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4. In my dream world — a perfect world — what happened for USA basketball also happens for the United States in golf. Someone takes over the entire program (I guess in this instance, creates an entire program) and moves the U.S. into a new international era. Someone provides cohesion at all levels of golf and a top down approach at building national teams.

As an aside: This is not just a Ryder Cup conversation. It’s a Walker Cup conversation and an Olympics conversation and a Palmer Cup conversation and so on all the way down to the junior level. There are so many international events, and because golf doesn’t have a unifying body — rather, it has five (now six) of them with ANGC, the USGA, PGA Tour, PGA of America, R&A and now LIV — nothing is every pointed in the same direction.

Is any of this going to happen? Absolutely not.

Because as with most problems in golf, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Too many organizations involved that are running their own little team events and no unification whatsoever. Too much of this.

Note: The USGA did do this two years ago, but how much jurisdiction does the USGA have when it comes to the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup?

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5. Like I said, all of that is a pipe dream. Europe has worked toward something similar with probably more people involved than should be involved. But they are all at least mostly on the same page.

Here’s a question if you’re the U.S. … Why not hire a permanent captain like Team USA did with Coach K? It’s not 1944 anymore. The Ryder Cup is big business. Winning is big business. Would Team USA hire Kevin Durant to coach the 2028 team because he’ll probably not be good enough at that point to make the team?

Europe has thrived over the last 20 years because its players have bought into humility and vulnerability. That’s probably never going to happen for the U.S. so why not aim for dominance instead. Sell a vision of dominance and build a culture around it. That’s more or less the basketball blueprint.

The mini mess the U.S. is currently in has partly been created by the lack of continuity and vision by USA golf broadly. Keegan having to talk in every presser about whether he’s going to pick himself at the Ryder Cup shines a light on the lack of vision everyone has for USA golf. That’s not a PGA of America subtweet, a Keegan subtweet or a Seth Waugh subtweet. Waugh acted mostly rationally given the circumstances of the situation.

Again, different organizations and different people every year and at every level. An insane way to run anything but status quo for the stars and stripes.

6. Since all of that is just a wishful tangent, let’s get back to reality. One other sort-of-related thing I want to address: I think when it comes to the Ryder Cup, we have to constantly clarify whether we’re talking about what we think the U.S. should do and what it will do. I addressed what it should do above. What I think it will do is continue picking one off captains and just try to make more putts on the road.

But I constantly find myself having to clarify here. Because sometimes I speak about what it should as if it’s what will happen, but that’s not what I mean at all. This is basically a note for me next time I go on a pod to talk Ryder Cup so thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

7. Another thing we need to talk about. The home vs. road thing is real. I wrote this in Rome, but you have to bring your own juice (BYOJ) on the road, and you don’t at home. The crowd provides it. That absolutely should affect how you put together a team.

At home, I think you can lean a bit more on talent with less need for dogs. On the road, it’s very, very different. So when I talk about constructing a 2025 team, I’m talking about it with the fact that this is a home event in mind.

Take a look at the six month numbers for both teams. One of these teams is way more talented (and it’s not Europe!). If this was an away game, I would say throw it out. Because it’s home, I think it definitely matters.

The worst player on the U.S. over the last six months would be top seven on Europe. That is not nothing. Especially at home.

8. So now that the U.S. is in a bit of a mess with Keegan playing like a top six guy currently and a lot of ambiguity at the bottom of the potential roster, I think I’m now of the opinion that Keegan should pick himself. This is not the European way, but the Americans are not the Europeans. The Euros have been planning and prodding and poking at how to get to 14 points for nearly 20 months now.

The U.S.?

I heard Soly and Tron arguing on their Sunday pod about whether the captaincy even matters. It’s a difficult thing to say that it does and that the Euros are geniuses etc. but then also be of the opinion that Keegan should just play because who cares, it doesn’t matter.

9. But the Euro captaincy and American captaincy don’t actually have the same weight because the teams are fundamentally structured differently. Remember what Brooks said right before the U.S. delivered the biggest defeat in Euro history?

[Jason here]: This Brooks quote actually brings up a great point about the individualism of the U.S. team vs. the collective mentality of the Euros. It's a subtle difference but I think it does explain why the US struggles. Maybe it goes back to the idea of a permanent captain creating a culture that players can buy into instead of having a bunch of individual stars on the team. [Jason out]

On the road, Keegan trying to balance both things would concern me a bit. If the Euro captain was trying to do both things either at home or on the road, that would concern me (from the Euro side).

But for the Americans at home? I’m really not all that concerned. The team really is starting to take shape — as it always does — and if Jordan Spieth and Harris English are your 11th and 12th men, then you’re probably in a pretty great spot.

10. One thing I did not see coming is Keegan as a playing captain having all of the juice. People are into it. I think we have crossed into both “he’s playing well enough that he probably should be there” territory and also “people are so behind the idea of a player also being the captain and specifically Keegan being the playing captain” that it might be malpractice not to do it.

Not that Bethpage will need anything extra, but Keegan rolling out to hit the first tee shot on Friday morning as the playing captain after delivering this speech (⬇️) again in the locker room will be one of the more electric moments in recent U.S. Ryder Cup history.

Also, perhaps an aside but definitely relevant: I think Keegan would be a better road captain than home captain. Again, he brings The Juice.

11. I don’t blame him for not relinquishing the captaincy. He said on Sunday after winning the Travelers that if he plays, he will also still captain. I would too. I joked on Sunday evening that it might be time to phone the Cat (or as a real czar for Team USA golf, what about Seth Waugh in the Colangelo role and someone else — maybe a distinguished college coach? — in the Coach K role?).

But for Keegan, you’re never guaranteed any of this, and by giving any of it away, you …

1. Bring a scenario into play where you’re neither the captain nor a player this year (which would be wild!).

2. Bring a scenario into play where you never get to captain again because Tiger gets it in Ireland, and then you just get forgotten about.

12. Bottom line: I think the U.S. is going to win if Keegan plays, and I think they’re going to win if he doesn’t play. I don’t think it’s going to matter. He’ll play, what, two times? Maybe three? One of those will be in singles where the captain is basically just cheerleading (and who wouldn’t want to have their captain in battle with them?).

And he can structure it where he plays the second part of the day where he doesn’t have to make decisions for the next set of matches until that night.

13. Is any of this ideal? No. Will all of it look exactly the same two months from now? No. Will any of it lead to long-term success dynastic success? Also no.

Keegan was told he was going to be captain, and now he’s in a no-win situation in which his incentives (if you play great, you’re going to face a PR nightmare!) do not align.

That sucks.

What’s ideal for the future is the USA Basketball model.

But in the face of a not-that-ideal situation in which ambiguity reigns (and maybe even a bit of chaos, too), I think I have been swung (barely) to the side of Keegan Bradley as the playing captain of the United States Ryder Cup team.

A position I maintain the right to change my mind on when he finishes the year T38-MC-MC-T31-T20 going into September.

Thank you for reading until the end.

You’re a complete and total sicko for reading a newsletter about an exhibition golf match three months from now that is 3,247 words (!!) long, and we are grateful for your support of this business.