Keegan Bradley makes his stance clear on LIV Golfers being a part of Ryder Cup - "We're gonna do it"
With the US PGA reaffirming earlier this year that LIV Golf players can make and play on the USA Ryder Cup team, captain Keegan Bradley had decisions to make. Whether or not anyone on the tour, unless they somehow qualified automatically, played for the USA was going to be up to him and his choices.
At a press conference, the USA captain revealed his stance on LIV players playing. He's all for it as long as it gives him the best team he can possibly have. He said:
“For us, I’m gonna take the twelve best players. So if we feel like there’s a few guys there, one guy, two guys, whatever it is, then we’re gonna do it. We are definitely gonna take the twelve best players. [0:28 onwards]”
That is essentially what 2023's captain Zach Johnson did. He selected six based on the players he felt were the best for his team, and that included LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka.
Before he made this statement and before the US PGA had clarified things, Bradley did express his expectation that LIV players would not be out of bounds for him.
Via Sports Illustrated, he said in August:
“I'm going to have the best 12 players, so the PGA of America... we're going to have the 12 best players, so they need to figure that out, if that's their problem. I know you have to be a PGA (of America) member to play in the Ryder Cup."
He said then that they would make sure each player was a member, and now he anticipates that LIV Golf players will be among those if they can help him win at Bethpage Black in 2025.
LIV Golf players who could get picked by Keegan Bradley
In 2023, no LIV Golf players qualified for the Ryder Cup. The top six in points make it in, and the other six spots are left to the captain. Brooks Koepka, thanks to his T2 at the 2023 Masters and his win at the PGA Championship, ended up finishing seventh.
This is because LIV Golf events do not get Ryder Cup or OWGR points, making it hard for any of them to outplay PGA Tour players and make it in. As it stands, Bryson DeChambeau is currently third in Ryder Cup points. He will drop when PGA Tour play heats up in January and those below him start earning more points.
He and a few others could be captain's picks by Keegan Bradley, though. Those on the radar right now who stand a chance at being picked include DeChambeau as well as Brooks Koepka, Talor Gooch and Dustin Johnson.
DeChambeau is the only one in the top 25 for Ryder Cup points, so other LIV players will need to play well in Majors and other qualified events next year to get on the leaderboard. Either way, they may be selected by Bradley next year.