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Team USA will be aiming to avenge its most recent loss in the Ryder Cup when the event heads back to Bethpage Black later this year. American captain Keegan Bradley was captured rallying the troops while profanely pledging to beat Team Europe on Full Swing, and he’s unnecessarily decided to walk his comments back after they went viral.
It’s easy to understand why golf has a reputation as a stuffy sport, as the “gentleman’s game” is governed by a pretty strict code of etiquette that both players and spectators are usually expected to abide by during tournaments.
However, there are a handful of notable exceptions—including the Ryder Cup, which injects the golf word with a virtually unparalleled amount of patriotism-fueled passion every four years.
It’s been close to a century since golfers representing the United States and Great Britain faced off for international bragging rights for the first time at Worcester Country Club, and this year, the 46th edition of the Ryder Cup will see the Europeans head into enemy territory to face off against the Americans at Bethpage Black in Long Island.
Keegan Bradley has been tapped to serve as the captain of Team USA after Zach Johnson failed to inspire a ton of confidence at the helm during the squad’s loss at Marco Simone in 2021, and the former was one of the guys representing the stars and stripes when they prevailed for the tenth consecutive time at the Presidents Cup last year.
The folks at Netflix had a camera crew capturing footage for the most recent season of Full Swing, and they filmed Bradley making a brief speech where he pledged to rise to the moment against Team Europe before stating “We are gonna go to Bethpage and kick their f—king a—.”
— NUCLR GOLF POD (@NUCLRGOLFPOD) February 25, 2025
No reasonable person would view that clip and be offended by the sentiment, as that’s exactly the kind of attitude you want from the captain of a team participating in a historically heated event where officials have already announced their plans to hire extra security to try to keep its infamously rowdy gallery members in line.
However, according to The Guardian, Bradley felt the need to apologize after those remarks ended up on the third season of Full Swing before making the rounds online. He addressed the clip in the wake of the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday while noting he didn’t think it would end up being released for public consumption, saying:
“I meant no disrespect to the Europeans. This was a time that we had just won the Presidents Cup, I was in the locker room and it was my turn to address the team. And I meant no disrespect, I was more speaking to our guys.
I certainly thought I was in the locker room. But, you know, in the world that we live in I have got to be more aware that there’s always somebody filming. Again, I meant no disrespect, but we were excited. I had just won the Presidents Cup that I hadn’t played in 10 years, it was an exciting moment for me…
That’s who I am. That’s me. I’m a pretty excited person. I’m very excited about the Ryder Cup. I think my enthusiasm towards the Ryder Cup showed there. It was meant for our team. Again, no disrespect to the other guys.”
Shane Lowry hinted Bradley gave Team Europe some bulletin board material to fuel their own fire heading into the Ryder Cup, and while I can understand why the American skipper tried to do some damage control, that’s the kind of bad blood the sport needs more of.