THE PRESIDENTS CUP

September 25, 2024

Keegan Bradley

Royal Montreal Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Keegan, how long have you thought about what it would feel like to be back on the U.S. Team?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, it's been a surreal week honestly. I saw the boys at -- I went a point in my career where I thought I was going to play in this every year -- Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup. And then there came a point in my career where I thought I would never play. I was almost sure I would never play in another one.

Then to be back here a decade later, it's really been a special week. I look around the room at dinners and stuff, and there's nobody there that I was on these other teams with, and Jim was playing the last time I was out here.

It's been special.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Listen, this whole Ryder Cup thing is a huge honor for me. I want to prove to the guys that their captain can still play. It's been really fun for me to get to know these guys a little more.

Now that I'm the captain of the team, it's been a real mission of mine to get to know the guys a little better. Maybe some of the younger guys that I maybe wouldn't have sat down with at breakfast or whatever, I've done that, and it's been great for me personally.

Q. How much fun is this week, whether you win it or not, is helpful for the next year?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: It's been a huge goal of mine to come here as a player. I owe that to the team. I owe that to Jim Furyk, particularly. It's really been fun for me to watch Jim, how great of a job he's done.

I just can't say enough about the players and the guys. They're really like fantastic people, and the wives of the players are fantastic people. If I've taken anything away, it's just like there's not much to do here. They're such a close group of players. I just need to get out of their way and do the best I can to put them in a great position.

But I'm here as a player 99.9 percent of it.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Scottie is a very proud Canadian. He's got two passports. He's also American. Scottie is, first and foremost, a really proud Canadian, and I love that about him. He's lived in Toronto his whole life basically.

But he's on our side this week. He's made that very clear. Yeah, it's a weird thing, I think, for him to be in Canada and be on the other side, but he's on our side this week.

Q. Has this week brought any memories coming back of Cups and teams from the past?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: It definitely has. I have no clue how lucky I was to have Phil. That was just my partner. I never came to a Presidents Cup wondering who my partner was going to be, wondering about this guy's golf ball. Am I going to play with him? Like they just came every week going we're going to play every match basically, and he's going to play my ball on alternate shot.

I think now as I'm an older player, I have a better sense of how great Phil was to me in those early Cups, and I'm just so grateful for that. Especially now, I didn't -- I knew what he was doing for me then, but now I really know. It makes it even cooler.

Q. (On playing with Phil.)

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I didn't really know what was going on with the other players on the team because we knew we were playing. To be honest with you, we were a tough team to beat. So we knew like they needed to put us out there.

It takes such a variable out of your preparation that I never had to deal with. Now, on the other hand, it's been fun for me -- it's going to be fun for me to go out there and play with another player. I've never done it. So in a sense, that's going to be a first for me, which is cool.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, the PGA of America has been unbelievable. They've always been great. They want the best team out there too. I don't know how that looks. That might mean more players. That might not. It's a nice thing to have that option open.

We want to go in there and win. So we're going to go in there with what we think is the best team.

Q. Do you see them as an underdog, the International Team this year?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: No. I think any time you play against, in golf especially, you never know what can happen. They're all such spectacular players. Some players that I looked up to as a kid, Adam Scott and players like that, they all work really hard, and I know they're highly motivated to win this Presidents Cup.

Q. Keegan, did you ever come up to Montreal when you were growing up?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I did. I grew up three hours from here. I've forgotten what it's like to play golf in this type of weather. I did it for like my whole life.

A lot of my family drove up here. The Northeast has a real special place in my heart. So to be able to come here and play is awesome.

Q. You actually grew up closer to here than Mike Weir did?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, it is funny. I took one of my first class trips, we went to Montreal, and we had to get our passports. We took the bus. We thought it was like the coolest thing ever. The first time I left the country was to come to Montreal.

Yeah, it's a weird thing because it is very close to home, but we're very far from home as well.

Q. Do you think you're going to see a lot of people rooting for America?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think so. I'm not sure. I think we're not far from America, but I do know that they're going to be very passionate for the International Team and for the Canadians in particular.

