Browsing: captain

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – U.S. captain Keegan Bradley on Monday defended the PGA of America’s decision to pay American players a stipend to play in the Ryder Cup.

This year, for the first time, each U.S. player will receive a $200,000 stipend in addition to $300,000 that will be distributed to charity.

That’s an increase from the $200,000 that was strictly earmarked for charity previously. It’s a similar payment scheme to what the PGA Tour has for Presidents Cup participants.

Bradley has already said that he will donate the entirety of his $500,000 bonus. He did not disclose how many of the U.S. players will follow suit, saying it’s a “personal decision.â€

“The PGA of America asked me to help out with this,†Bradley said, “and this is the best way we came up with to do it.â€

Added PGA CEO Derek Sprague on Monday’s “Live From the Ryder Cup”: “[Bradley] wanted to do more good with the money, so that’s why there is $300,000 out of the $500,000 allocation going to charity. … At the end of the day, charity’s going to win again.â€

The pay-for-play issue dates to the 1999 matches but came under the spotlight once again two years ago in Rome, with reports that U.S. players wanted to be compensated for participating in the PGA’s biggest money-making event.

Bradley was asked four questions – by two U.K.-based journalists – about the new plan, and if it creates a perception that it “means more†to the European players because they’re not being paid to play.

On the first official day of Ryder Cup week, as his team began its preparations in earnest, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley admitted Monday that he thought about playing “every second.â€

“Well, I’m not concerned about what Europe does or what they think. I’m concerned about what my team is doing,†Bradley said. “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.â€

European captain Luke Donald was seated beside Bradley on Monday afternoon but did not receive any questions about the Americans’ new monetary arrangement.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – On the first official day of Ryder Cup week, as his team began its preparations in earnest, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley admitted Monday that he thought about playing “every second.â€

But that doesn’t mean that he’s riddled with regret after deciding not to pick himself to handle dual roles this week.

“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.â€

Bradley has known for more than a month that he wouldn’t be among the 12 players competing here at Bethpage Black. After winning the Travelers Championship in June, he failed to sustain his level of play over the past few months and opted to focus solely on his duties as the captain.

In his press conference last month announcing his picks, Bradley said it was devastating, personally, to come to that conclusion. But he expanded Monday on why it was the right call.

“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,†he said. “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.â€

It’s also given Bradley time to fine-tune his messaging and week-of activities that he hopes will put his team in the best position to succeed and also create (what could be for some) a once-in-a-career experience.

From Scottie Scheffler and the automatic qualifiers to Keegan Bradley’s six captain’s picks, here’s who will represent the U.S. at Bethpage Black.

One of those indelible moments came on Monday morning, when he gathered all members of Team USA on the first tee, before the 18-hole practice round and without crowds, to play the national anthem and soak in the experience.

“Every second that the guys are together and can have a powerful moment, I think it brings them closer together,†Bradley said. “I had this vision of doing that for about a year, and to be out there and see it and see how emotional the guys got was a really special time for our team.â€

After that, the American team went out in three groups of four on Monday morning: Bryson DeChambeau, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young; Scottie Scheffler, Russell Henley, Harris English and J.J. Spaun; and Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns.

When it comes to Bethpage Black, one former U.S. Ryder Cup player and captain isn’t holding any punches.

During a recent appearance on Trey Wingo’s “Straight Facts Homie!†podcast, Azinger lobbed criticism at the famed Long Island muni, which will host its first Ryder Cup after previously hosting several majors. Azinger not only shared his dislike for the Black Course, but he also claimed that the current U.S. players “don’t love†and “don’t know†the layout.

“I really don’t like Bethpage Black,†said Azinger, the 2008 U.S. captain who competed on four other teams. “There’s a lot of awkward angles, downhill tee shots to fairways that angle away, uphill second shots where you can’t see the landing area. It’s just hard, and you cannot fluke your way around there.â€

Aside from Cameron Young, who grew up in Scarsdale, New York, and won a New York State Open at Bethpage, the Americans own, at best, limited experience around the Black Course, which hosted the 2019 PGA Championship. That, Azinger says, isn’t ideal, and he argues that it negates much of the home-course advantage, even if recent American venues, like Whistling Straits and Hazeltine, have been similarly foreign to players and every one of the 12 European players this year competes mostly on the PGA Tour.

