Keegan Bradley confirms his U.S. team will have a bonding trip ahead of Ryder Cup
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Keegan Bradley confirmed on Wednesday that the 12-man U.S. Ryder Cup team will have a bonding trip of sorts ahead of the biennial match with Europe in late September.
“I can't tell you just how proud I am of this group. They're such a different breed than my era of Ryder Cups. They really want to hang out with each other. So any sort of extra thing that comes with the Ryder Cup, they're all in,” Bradley said during a press conference ahead of the BMW Championship. “We're still working everything out, but we're definitely going to get together before the Ryder Cup.”
The last time the U.S. side won on home soil, Captain Steve Stricker took the team to Whistling Straits ahead of time for a reconnaissance trip, which paid dividends when Team Europe faced a wind that it hadn't seen all week but the Americans had during their team visit. Asked if the team gathering would be at Bethpage in New York, site of the Ryder Cup, Bradley didn’t share details.
“I don't know if it will be at Bethpage, but one of the great things about the Ryder Cup, it starts on Friday. So we get in there nice and early, get prepared, and we'll learn the course that way. We have some ideas of what we're going to do,” he said.
The team gathering could be headed for Napa in California, where the first tournament of the FedEx Cup Fall is being held, Sept. 11-14, two weeks before the Ryder Cup begins in earnest on Sept. 26. Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1, confirmed he intends to play that week.
“Outside of some extenuating circumstances, yeah, I'll probably be playing in Napa,” he said.
During an interview with Golfweek in June, Bradley hinted that the Procore Championship might be in the plans for Team USA.
“We're looking at all the options to see how best we can be prepared. It's definitely a different buildup to when I played on the teams when you know it was the week after the Tour Championship basically so we're throwing around some ideas of what to do best,” he said. “And you know it's a long season for the boys and the playoffs take a lot out but they're more motivated than ever to be ready for this tournament.”
Bradley told Sports Illustrated last week that it wouldn’t be mandatory to play that week. However, Wyndham Clark suggested that the long layoff between the Tour Championship and Ryder Cup in 2023 in Rome left him rusty. He competed in Napa ahead of the Presidents Cup last year. Scheffler echoed that sentiment as the reason he was planning to Napa and not for the bountiful food and wine options.
“I think when you look at the last Ryder Cup, I think that was maybe a bit too much time off for us. It's one of those deals, it's tough. When you get to the end of the PGA Tour season, I think you're a little bit tired,” he said. “You look at a year like last year I had, when it came to the end of the season, I was pretty worn out. It took a lot out of me. It was important for me to get rest.
"I think now with the way the schedule is, I think there's like four weeks after the Tour Championship before the Ryder Cup, and that's plenty of time to get rest while still staying competitive. It's important for me to get out and get some competitive reps before the Ryder Cup. I felt like last time was maybe a bit too much time off.”
That was one of the takeaways from two years ago and the U.S. side won’t make that mistake again.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ryder Cup: Keegan Bradley confirms U.S. team will take bonding trip