Q. (On the 2013 Presidents Cup).

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, we won that one. I do, I have such spectacular memories from these events, and I keep telling the guys that you're going to remember the time you were sitting and waiting for the gala in the hallway chatting with the guys even more than you remember a lot of the stuff that happens out there.

So I am trying to remind myself to take a second, look around. I've been trying to do that a lot more in my career of taking a moment and looking around and taking it all in. I certainly have a lot of great memories from those days.

Q. You were not married?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I wasn't. My wife was at all of them, but we weren't married.

Q. She was with you, even at Medinah?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Even at Medinah. But again, my wife and I now, it's so different than it was back then. There's so many firsts to all of this even though it's not my first.

It's fun to have Jill here as my wife and to think about back then, no kids, and to think ten years later how different all of our lives are, it's great.

Q. (On being named captain of the Ryder Cup and being a player in this Presidents Cup.)

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yes, I do. For me, I feel like I need to be open for them. Even though I'm feeling a lot of nerves to go play tomorrow, I still have to remember that I have to be there for these guys.

I have two little boys, 6 and 3, and I look at these guys in the locker room, they're still super young guys, and I think like I'd be so proud if my boys grew up to be like these guys. They're really proper, great people. It's very easy for me to interact and get to know these guys even better.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I think this week I'm a player. Jim Furyk is somebody that I idolized as a kid, and I get to play for him. I've played on the same teams as him. I'm not in any way here in a Ryder Cup capacity. I'm here -- I have to go out there tomorrow and play.

So I'm not here to do any of that. I'm here to be a good teammate, and I would like to set an example for the guys of what that looks like.

Q. (On seeing Corey Conners play.)

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yes, I do. I see Corey. Corey plays at Bear's Club. I see him all the time. It's funny, when we play Ryder Cups or Presidents Cups, we see all these guys every day anyways when we're home. Makes it interesting.

Q. What stands out about Corey's game?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Corey, I always really enjoyed playing with. He's great to play with, and he just hits the golf ball as good as anyone I've ever seen. Sitting back and watching how his career has developed, it's really cool to see what a player he's turned into.

Q. What do you think your role is on this team?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: My role on this team is to go out there and win points. I don't have an elevated role, low or higher role, my goal is to do my job, and that's to win points for Team USA and Jim Furyk.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: We played on Sunday, and it was perfect out, sunny, hot, no wind. I thought, there's going to be a lot of birdies. This is going to be one of those types of days.

Then these last couple days, we're playing matches against our team, which our teams are pretty solid and winning holes with pars. So totally different golf course. It's really tough out there today.

So we just need to see what this rain does. I really love this course. Obviously I grew up close to here. This is the type of course I grew up on, and I love it.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: It certainly does. I played golf up here until I physically couldn't with the snow. I used to get off the school bus, and I would stuff my pockets with balls, and I just hit them.

If I lost them -- I was trying to explain to the Southern boys the leaf roll. They'd never heard of it. I'm like the leaf roll is a major thing where I grew up.

It's really -- I think when you play golf in the fall in the Northeast on a nice day, it's the best way to play golf.

Q. After ten years away from these events, what does it mean to be back?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: What I miss the most is I feel like everybody has their guard down a little bit, and you really get to know -- I got to speak with Russell Henley in like a very intimate way. I had a great respect for him before, but now I have even more.

You're able to sort of really let your guard down. I have a hard time doing that. I think these younger guys don't. It's such a super power they have that they're best friends with a guy that they're probably going to battle with half the year.

But I really enjoy sitting down, chatting with the guys, and really finding out about their life and sort of what this last year entailed.

Russell Henley has been on TOUR forever, and this is his first team. What a cool thing that is, stuff like that. It's stuff that you think you'd remember the putt that you made and you went crazy, but it's more, I was on the bus with Russell and I found something out about him that I didn't know, and I have an even bigger sort of respect for who he is.

