Keegan Bradley: New US Ryder Cup captain ‘wants the 12 best players’ for 2025 event

“There were no conversations until Zach phoned me and told me I was going to be captain,” Bradley said.

“I was in complete shock, especially as some of my golfing idols were overlooked.

“But I’m so honoured it was Zach who told me. I feel terrible for what happened to him in Rome.

“After that clip [in a Netflix documentary] that showed I was crushed at not being picked by Zach [as a wildcard], you also saw me and my family cheering on the American team on TV. I love the Ryder Cup and bleed red, white and blue.”

Bradley was preferred to former Open champion Stewart Cink, 1992 Masters winner Fred Couples and former skippers Steve Stricker and Davis Love III.

Explaining the decision, PGA of America president John Lindert said: “You have a PGA champion, you have somebody who went to school here, is familiar with the New York base, the fanbase, is very familiar with Bethpage Black, is the son of a PGA member.

“There are a lot of boxes that Keegan checked off and his enthusiasm for the Ryder Cup stood out above everything else and we just felt that that was the ‘aha’ moment.

“When Keegan’s name was mentioned all hands went up and we were 100% behind it.”