A year before Ryder Cup, captains talk building teams, Bethpage test

Keegan Bradley envisions possibly making a lineup for Ryder Cup matches next fall that includes himself as a player-captain when the United States and Europe square off in the 2025 event at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.

That's just one of many scenarios Bradley has to ponder, however, before the next Ryder Cup is held Sept. 26-28. The U.S. captain and Team Europe's captain, Luke Donald, discussed the preparations that will go into the event at a news conference held Tuesday in New York.

It was a friendly question-and-answer session a year before the teams meet in front of what Donald expects will be a raucous, pro-American crowd. And the captains discussed a wide range of topics, including how they'll construct their teams, whether LIV Golf players will be welcome and if Bradley expects to call his own name for the team.

Bradley is ranked 14th in the world, eighth among Americans. Since being named Ryder Cup captain last July, he won the BMW Championship in August and secured the winning point for the Americans at the Presidents Cup last month.

"Right now, my focus is on being a captain but I'm still a full-time player," Bradley, 38, said. "I'm still playing in all the majors and all the big events next year. So I have a real shot at doing this.

"For now, I'm focusing on my guys and getting them ready to go."

So is Donald, who has the advantage of being the Team Europe captain a second time. He led the team to a 16 1/2-11 1/2 win last year at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome.

"It's great to be here in New York. Just an amazing city, amazing energy, and to have this opportunity to be captain again for Europe is really special," Donald said.

"It's really a great honor, a blessing. I've said it many times that that moment when we won in Rome was the best and the highlight of my career, and to hear those 12 guys shout two more years was certainly, for me, a personal moment of joy and honor that they would want me to come back and represent them again as captain."

Donald, at 46, said he's closer to playing on the Champions Tour than in the Ryder Cup, which he won four times as a player. So he is planning on filling out his team with 12 players who give Europe the best chance to win, including those on the LIV circuit.

That includes Spaniards Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, as well as his fellow Englishman, Tyrrell Hatton. He said he has talked with them about doing what they need to do to potentially qualify either on points or through a captain's pick.

"I've spoken to everyone that is a possibility for being on that team," Donald said. "It was great to see Jon do what he needed to do to remain eligible and to see him in Spain, and last week he played very well at the Dunhill. We're in constant communication.

"Again, I'm talking to all the players, to him, to Tyrrell. It was great to see Tyrrell win last week at the Dunhill.

"You know, again, good communication between myself and all these players is vital, and I've certainly been keeping up with that."

Donald said Rory McIlroy has emerged as a team leader, and he's going to count on the influence of the Northern Irishman on Team Europe.

"He understands the importance of the Ryder Cup. He understands that he wants to prepare as best as he can just like he would a major to be ready for that Ryder Cup," Donald said. "You know, he's always a very strong leader, a strong voice in the team room, and he's great to have on your team because of that."

Bradley also is asking the U.S. veterans to work with younger players to help prepare them, the way Phil Mickelson did when Bradley was just a youngster playing in his first Ryder Cup in 2012 at Medinah in Illinois.

"What Phil did for me is he created a relaxed atmosphere, and he told me, 'Don't worry about putting it four or five feet by. I'll make them coming back.' Little stuff like that, really, it helped me.

"He mentored me before the event. Took me to dinner. Talked to me nonstop throughout the year about the pressures and what's going to come and I really learned a lot, and it hasn't been until now that I've really realized what an incredible thing it was that he did for me.

"So it's important that I communicate to the veterans of the team to do that for these rookies and for these younger players on our team."

Bradley and Donald also talked about the challenges of playing at Bethpage Black, a public course on Long Island that is known for its length and difficulty. Bradley, as U.S. captain, will have the advantage of setting up the course to his team's liking.

"When you go play the Black, you know it's going to be a tough test," Bradley said. "That's just Bethpage. Big holes. A lot of drivers. I expect it to play tough like it always does."

And it will be a tough crowd, too, the Europeans expect.

"The advantage we had in Rome and being at home, you feel that energy from the crowd and you can feed off it, obviously when we come to New York, it's going to be very pro- American," Donald said.

"The good thing about New York is that it is a melting pot. There's lots of different cultures here. I see it as a semblance of what our team represents, as well."