Keegan Bradley is a Man on a Mission

“I haven't won a major in almost 15 years. I want to contend in majors; that's number one on my list,” Bradley said before the Sony tournament. “I've won three years in a row. I'd like to make that four years in a row. But I really want to be looked at as one of the best players in the world. Me being the Ryder Cup captain doesn't have anything to do with that.”

At 38, Bradley believes he is in the prime of his career, playing the best golf, he’s ever played. However, most wins come on the PGA Tour before 38, making his goal for the 2025 season statistically more difficult.

After winning the 2011 PGA Championship in a playoff over Jason Dufner at Atlanta Athletic Club, Bradley, just 25 years old, was already aware of how winning his first PGA Championship could be considered down the road a flash in the pan.

“I don't want to be one of the guys that kind of disappears,” Bradley said that Sunday next to the Wanamaker Trophy. “I would love to be -- I would love to be up in a category with the best players and be mentioned with Phil Mickelson, one of my idols. I hope I don't disappear. I don't plan to. And I think I can, honestly.”

For the next nine years, Bradley disappeared. After one win at the BMW Championship in 2018, he fell outside of the top 100 in the world in 2020, and then the script flipped.

In 2022, he won the Zozo in Japan, the Travelers Championship in 2023, and another BMW Championship in 2024.

“I feel like I should be contending for tournaments. I want to be contending to play on Ryder Cup, Presidents Cups teams, and majors,” Bradley said after his win at the Zozo. “You know, this is going to go a long way.”

Winning is everything on the PGA Tour, and it’s so much harder than players expect. While Bradley didn’t want to disappear, he did, making his reappearance even more astonishing.

“I went a long time without winning, so I've really tried at this point in my career to enjoy things more,” Bradley said at Sony. “When I'm in the final group at BMW or Hartford or whatever, take stuff in. I tried to do that at the Presidents Cup, especially on Sunday. I really am trying to remember the feeling, remember how nervous I was, remember what it was like to walk out of the locker room for the last time maybe at the Presidents Cup. Stuff like that. I've really just tried to enjoy the ups of the golf world.”

Bradley will have some ups and downs in his career, but his most significant emotional swing will come at Bethpage when he is in charge and brings a group of American players to Long Island to win back the Ryder Cup.

Those emotions will stick with him forever, and unlike his first European Captain, Luke Donald, he will have only one go at it as someone else will be the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup captain in Ireland.