- Tension remain high between the two tours with talks of merger having stalled
- Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka attended a US team dinner last week
Keegan Bradley says golf’s ongoing political dramas will have no influence over his team selection for this year’s Ryder Cup match.
The US captain arranged a dinner for team hopefuls last week, with LIV rebels Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka both present.
The PGA of America, which oversees the US side, has already confirmed that Bradley will have the freedom to pick his strongest players, irrespective of Tour affiliations, but there remains the question of abrasive feelings within the team at a time when merger talks have stalled. Bradley is evidently unconcerned.
Speaking at the PGA Championship on Tuesday, he said: ‘We invited Brooks and Bryson, and they were in there on points and they played on previous teams. It was great to have them there.
‘This Ryder Cup and what comes with this, no one cares about what’s going on in this side PGA Tour-LIV. We’re trying to put the best team together. It could mean there’s one LIV guy, two LIV guys, it doesn’t matter. We’ll see how this year shakes out.
‘It was really great to have them together with all the guys. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to do that.’
Keegan Bradley will have the freedom to pick his strongest players for this year’s Ryder Cup
LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau was invited to for US team hopefuls last week
Brooks Koepka, the lone LIV golfer on the 2023 Ryder Cup team, is 91st on the points list
Bradley added: ‘We had that Ryder Cup dinner the other week, but we’re working every day, every week for the guys for Bethpage. I know for me as a player, I loved going to these meetings because it started to get real, like this is coming.
‘Even getting invited to a meeting like that is special because it means you could make the team.
‘For a lot of the guys that are going to be on this team, they know these guys really well, which is a little different than the past, I think. They feel really comfortable.’
Bradley’s situation around the September match in New York is complicated by the possibility he might qualify by rights as a player. At 22nd in the US standings, it is not inconceivable that he would be one of the best 12 options for the showdown against Europe, though he has parked any thoughts in that direction.
He said: ‘It’s different this year because my main job at the Ryder Cup is to be the captain. Right now I go about every day as the captain. I don’t even think about me as a player at this point.
‘If I get to the end of the year and I’m in that conversation, I’ll change that. For now I have to operate every day as if I’m the captain and make decisions as the captain. I’m not thinking of myself as a player on the team at the moment.’
