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Fred Couples’ 2011 call between Tiger Woods and Keegan Bradley that didn’t go as planned

Originally posted on HITC | By Jordan Harris | Last updated Oct 12, 2025 10:00 AM ET

The 2011 PGA Championship was expected to play a big role in Fred Couples’ choices for the Presidents Cup team, with Keegan Bradley’s major debut win putting him right in the frame.

Bradley defeated Jason Dufner in a playoff to take the title at Atlanta Athletic Club, becoming just the sixth player to win on his first appearance in a major. It seemed almost certain that his name would be among Fred Couples’ two captain’s picks for the U.S. team.

Tiger Woods had a different kind of week, missing the cut and finishing 10 over par. It was his second major start of the season and marked the first time he had finished outside the top 100 in a major championship.

When play began at Royal Melbourne, Woods had fallen to 50th in the world rankings – a far cry from where he’d been just a few years earlier.

Keegan Bradley’s first snub came after Tiger Woods got a controversial Team USA pick

It was always going to take a brave captain to leave Woods out. Just three years earlier, he had claimed his 14th major title, putting on an incredible display at Torrey Pines despite playing through injury. But with only two spots available, Fred Couples had a difficult choice to make.

And it wasn’t as if he kept his thinking private. As Golf Digest reported at the time, Couples made it clear a month before the deadline that he planned to give one of those spots to Woods.

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Then Bill Haas won the FedEx Cup and changed everything. With that result, the decision became even more complicated.

In the end, Bradley was the one left out. Couples stood by his plan to take Woods and added Haas as well, who had finished 12th in the points standings anyway.

Bradley would go on to find himself in similar situations again later in his career, despite strong cases each time for being included.

How Tiger Woods played a part in Presidents Cup history

Couples managed to avoid becoming just the second American captain to lose the Presidents Cup, and Woods did contribute two points, including the singles win on Sunday that clinched it for the away side.

But his involvement was notable for another reason. On the opening day, he and Steve Stricker suffered a 7&6 defeat to Adam Scott and KJ Choi, setting a new record for the largest margin of victory in foursomes at the event.

The result was matched at Royal Montreal in 2024 when Hideki Matsuyama and Sung-jae Im beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay by an identical margin.

Woods went on to lose both fourball sessions alongside Dustin Johnson. His only win over the first three days came on Saturday morning when he and Johnson finally got one back against Scott and Choi.

His second point came with a strong putting performance in Sunday singles, beating Aaron Baddeley 4&3. Even so, only three Americans finished with fewer points than Woods, including Haas.

Bradley didn’t have to wait long for another opportunity. By 2013, he had made his way onto Couples’ team automatically along with Woods and Haas. That year’s event at Muirfield Village saw Bradley play his part as Team USA claimed another victory under Couples’ leadership.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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