Keegan Bradley heard the headlines about Justin Thomas and the greens crew. He could’ve deflected. Instead, he owned it.

“Once the tournament starts on the Sunday before the Ryder Cup, we lose control of the golf course, the home team,” Bradley said at the Hero World Challenge. “They were given specifications of where to keep the greens, and they felt that they had done that. They did a great job. It’s so difficult to figure out. There’s so much going on, and you want the greens at a certain speed, and they’re telling you that they are. You’ve got to take their word for it.”

“But the greens are so flat that it’s difficult, I think, to get the pace that we were looking for. But the course was in great shape. The home team handed over specifications. The crew delivered. But Bethpage’s flat greens made it nearly impossible to keep pace with the desired pace. The Europeans just played so great. I wish that we could blame somebody, but we can’t. Blame me, I blame myself for that loss. It would be nice to blame that, but we can’t,” he continued.

No scapegoat. No alibi. Just a captain willing to absorb the loss rather than point fingers at a grounds crew doing their job.

The controversy started when Justin Thomas recently claimed the grounds crew argued with players about green speeds. Speaking on the No Laying Up podcast, Thomas said Bradley had requested greens running at 13 on the Stimpmeter—championship speed—but the crew insisted they’d delivered despite what players were seeing on the course.

The Bethpage staff fired back hard, claiming their data proved the greens were correct and accusing the American team of making excuses two months after the loss. And, Bradley’s response at the Hero presser offered rare insight into the operational reality behind the scenes. The moment the tournament officially starts—the Sunday before the Ryder Cup—the home captain loses control of the golf course. Specifications get handed over. Communication becomes limited.

Then came the technical challenge: Bethpage’s famously flat greens. Even at 13 on the Stimpmeter, flat surfaces don’t deliver the same perceived speed as contoured greens. What reads as fast on a measurement tool can feel sluggish under tournament pressure.

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Keegan Bradley seeks Ryder Cup redemption

Bradley could’ve leaned into the greens narrative. He didn’t. Instead, he redirected the conversation to what actually decided the 2025 Ryder Cup: Europe simply outplayed the United States. The final score—15-13—reflected a Sunday surge that came too late to overcome Friday and Saturday’s collapse.

It’s the kind of leadership move that either earns respect or gets dismissed as performative. But Bradley’s tone suggested genuine weight—this loss still sits with him. Earlier in the presser, he admitted the Ryder Cup defeat left him with “a gaping hole” in his career that he may never fill.

“Being the captain of the Ryder Cup team is not something you can work hard for; it’s just something that’s elected on you. Of course, I would love to do it again, I would love to avenge that loss, but that’s
not up to me. I don’t think that’s fair for me to come out here and say that. I don’t know if that will ever happen, probably won’t. I think if you ask any losing captain if they would like to do it again, they would all want another shot,” Bradley shared.

The greens debate, for all its technical complexity and behind-the-scenes friction, ultimately served as a distraction from the larger truth. Europe dominated because they putted better, managed pressure better, and executed better across two critical days.

Bradley knows it. He’s accepted it. And two months later, he’s still carrying it.