Q. What's the biggest difference between now and ten years ago?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, it's totally different. I'm still just as nervous as I was, but it's certainly strange to be continually called the old guy. I remember the old guys when I was there, everyone called them the old guy. I think how crazy how that happened.

I just feel really proud, to be honest, and I feel really proud to be in the locker room with Xander and Scottie Scheffler and to share that bond that you get in a team room. It's something that we as players, really it's a big deal.

Q. What will you take from this week into next year?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think for me personally it's more about getting to know the guys. I knew them all, but I knew them all sort of from a distance, from a playing with them standard or seeing Xander in Florida, and they're all great guys.

But I'm able to, like I did with Russell and some of the other guys, really sit down and learn more about them. I've always had such a great respect for this generation of player because they genuinely want what's best for each other. They pull for each other in like a real way.

I always had this chip on my shoulder that these guys are my enemies, but I pride them -- I really am proud of them, and it's inspiring to me to see the way they interact with each other.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: No. Once I was going to play on the team, I was removed from my vice captain duties, and I'm here as a player. The last thing I would want to do is to make this about the Ryder Cup. I want to do my job for Jim Furyk, and that's to play.

If I was a vice captain, that would be my job. But for this Presidents Cup, I'm here to play and to win my point.

Q. What does this mean to you to be back on the player side of this at this stage in your life?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: It's been a long time. Even as early as today, I was looking at the guys warming up with their USA gear on and thinking, this is pretty cool to still be at this level, being one of the best Americans in the world and to represent our country. I just thought this morning, like I said, that this is really special.

To realize, when I was younger, I would never take a second to think about it. For this week, I've really been trying to think like, man, this is really cool that you've been able to do this for this long.

Q. Were you in any way offended by like I want to make this team?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I definitely wanted to make the team, but I was really excited. I was like really, really pumped to be vice captain for Jim Furyk. Like I said, I grew up really learning of Jim Furyk watching him, and then coming out on TOUR, idolizing him the way he prepared, the way he went about his job. I like to go about it as a job, and I always felt Jim did that.

I was really excited to be a vice captain. I was excited to see how it all went down. But I first and foremost want to play. So ultimately, that's what happened.

Q. Who is one swing on your team that you're jealous of?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Xander. I played with Xander, and geez, I don't know if I've ever seen someone hit a golf ball like the way he hits it. I was standing next to him on a par-3, and he hit a 5-iron, and it vibrated at my feet it was so powerful. It was incredible.

Q. And who do you think is most likely to be late?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Most likely to be late? I would say nobody. I know that's a terrible answer, but I've been sort of wondering, we've had a 7:00 a.m. bus, and not for one second we've waited. Everybody's been ready for the bus every day.

Q. Who's most likely to listen to country music?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: A lot of the Southern boys on the team love country. I'm going to say Brian Harman. He's a country guy. That's not exactly my favorite type of music.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I have actually. I've learned what a great guy he is. Like I was telling my wife last night, I was like these guys are so great it's almost gross. They're just like they're such -- I'm just in awe of them honestly.

Last night I was at the gala, and I was standing there with Xander, Scottie, Sam Burns, and Wyndham Clark. I'm looking at these guys interact like I would watch my friends all interact. I'm thinking, these guys are going to play 20 tournaments next year. 70 percent of the tournaments are probably going to come down to this group standing right here, and they're totally just friends.

When they get inside the ropes, they want to beat each other, but what a refreshing vibe it is. What a better life out here to leave the course and you're with your best friends.

What I've learned about Scottie is how friendly he is, how quick he is to sit with the new guy on the bus, how quick he is to tell a joke, be just a good teammate. I think that's tough to do as the No. 1 player in the world, and the No. 1 player in the world like he is, like dominant. Just how approachful and what a great guy he is.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think luckily those decisions aren't up to me. I think we all do it for free. I think we are, we love to represent the United States, what the future holds. There's a lot of money to be made in these events for everybody, and if they decide that's the best way to do this, then that's great.

