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Keegan Bradley first raised alarms among fans with the announcement of the Ryder Cup dinner list. Yes, the U.S. team’s Ryder Cup captain created a buzz in the golf world by inviting rival league players Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka to the Ryder Cup dinner. The American, who is the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963, stated, “I have no ill will towards any of them, and I root for them every week.” Perhaps that’s why it’s only a little surprising that he defended the former PGA Tour stars once again.
Present during the media appearance at Quail Hollow ahead of the PGA Championship, Keegan Bradley defended his choice of inviting the LIV players once again. However, for a golfer who is juggling the different responsibilities of a player at a major while being a Ryder Cup team captain, “analytics” concerns him more. During the press conference, the interviewer pointed out that figuring out LIV golfers’ performance isn’t possible unless “you spend time watching YouTube or whatever.” So, how does Bradley deal with a lack of information available for the LIV golfers?
Keegan Bradley replied thoughtfully, “Yeah, maybe. Listen, we’ve got — these guys are playing in all four of the majors, so we’ll have that. These guys, a lot of them are up in these leaderboards every major. We’ll see how the year shapes out. The data is a little less at LIV. We don’t have quite the same stats that we have out here, but we have some. We know winning and contending on any tour at any level is difficult. I don’t care where you play. I played the mini-tours. Winning there was difficult. Winning on the LIV is difficult. You can see guys — winning a LIV event is a big deal.”
The observation about a lack of data for LIV Golf isn’t wrong, however. While LIV Golf provides some statistics on its official website, the depth and breadth of data fall short of what the PGA Tour offers. This is partly because LIV Golf is new, having launched in 2022, while the PGA Tour has built a long-established database. Additionally, LIV Golf’s team format complicates the tracking of individual player performance, resulting in less detailed statistics compared to those available for PGA Tour players. To top that, getting into the majors for the LIV players is certainly not easy, as they do not get awarded OWGR. Perhaps that’s why the 16 LIV players present at Quail Hollow are impressive.
@RBC_Heritage pic.twitter.com/BH3O8hhlRa
— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) April 16, 2025
However, Bradley does not hold ill will towards the LIV players. After the Ryder Cup dinner, Bradley said, “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 [dispute]. We’re trying to put the best team together.” And that is evident by the demand Bradley has made of LIV golfers.
LIV Golf stars NEED to play better at the PGA Championship to make it to the Ryder Cup
Team USA captain Keegan Bradley made it clear during his press conference at Quail Hollow that players must perform well on the biggest stages to earn a spot on the 2025 Ryder Cup team. Discussing the chances of the same in the same press conference, Bradley said, “These majors kind of separate guys. If you see a guy hang in there on Sunday, that’s impressive, especially at a course like this. There’s a lot of points at stake here.”
Bradley emphasized the importance of both analytics and “the eye test” in selecting his team, especially for players who aren’t securing automatic spots through the points list. “We’ll definitely be using analytics to help us make the picks, along with the eye test to see who is suited to Bethpage. But if you can stand up to pressure on a Sunday at a major? That says a lot.”
According to the rules, the top six golfers in the Ryder Cup standings by August 17 (after the BMW Championship) will automatically qualify for the team. In addition, Bradley will choose six players as captain’s picks. Currently, Patrick Reed ranks 25th, while Brooks Koepka sits in 91st place.
“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,” Bradley shared about the same. The chances of LIV golfers playing in the Ryder Cup look slim for both teams, however, the fans will hope it happens anyway.
The post Keegan Bradley Surprisingly Defends LIV Golf After Inviting Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka to Dinner appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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