Rory McIlroy Jokes About Keegan Bradley Potentially Being Playing Captain at 2025 Ryder Cup

While Bradley is yet to make a decision regarding that, McIlroy would make a light-hearted joke regarding it before lauding him. After the 2nd round of the Genesis Scottish Open, the 5-time major champion expressed that the U.S. Team is better with him playing.

Hopefully, it is impossible. Keegan has played great. He’s had a great year. He had the win at the Travelers... I definitely think the US Team is better with Keegan playing than not playing. I definitely think he’s one of the best 12 American players right now.

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, McIlroy is so far the only European golfer to qualify for the 2025 event. The Northern Irish golfer has been in fine form this year, and with his 3 wins, which included him winning the Masters Tournament, he booked his place in the squad in June last month.

As for the U.S. Team, only World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has qualified so far. The top 6 in the standings will automatically qualify for the event. The other 6 players will be selected by the captains of the team.

Rory McIlroy name-drops top sporting stars while explaining longevity in sports

Rory McIlroy has been one of the top names in golf. Even at the age of 36, the golfer has remained on top of the mountain and seems to be aging like a fine wine. Ahead of the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, he spoke on his career and name-dropped some sporting greats while speaking on longevity in sports.

Despite the emergence of some big names and the change of landscape in golf, McIlroy has remained in the top standings. While some who came alongside him have fallen back, he has remained on top for a while now.

In the press conference ahead of the event in Scotland, the current World No. 2 expressed that longevity is an “underappreciated” aspect of an athlete’s career. He would then give a shout-out to tennis star Novak Djokovic, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and American Football icon Tom Brady.

I think it’s one of the underappreciated things about any sport and anyone, like you look at what Novak Djokovic is doing at Wimbledon over the last couple of weeks, or what someone like Cristiano Ronaldo is still doing at 40 years old. That longevity piece, I think, is something that maybe isn’t talked about enough because once you get to a certain level.

McIlroy would then state that it is not easy to remain at the top once a player successfully climbs up.

I feel like the journey on the way up is almost, it’s not, I’m not going to say it’s easy, but you have that momentum and you’re riding that wave to the top and then once you get there, yeah, it takes just as much work if not more work to stay there.

Djokovic, a 24-time singles Grand Slam champion, amazed the fans once again at Wimbledon this year. Unfortunately, the 38-year-old was unable to reach another final as he lost out in the semi-finals against Jannik Sinner.

As for Ronaldo, at the age of 40, he recently achieved another international title with Portugal. The former Real Madrid superstar guided his national team to the UEFA Nations League glory for the 2nd time with a 5-3 penalty shootout win against Spain after the game finished 2-2 after extra time.

Meanwhile, McIlroy is once again in contention this week at the Genesis Scottish Open. After an opening round score of 68, he fired a score of 5-under 65 in the second round and jumped several places up in the leaderboard. Heading into the third round, he is T6 in the standings with a 7-under score.