Grading Keegan Bradley, and Phil Mickelson thinks of the ‘King’

Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

Of all the words Keegan Bradley said Wednesday during his captain’s picks press conference — around 10,000, according to the transcript — four struck me. Before saying them, he paused. After saying them, he laughed. 

“I’m glad it’s over.”

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Was he being serious? Or was he being humorous? Did he like selecting six Americans for next month’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black? Or did he loathe telling other fellow countrymen that they fell short? In this case, all are likely true. As is this: The decision is, in fact, over, which begs another question:  

How’d he do?

To me, three subjects were covered Wednesday. Let’s try to grade them.  

Keegan Bradley didn’t pick Keegan Bradley  

Why, according to Bradley: “I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play. It really did. You work forever to make these teams, but ultimately I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be the captain of this team. My ultimate goal to start this thing was to be the best captain that I could be. This is how I felt like I could do this. If we got to this point and I felt like the team was better with me on it, I was going to do that. I was going to do whatever I thought was best for this team. I know 100 percent for certain that this is the right choice, and these six guys, again, played so incredibly coming down the stretch here and made my decision a lot easier.”

Grade: Let’s call the decision a B-plus. Here were the other choices:

– He could have picked himself and continued to be captain. This one would’ve been a B. Say what you will about just how important a captain is, there is still a time commitment. More than likely, his vice captains would have stepped up. But focus on his own game would have likely suffered. Then again, as GOLF’s Sean Zak wrote earlier this week, watching Keegan Bradley as playing captain would’ve been great theater. 

– He could have picked himself and delegated all the captain’s responsibilities to a vice captain. This one would have been an A. It alleviates the playing focus concern. You’re also still the captain, though in name alone. 

– He could have turned down the PGA of America’s offer to be captain. This one would have been a B, too, though it obviously would’ve had to have been decided last year. While the chance to lead the Americans is extraordinarily special, it also paused the dream to play. Here, I’ll point you to a story from GOLF’s Dylan Dethier headlined: “Keegan Bradley got robbed of his Ryder Cup dream. He’s built a new one,” and it can be read here. 

– In the end, he chose Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns. I like the idea that it motivates them, with their thoughts being: If he chose me over himself, I have to deliver. It’s the safe play. In golf, that kind of thing can be appreciated. 

The question is, who would Bradley have dropped from the players he picked? You could argue anyone outside of Thomas, though it’s tough. Does Bradley choose himself over Morikawa or Cantlay, who each haven’t won this year? Maybe, but Morikawa also is one of the best ball-strikers on the planet, and Cantlay is 5-2-1 in two Ryder Cup appearances (and 10-4 over three Presidents Cups). Does Bradley choose himself over Griffin or Young, both Ryder Cup newcomers? Maybe, but Griffin also has won twice this year, and Young has been one of golf’s hottest players over the past month. What about Burns? I think Bradley’s choice was here, and he went with the PGA Tour’s leader this season in Strokes Gained: Putting. 

Keegan Bradley also didn’t choose Maverick McNealy, Chris Gotterup and others 

Said Bradley when asked about McNealy: “Very, very difficult call to call Mav. Incredible kid, played well all year long. I was very up front with the guys that haven’t made the team before. You really have to, in most cases, make the team on points in your first team. It’s really difficult to get a pick in your first team event. I made that very clear to him, and he still played great.

I played with him a bunch of times this year. I’m really impressed with his game. I told him it’s OK to be angry. I left these calls really angry most times. You can use this as fuel. I said, please be angry with me and make the next team. Make [the] Presidents Cup team. I used that as fuel most of my career, and I advised Mav to do the same thing. He made a great run at making this team, and ultimately that was a really tough decision.”

Grade: B-plus, given his options. I think McNealy, Gotterup and Andrew Novak could make a Ryder Cup team down the road, but the six players chosen are solid.

I do wonder, though, what the picks would have looked like if Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris, Max Homa, Patrick Reed, Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala were among the top 25 in points.  

Keegan Bradley chose to play foursomes, then four-ball on both Friday and Saturday 

Why, according to Bradley: “Yeah, so you look at the data, you look at your team, and you look at getting off to a good start is really important, and most home teams do alternate shot first, a much tougher format. But we got together with the vice captains and our scouts, our analytical team, and you look at all the data, all the stats from the previous home, aways, what the home team did, what this team did when they won, and you run a million different scenarios, and ultimately it was actually a pretty easy decision, this is what we came up with.”

Grade: B. Bradley sounded confident here. The crowds will likely be vocal early and late, so that’ll help both with surviving the “tougher format” at the start and maintaining momentum in the afternoon. But if an experienced European withstands the early cheers during foursomes (alternate shot), there could be questions.

A few more decisions, of course, are coming — as are eight (or more) items for the Weekend 9. 

One takeaway from the week 

2. Phil Mickelson, who likely would have been the captain had he not joined LIV Golf, liked Bradley’s decisions, which you can see below. 

Another takeaway from the week 

3. For those interested in such things, the Americans are listed at minus-140 to win the Ryder Cup, according to Fanatics Sportsbook — while the Euros are listed at +130. 

A golf story that I found interesting from the week   

4. Did Young spoil the news of Bradley’s player-captain decision? 

On Wednesday, after each captain’s pick was announced, moderator Julius Mason asked each player a few questions. And he had this exchange with Young after Young was the fourth pick to be named:

Asked Mason: “Cam, you said that one of your goals this year was to make the Ryder Cup team, and if you did, it would mean more to you than winning a golf tournament. Why was it so important for you to make this team, and do any of your team members know that you were on the winning 2014 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team in Scotland?”

Started Young: “Yeah, I think one of them might remember in particular. I know Sam was on that team with me. That’s a fun memory to share.”

Sam? To that point, only Thomas, Morikawa and Griffin had been named — and no Sams, which was seemingly a reference to Burns. So when Cantlay was announced as a pick after Young, one could assume that Burns was the last pick — and that Bradley wasn’t going to select himself. 

One takeaway for the weekend   

5. I liked this exchange between Jeeno Thitikul and a reporter ahead of this week’s FM Championship, with the reporter’s questions in italics:

Does it feel any different being the No. 1 player in the world for you inside the ropes or outside the ropes?

“Like I said earlier, I think I’m the same person,” said Thitikul, who’s from Thailand. “It just a number-wise that it’s — the golf, the ranking, the stats, they just build it up. But I think — I just said to the media guy that walked up with me today, like I don’t think I’m good. I don’t think I’m that good.

“He’s just like, what are you just saying? I just like, I think especially the number-wise tell me how humble I has to be outside of the rope as well, I think.”

When you say you don’t think you’re that good, does that mean you’re surprised by your wins?

“Just surprised by everything, surviving here on LPGA. I’m just like it’s so many players that got talented and then I just — I swear that when I was young, I just thought about winning a tournament, just one tournament on the LPGA would be enough for me.

“But to hear where I am now, I don’t know how I get it.”

A golf video that fascinated me 

6. The video below, posted by the Arizona State men’s golf team, was wild. 

Another golf video that fascinated me 

7. The video below, posted by the Asian Tour, was wild. 

One non-golf thought 

12. Let’s do a dozen items! Good luck in your fantasy football drafts this weekend. Here’s my top 12 in a PPR format, should you be interested:

1. Jamarr Chase
2. Bijan Robinson
3. CeeDee Lamb
4. Jahmyr Gibbs
5. Saquon Barkley
6. Justin Jefferson
7. Malik Nabers
8. Christian McCaffrey
9. Nico Collins
10. Derrick Henry
11. Drake London
12. Brian Thomas Jr. 

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