US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley says most of his team will play in a Fall Series event on the PGA Tour to stay sharp for Bethpage Black.
While Luke Donald’s team mostly kept playing in the run-up to Rome, the majority of Team USA sat out for the month between the Tour Championship and the 2023 Ryder Cup.
That decision backfired, and Bradley doesn’t want rustiness to be a factor this time around, so the majority of his Team USA players will tee it up at the Procore Championship in Napa, California in early September.
That includes Bradley himself, if he decides to be player-captain, as it’ll provide a tune-up outing two weeks before the serious stuff starts in New York.
The decision seemingly comes after Bradley held talks with players expected to be on his team at Bethpage – but is not a mandatory outing.
“No one is required to go,” Bradley told Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig. “The boys feel like this is the best course of action to be ready to play at their highest level at Bethpage.
“I think the guys want to feel ready to go at Bethpage and they feel this is the best way to do it.”
Only captain Zach Johnson, Max Homa and Justin Thomas played in Napa in 2023 ahead of the Ryder Cup in Italy.
Wyndham Clark, who did make the team, admitted that he “felt like a lot of us weren’t prepared” after five weeks off before facing Europe at Marco Simone.
Donald’s side, meanwhile, all played at the PGA Championship at Wentworth while plenty also teed it up at the Irish Open the week before – which is again a likely landing spot this time around.
Bradley and his team look to have identified that possible ring rust as a factor in that defeat – so expect an unusually strong field at the Fall Series event this year.
The six automatic American qualifiers will be decided after next week’s BMW Championship, before Bradley then makes his picks on August 27 following the Tour Championship.
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