Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley contending at The Sentry

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Keegan Bradley thinks constantly about the Ryder Cup. He dreams about it, and when some inspiration strikes, the U.S. captain records it in his Notes app.

The role of Ryder Cup captain comes with many decisions. If Bradley keeps playing this way, he may have to make one more.

Halfway through The Sentry, the first PGA TOUR event of 2025, Bradley is just three shots off Hideki Matsuyama’s lead.

Bradley, 38, isn’t just the youngest U.S. captain in the Ryder Cup’s history. He’s also the most competitive, having won three PGA TOUR titles in the previous two seasons. He represented the United States as a player just last year, earning a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup after his victory at the BMW Championship. He went 2-1-0 at Royal Montreal and earned the clinching point with his Singles victory over Si Woo Kim.

One of Bradley’s recent Ryder Cup-related dreams had to do with severe traffic that kept him from getting to the course on time. He isn’t allowing himself to dream about being a potential player-captain yet, though.

“Certainly a maybe,” Bradley said of assuming both roles, “but we're two rounds into 2025. So if we get to July and it's looking like that, then we'll start to talk, but for now I'm just going to keep playing my best.”

Bradley’s best is still good enough to hang with the younger players who tend to dominate this game. He is 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking and has qualified for the previous two TOUR Championships.

His omission from the 2023 Ryder Cup team – despite winning twice in the preceding PGA TOUR season – was one of the most emotional moments in the second season of “Full Swing.” Bradley hasn’t played on a U.S. Ryder Cup team in a decade, but he is unabashed about his passion for the event.

That fire, as well as his status as a past winner of the PGA Championship (the PGA of America runs that event and the Ryder Cup) and his status as a St. John’s alum who practiced at Bethpage Black, the site of this year’s Ryder Cup, all contributed to his unprecedented selection.

“I have two jobs," Bradley said. "My one job is out here, and then my other job is to be the captain and be the leader of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. I really enjoy being the captain. This isn't difficult for me. I love talking to the guys, I love talking to my vice captains, so -- and I love to play golf. So these aren't difficult things. It's stressful, for sure, but I enjoy both of them.”

Bradley was named the U.S. captain in July, and he said the pace of his responsibilities has picked up since October, when it got within the one-year mark of the 2025 competition. It doesn’t appear to have impacted his game, however.

Bradley is coming off a fifth-place finish at last month’s Hero World Challenge and now is contending at the season opener, an event where he hasn’t had much success. A T4 finish in 2013 was his only top-15 in this limited-field event.

He’s opened this week by shooting 13-under 133 (69-64), his lowest opening 36 here by six strokes. He started Friday’s second round with birdies on four of his first five holes and closed with an eagle on the 18th hole, where he hit his 326-yard second shot to 30 feet and made the putt.

“I hit two great shots and then in between I got to go give my boys a squeeze,” said Bradley, the father of two boys. “Normally when they're around, good things happen.”

That’s true this week.