Keegan Bradley’s ‘heartbreak’ just won’t stop. Will it ever?

If breaking up is hard to do, finding a loss as a Ryder Cup captain feels impossible.

Well then do exactly – one captain has to lose, of course – but more to process, to reconcile, to live with. Zach Johnson can tell you that. The same goes for Padraig Harrington. And Jim Furyk. And Nick Faldo. And Tom Watson. Along with many others who came up short in the annual team event that on paper is a show but is actually a competition whose participants are so hot to win that they might trade a digit for a one-to-one victory. Or, in Bradley’s case, a limb.

Pardon the bad picture, but Bradley doesn’t just bleed red; blue and white also run through his veins. From the moment PGA of America brass surprisingly asked Bradley to take over the team in 2025 – the offer came in June 2024 – Bradley will tell you to go to bed thinking about the games and wake up thinking about them. He worried about who he would choose. Who will pair up together. When will you stay and when. How to set up a course. How . . . to. . . overcome. That was it. One job. Losing wasn’t an option, however, and that’s exactly what happened: a 15-13 loss to the Europeans that would have been more disappointing had it not been for a late charge by the US in singles.

The Americans were tortured. You could hear it in their humble words on Sunday evening in Bethpage. You could see it in their sparkling eyes. But the result seemed to cut Bradley deeper than most, if not all. That became clear a few weeks later when he opened up to AP golf writer Doug Ferguson. “You win, it’s glory for the rest of your life,” Bradley said “You lose, it’s ‘I’m going to have to live with this for the rest of my life. No part of me thinks I’m ever going to get through this.”

Always? Plenty of time to heal all wounds.

Bradley is in action at the Players Championship this week. He opened with a five-over 77, a round that was marred by a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 5th 11th after his ball clipped a tree and disappeared. But Bradley is not one to give up. On Friday, after an eagle on the par-5 2nd and 5 back-nine birdies, he posted a 6-under 66 that put him back in the red and comfortably under the cutting-over cutline.

“This course puts as much pressure on the golf course as it does anywhere in the world,” said Bradley, who has missed the cut in his last two starts and is just one out of 30 in 2026. “Every shot is brutal. So I’m proud of the way I played today. I really needed this round.

“I really like this tournament and, like not playing at the weekend it would be bad.”

That’s what happened with Bradley. You hear. When he likes something, he really does love it. When he commits to something, he really does you commit yourself. If it looks up an 8-footer on the ground, good luck to that 8-footer.

Bradley was asked if he felt free this season as he left one of his captaincy. It was then that Bradley opened up again, speaking so frankly that he realized it was a question he had been struggling to answer.

“Listen, it was a little difficult,” he began. “I’m still upset about the Ryder Cup. So I’m trying my best to separate myself and move on, but it’s hard. I think about it a lot. I think about the guys a lot, and I’m still on top of that.”

You were asked how you really feel? Do you regret it?

“No,” he said. “Unless you’re the captain of a Ryder Cup team you just don’t know what goes into it and the emotional toll it takes. I think like a lot of people who do it, they’re basically done playing, so they’re not going to do it again – I’m the first person to have to deal with this, get back out there, try to be one of the best players in the world.”

You have to feel for the guy. Last year, when he was in charge of his captaincy, he played so well that he put himself in serious trouble that he might use his wildcards. (He chose not to.) Then came the tragic loss. And now he comes trying to make cuts with the weight of that defeat still weighing heavily on him.

It makes you wonder if Bradley’s only path to a Ryder Cup exorcism could come with a second crack at captaincy. And then, what would happen another one loss to make him?

“I think any losing Ryder Cup captain would like to do it again,” Bradley said. “But that’s not for me.”