Keegan Bradley fondly recalls the putt that altered his life forever.
Bradley was in attendance at the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, when he watched Justin Leonard sink a 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole — effectively winning the tournament.
That swing of the club motivated Bradley, then 13 years old, to pursue his dream even harder.
“I was golf obsessed, but that pushed me into some crazy mode,” Bradley told NBC News on Monday. “I just couldn’t believe how amazing the tournament was.”
Now, 26 years later, Bradley is not only the 13th-ranked golfer in the world, he also will be the captain of the United States team for the 45th iteration of the Ryder Cup.
The tournament — which features two teams of 12 golfers from the United States and Europe facing off in a match play format — will take place from Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage State Park in New York. Six Americans have already automatically qualified for the team, while six more will be selected at Bradley’s discretion (including, possibly, himself).
Bradley, 39, was named captain of the team in July 2024. He will be the youngest captain of a Ryder Cup squad since Arnold Palmer in 1963.
That year was also the last a golfer served as both captain and player — a dual role several of Bradley’s contemporaries have said he should serve next month.
“In any profession, the respect of your peers is what you cherish the most,” Bradley said. “To hear the boys say that is probably one of the highlights of my career. But my job when they asked me to be captain is put the best team on the course at Bethpage.
“I don’t care if I play, if I don’t play, as long as we win. Whatever decision I make with regards to that is what I think is best for the team to win.”
Bradley wouldn’t reveal his picks Monday, though he said he had a “pretty good idea” of the direction he wanted to go.
Whoever Bradley selects will be tasked with stopping what one could argue has been an era of European dominance. Europe has won eight of the last 11 Ryder Cups dating back to 2002.
Bradley, however, views things differently.
“To be perfectly honest with you, we’ve traded home and away Ryder Cups since 2008 with the exception of 2012,” he said. “We’re right around even. Certainly the guys on this team have no clue what happened in the early 2000s. I think that’s sort of a misconception.”
Bradley himself will be looking for his first Ryder Cup win. He was a member of the 2012 and 2014 teams, which both lost. Still, Bradley looks back on those competitions fondly, particularly off the course, where he got to share bus rides and a locker room with the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
For now, Bradley is trying to enjoy the process of being captain. He said he appreciates the support from fans he’s received over the last year, while also admitting his duties are getting more stressful as the cup approaches. (Among those duties was unveiling the team’s new Ralph Lauren uniforms on the “TODAY” show on Monday.)
Bradley has leaned on his vice captains as he navigates the lead-up to September, in particular mentioning Jim Furyk as one of his most trusted advisers.
A huge Boston sports fan, Bradley drew a parallel to the Red Sox when discussing how his team can succeed at Bethpage.
“You put together a good team, a team that’s close, a team that plays hard, and you can win.”
