Who will get a call from Keegan Bradley after August 17th, 2025? Once the top 6 are finalized, the Team U.S. captain will have to decide. While he is fighting for an automatic qualification spot himself, he will also be closely looking at what others are doing on the course. This week and the next will be extremely vital for Bradley as he will soon need to announce the 12-man squad for the 2025 Ryder Cup. And one man, whose fate still hangs in the balance, might need to sort his affairs in the coming days if he wants to be considered for Bethpage. That man is Collin Morikawa.
“I gotta make sure I make that team,” said Morikawa during a recent interview. Well, experts Johnson Wagner, Brendon de Jonge, and Gary Williams had other opinions in the latest episodes of 5 Clubs. They were discussing the possibility of Bradley picking himself for the team. The Team U.S. captain is currently sitting at 10th with about 1500 points separating him from 13th-placed Andrew Novak. Williams was suggesting the idea of whether Captain America would still consider himself for the team if he were to fall outside the top 12 on the table after August 17th.
Cameron Young’s recent form and Sam Burns’s incredible consistency throughout the season may help them rise up the rankings through the first couple of FedEx Cup playoff events. Bradley, who missed the cut, might not make the top 12 in such a case. However, in such a case, would he favor himself and other experienced candidates over Ryder Cup rookies like Young, Burns, or even Chris Gotterup? As Williams paraphrased Bradley, he missed a spot in 2023 because he was not a part of the boys’ network. The analyst wondered if that would happen again this year.
To that, Wagner replied, “I don’t see that happening from Keegan. As of now, I see either Gotterup or Young on that team. Remember, Cam Young was passed over one spot ahead of Keegan in 23. Cam Young was ninth on that points list, and Keegan was 10th (he was 11th). I do not see him doing that.”
Back in 2023, based on the Team U.S. Ryder Cup points table, both Cameron Young and Keegan Bradley were way ahead of Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler on points. However, Zach Johnson overlooked the two in favor of Thomas and Fowler, which left them bitter. Young had recently expressed that he was still bitter about getting left out of the squad for Rome despite delivering consistent performances from 2021 to 2023. Hopefully, Bradley would correct the error made by his predecessor and include the 28-year-old in the team after his first PGA Tour win.
Coming back to Wagner’s statement, pointing at de Jonge, he added, “We’ve been talking a lot about Collin Morikawa. I think he’ll be on that team. But as bad a form as he is in, I could see, if he doesn’t do anything in these next two weeks of the playoffs, Keegan will just sort of pull the plug and say, well, it’s kind of like what Luke Donald said to Matt Fitzpatrick, you’re not on this team. I need some stuff. That conversation needs to happen with Collin Morikawa.”
Team Europe captain Luke Donald has also been quite vigilant, letting his players know that he will not pick them based on favoritism. And Bradley needs to do the same. De Jonge agreed with what Wagner had to say, and he believes that the Team U.S. captain should include one of either Collin Morikawa or Patrick Cantlay, and one from the pair of Gotterup or Young. It might be easier to narrow down the team and get a healthy mix of experience and form. That means either Morikawa or Cantlay, both of whom have expressed their desire to be a part of the team, won’t make it.
However, who should Keegan Bradley pick out of the 4? A few opinions about that have been thrown around recently. Let’s see what experts have said about it.
Do experts believe Collin Morikawa should make Keegan Bradley’s squad?
When asked if his plans for the next few weeks change, knowing that a Ryder Cup spot is on the line, Collin Morikawa said, “Potentially. I’ve been able to play two Ryder Cups, and I gotta make sure I make that team. I’ve got an opportunity in front of me in the next two weeks. To get to those automatic qualifying spots. I would say we were very prepared 4 years ago, and 2 years ago, we kind of went in, not so prepared. So, whether that changes things and we adapt in that way, potentially. But, goal no. 1 is to make sure I’m on that team.”
While Morikawa may be determined to make the squad, experts believe that it’s Patrick Cantlay who would add more value to the team than he. Former Team U.S. captain Davis Love III recently suggested that Patrick Cantlay adds a great balance of precision and short game expertise that the likes of Bryson DeChambeau & Co. will need. Chris Gotterup has also proven himself to be able to stand tall against Team Europe’s best player, Rory McIlroy, as per points, in the Scottish Open a few weeks ago. This makes him a strong candidate for the squad.
The only thing Morikawa can do now is hope he makes it through automatic qualification. In Cameron Young’s case, only time will tell if Keegan Bradley decides to reward him with a spot or overlook him for a second time in a row.
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