These guys don't -- we want to go out there and play and win this thing. Whether it was for a lot of money or no money, we would show up.

Q. Are you at a point in your career where you kind of assumed this wouldn't happen?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I said earlier, when I came on the TOUR and played Ryder Cup at Medinah, I thought I was going to play in these forever. I'd just play one a year and get my wins in there, and it would be great. Then there was a section not too long ago, I remember thinking when we're watching the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, I'm thinking, I'm never going to get to do this again. It was a bummer.

Then things turned around, and I'm like, I can still do this. Then this year getting the call to play, it's really been fun for me to be out here with these guys.

Q. It's so much pressure for you. Is it fair to say that you've done it for this year, it's less intense now?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Sure. I made a promise to myself that I would never have that sort of outlook again. It was too much. It was too much for me. It was too much for my family. It was too much for my kids. Even if I made it, it was just like exhausting. It was a lot.

To be perfectly honest with you, I don't know when my last chance is going to be. So when I'm that close to making Rome, I don't know, maybe that was my last chance. Sure enough, I'm here now, but I've had that feeling, and I desperately wanted to play on another one of these teams, and luckily this year I did.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Like I said, I've been trying this later in my career to, when I'm in these moments, when I'm on the bus with the guys or when I'm in the team room and Jim's talking and I'm trying to really look around and take this in because it's easy when you're younger to just, it's just another day. For me it's not.

I'm looking around and I'm looking at all the guys in this room that probably weren't even on the TOUR when I played my last Presidents Cup and thinking like, this is a big deal. It's a big deal for all of us. Just trying to enjoy it a little more.

Q. What does that mean enjoy it more?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Spend a little bit of extra time. Like last night I was exhausted and I wanted to go to bed. We were all in the team room, and I stayed longer than I normally probably would have because I wanted just a little extra time.

Spending a little extra time chatting with -- I was just in the team room, and we were sitting on the couch. Instead of getting up and going on my own, maybe working on my stuff for tomorrow, staying an extra five, ten minutes, hear what the guys have to say, stuff like that. Little stuff. Stuff that you wouldn't -- you know, not huge stuff, but things that only a player in this tournament can do.

Q. Word is Xander doesn't like these dinners. Did you like those dinners?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Listen, I've been at these dinners with Xander. I've had a great time at them. Certainly you're tired from doing all this because you're used to sort of doing your own thing. If you're tired, I'm just going to go back to the room, but when you're on a team, that's not really possible.

You have to just embrace that it's going to be a little uncomfortable for your daily routine, but like I said, for me, I want to be with the guys. I want to be here all day.

It's like when you play your first Masters, you never want to leave the course. You want hidden balls. You're putting extra. Let's go walk a few holes, stuff like that.

Q. (No microphone)?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: We halved one, lost one, and won one today. So pretty much flat.

Q. Do you think it helps you handle that pressure?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I really do. I think today I had to make a 3 1/2, 4-footer slider down the hill that, if I'm in a practice round, maybe I whack or I just do quick. We want to -- it's funny, I'm playing these matches, and then the next day, like all right, you're playing against Russell and Scottie. Geez, that's a tough team. Then the next day I'm playing Xander and Tony.

You've got to be on your game here against these boys. I think that's a good thing.

Q. Really last year at the Ryder Cup the story was love him so much but he hasn't played since 2016. It's kind of a sad story. You basically transformed in a year. You're either on the team or a captain for the Ryder Cup. Do you ever kind of pinch yourself and see how it's come around?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: It is weird. You're never as far away as you think you are, and you're never as good as you think you are.

I never -- I always wanted to be a Ryder Cup captain. I never thought I would be. I always wanted to play on Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups. I've told Justin Leonard this probably five, six times over the past five years, but I watched his putt at Brookline in '99, and it changed my life forever. I watched it with my eyes.

I was a golf fanatic then, and that sent me into like another stratosphere. I'm in the team room with Justin, and we're 20 years later or whatever it is, and he's a vice captain out here for me. It just means a lot.