With the recent Ryder Cup captain picks, Justin Thomas was added to the team, describing him as the “heartbeat of the team.” He is among the most experienced players on the team with three past participations. Now being picked as the captain’s preference, he has made an honest revelation when comparing Keegan Bradley with other captains he has played with.

As part of the news conference when the team was announced, Bradley, when he announced JT as his first pick, shared some great appreciative words as well. The captain said, “Justin is the heartbeat of our team. He had an amazing win at RBC this year. He’s the fifth-ranked player in the world. This guy was born to play Ryder Cups and, specifically, I think, at Bethpage Black.”

After the praise from the captain, when the question came about the selfless act of not picking himself for the team, JT shared an honest revelation about it. He said, “It’s been really, really a cool process to be a part of as a player, and everybody does it so differently and every captain is so great in different ways, but just the communication and how transparent Keegan has been, I mean, I don’t want to speak for everybody, but I would say this isn’t something that we have experienced before.”

With three past appearances in the Ryder Cup, JT has played under the captaincy of Zach Johnson (2023), Steve Stricker (2021), and Jim Furyk (2018). But of all, Steve Stricker is considered

a transparent captain with his move, but was also not an active one as he put in an assistant captain to maintain informed decisions and a collaborative environment in the team. But when it comes to Bradley, he has showcased a brutally honest and transparent side of himself.

Sharing for that, he added, “I would say he probably — there were guys that heard things that they wouldn’t be expecting to hear, brutally honest, if you will, but he said it himself; he’s been in those shoes of being in the dark and not knowing where you are, and I think that’s just how he’s kind of approached this entire captaincy is he wants to do whatever is best for the team. He wants to communicate everything as well as he possibly can.”

Not just JT, but when Patrick Cantlay was asked about Bradley’s captaincy, he said, “I think everyone that’s been involved in this process can tell how dedicated he is to doing everything possible to put us in the position to compete and to give us the best chance at winning.”

Bradley has left some in-form golfers out of the team, but he did not just make the decision as he had conveyed the hard truth to the players himself. Bradley left Brooks Koepka, Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth, and Maverick McNealy out of the team, which was a tough decision. In fact, the captain communicated with McNealy about not being the pick. He said, “It’s difficult to get a pick in your first event. I’m impressed with his game. I said it’s OK to be angry. You can use this as fuel. Be angry with me and make the next team.”

Well, the captain has not just been transparent and honest with the players, but has also discarded the claims of the competitor team players. In fact, he did point out Rory McIlroy’s take on captaincy just after the announcement.

Keegan Bradley discarded Rory McIlroy’s take

Earlier, McIlroy shared how difficult it is to be a playing captain. Talking about that, he said, “There’s a lot of different things that go into it, and that’s why I think. Look, it’s just my opinion, but I think it would just be very difficult to do.” There hasn’t been a playing captain since Arnold Palmer’s 1963 Ryder Cup captaincy. But when asked if Bradley wanted to prove McIlroy wrong with his decision, he shared an honest answer to it.

Bradley answered, saying, “I just am not worried at all about what they do or say. I care about our team. I’m not quite sure how he would know if it’s not possible.” There hasn’t been any captain since 1963, and, quoting in his answer, Bradley shared that he wanted to do the best for the team. He, despite being in great form, made the decision to stay off the course.

The captain has made the best decision for the team, according to him. In fact, despite being the captain being the biggest achievement for him, he took the hard pill just to see the team win. However, he is being praised by the experienced player for his dedicated move as captain. Did you like the Ryder Cup team picks by Keegan Bradley? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.