Burns and Cam Young followed behind them. Ben Griffin played with assistant captain Brandt Snedeker, who is also in the field. All members of the team in the field will also be playing with each other during Thursday and Friday’s round.
“One of our goals was to have the guys prepared, ready to know who they’re playing with. Especially in alternate shot, I think that’s more important,” Bradley said. “We’re 90% there, I’d say.”
As nearly the entire European team plays the BMW Championship this week just outside of London, which is something they have done ahead of previous Ryder Cups, Bradley has taken a page out of their book with the Procore Championship but remains focused on his team.
“To be honest with you, I really don’t care what they’re doing, I really don’t care what Team Europe does,” Bradley said. “They’re a confident group, they should be. They won the last Ryder Cup, their team is solid. Luke Donald is maybe the best captain ever, somebody that I’ve always looked up to. So they should be confident but I’m not really — I really don’t care what they say about us, I only care about our team.”
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