Keegan Bradley makes Ryder Cup captain’s picks with a surprising twist

The news comes as quite a surprise, especially considering reports emerged this week that Bradley was expected to pick himself on Wednesday. Those reports turned out to be false. In fact, they've been false for a while. 

Bradley admitted the decision to keep himself off the team was made "a while ago." There was a point when he was on the roster—likely after he won the Travelers Championship in June—but he was impressed with how his six captain's picks finished the season. Bradley added that the picks were finalized at least 48 hours before his news conference. 

Although Bradley is disappointed to miss out on another Ryder Cup as a player, he believes he made the right decision for the team. 

"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," Bradley said. "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, and my ultimate goal to start this whole thing was to be the best captain that I could be, and 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 gonna do that. I was gonna do whatever I thought was best for this team. I know 100 percent for certain that this is the right choice."

Luke Donald will announce his six captain's picks for Team Europe on Monday, Sept. 1.