“We don’t know the course,†Azinger said. “I think one of the biggest mistakes that the American Ryder Cup team always seems to make, or the PGA of America, is they go to courses that we’re not familiar with.â€

For the record, each of the last six U.S. Ryder Cup venues, including Bethpage, hosted one major between six and eight years prior. And when it comes to that 2019 PGA, this U.S. team boasts eight players who teed it up then, compared to seven for their European counterparts.

Though Young has professed his love for Bethpage, Azinger added that Young’s teammates don’t share that fondness: “I feel like Keegan’s going to have to get these guys on a mission and on a mission quickly and single-minded to figure out how to fall in love with Bethpage Black. I guarantee you they don’t love it either. Me and you don’t love it. They don’t love it. Europe doesn’t care what the course is. Our guys might.â€

Azinger broached several topics, including his belief that the Long Island crowd could turn quickly on the home team.

“I feel if the U.S. gets off to a bad start, even the crowd can be volatile there,†Azinger said. “That’s why I told Keegan right out of the gate, ‘Buddy, you gotta win the crowd.’â€

New York’s famed Bethpage Black course is decked out and ready for the 2025 Ryder Cup. But one former captain, Paul Azinger, thinks the PGA of America chose the wrong course to host the event.

But Azinger went far beyond that with his criticism in a recent appearance on Trey Wingo’s “Straight Facts Homie!” podcast, saying he “couldn’t stand” Bethpage Black and claiming that the U.S. Ryder Cup players “don’t love” and “don’t know” the beloved municipal course on Long Island.

Paul Azinger rips Bethpage Black, host of 2025 Ryder Cup

Azinger has earned the right to speak his mind about the U.S. Ryder Cup team. After all, he was a star player in his prime and later captained the U.S. team to victory in the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla.

And on Wingo’s podcast, speak his mind he did. Among the hot takes the former captain offered up was a withering criticism of this year’s host course, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park.

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By:

Kevin Cunningham

Designed by court architecture legend A.W. Tillinghast, Bethpage Black is ranked No. 34 on GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the U.S. list and 60th on the Top 100 Courses in the World list.

But Azinger has no love for the famed course, at which he missed the cut during the 2002 U.S. Open.

“This golf course, I’m like you. I couldn’t stand it,” Azinger told Wingo. “I played my practice rounds, I did my two rounds and I think I was 18 over for two days there in the U.S. Open. The media loved it because it was a public course. What are you gonna do if they play the U.S. Open there every five years? I guess I’ll take every fifth year off.”

He continued by criticizing specific design aspects that to some represent the strategic genius of the course. But Azinger has no fondness for them.

“I really don’t like Bethpage Black. There’s a lot of awkward angles, downhill tee shots to fairways that angle away, uphill second shots where you can’t see the landing area,” Azinger said. “It’s just hard and you cannot fluke your way around there.”

Azinger claims U.S. Ryder Cup team doesn’t know Bethpage Black

The 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup captain didn’t limit his criticism to his own personal feelings about Bethpage Black. He also claimed that it was a “mistake” awarding the course the Ryder Cup because the American players “aren’t familiar the course. In that way, Azinger argued, the U.S. team takes no advantage from playing the Ryder Cup there.

“Nope, not at all. We don’t know the course,” Azinger said. “I think one of the biggest mistakes that the American Ryder Cup team always seems to make, or the PGA of America, is they go to courses that we’re not familiar with.”

Many of the players do know the course and have played a major championship there. Bethpage Black first hosted the U.S. Open in 2002 and again in 2009. While those tournaments were before many current players’ careers began, the Black more recently hosted the 2019 PGA Championship.

This New York Ryder Cup will be crazy. Question is, how crazy?

By:

Alan Bastable

It also hosted the Barclays PGA Tour event in 2012 and 2014. But the team’s knowledge of the course goes beyond that.

U.S. captain Keegan Bradley played the course regularly in college, and team member Cameron Young, a New York native, won the 2017 New York State Open at the Black Course.

Earlier this summer at the Tour Championship, Young professed his love for the course.

“I’ve just always loved it. It’s just a straight-forward, big-boy golf course. There’s just not much funky about it. The greens are not crazy, the fairways aren’t really, really narrow. It’s long, but it’s not the longest place in the world,” Young said at East Lake. “But it’s just straight-forward, it’s difficult. That’s the kind of golf I like.”

But Azinger argued that opposite, claiming that he could “guarantee” that the U.S. players don’t love Bethpage Black.

“I feel like Keegan’s going to have to get these guys on a mission and on a mission quickly and single-minded to figure out how to fall in love with Bethpage Black. I guarantee you they don’t love it either. Me and you don’t love it. They don’t love it,” Azinger said. “Europe doesn’t care what the course is. Our guys might.”

Later in the podcast appearance, Azinger offered up another reason the U.S. doesn’t have an advantage at the Black Course by claiming captain Bradley doesn’t have control over the course setup.

“I know that neither team has control of the course now, allegedly,” Azinger claimed. “Europe’s always controlled the course on us. I’m the only American captain that ever – was the first captain that wanted to control the course in some capacity and so I don’t know if they’ve lost that ability now to do that, but I see no advantage.”

He also echoed a recent talking point from European captain Luke Donald about the New York fans. Azinger believes if the U.S. plays badly, the crowd could turn on the American team.

“Even the crowd. I feel if the U.S. gets off to a bad start, even the crowd can be volatile there,” Azinger said. “That’s why I told Keegan right out of the gate, buddy, you gotta win the crowd.”

Azinger says U.S. must out-prepare Europe

Despite all of his criticisms of the 2025 host course, Azinger also expressed confidence in the U.S. captain and the team’s preparation, contrasting it to a lack of preparation at the 2023 Ryder Cup.

“We got out-prepared last time, and I don’t think we’ll get out-prepared this time,” Azinger said. “Our guys are playing coming in, they didn’t play five weeks in a row going into the Ryder Cup in Italy, which was a disaster.”

‘So much trouble’: Keegan Bradley talks sneaking onto Bethpage Black

By:

Josh Berhow

He continued: “They just destroyed us in that Ryder Cup. There’s no shortcut to success, you’re not going to hope for it or wish for it. We have the 12 best Americans, and they just have to out-prepare the Europeans, in a nutshell.”

Toward the end of the interview, Azinger reiterated that he thinks Captain Bradley has everything “buttoned up.” But he offered one last piece of advice for the 2025 U.S. captain.

“I wouldn’t play videos of people like Michael Jordan wishing them luck and the President wishing them luck, that just makes you want to throw up,” Azinger said. “It doesn’t help me. I already know they want us to win. It didn’t help me ever, I hated it. It made me more nervous.”

The first matches of the 2025 Ryder Cup get underway Friday morning, September 26th.

When the 2025 Ryder Cup was announced at Bethpage Black, many expected Phil Mickelson to get the captain’s duties for Team USA at “The People’s Country Club.”

But Mickelson’s move to LIV Golf and everything that went with it removed that likelihood from the equation. Instead, the PGA of America tabbed Keegan Bradley as Team USA’s leader for the next week’s showdown at Bethpage Black. Luke Donald will captain the Europeans for the second consecutive Ryder Cup.

Prior to LIV’s emergence, the Europeans had a stable of veterans in line to be Ryder Cup captains. But Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, and Sergio Garcia all defected to LIV, as did Henrik Stenson, who was initially named the 2023 Ryder Cup captain before bolting for the breakaway league. That left the Europeans with Donald and a relatively empty cabinet behind him, outside of Justin Rose, who is still playing at a high level at the age of 45.

Rory McIlroy’s Ryder Cup promise will tell the story at Bethpage Black

By:

Josh Schrock

As for the Americans, it’s unclear who will take over after Bradley is done with his captain’s duties. Mickelson’s name will continue to come up, but Johnson Wagner is unsure if Mickelson would be a fit given all that has happened since his exit for LIV.

“I mean, think about the players that would be on the U.S. team that he would captaining and that maybe feel like he sort of abandoned them and tried to burn the house down on the way out,” Wagner told GOLF’s Subpar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on the latest episode. “Like, I think it’s a little bit harder to have a LIV player as a captain.”

Wagner believes Rose would be a “no-brainer’ to be the next Ryder Cup captain for the European side in 2027 at Adare Manor.

To hear more from Wagner, check out the full episode in the video below.

Josh Schrock

Golf.com Editor

Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf.com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end (updated: he did it). Josh Schrock can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.

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