Keegan Bradley thought he’d made Ryder Cup team in brutal Netflix mix-up

If you thought Keegan Bradley’s omission from the US Ryder Cup team was brutal enough, think again.

Bradley was “super bummed” not to be called up for his third appearance against Team Europe, after thinking about making Zach Johnson’s team “every second” he was awake before the wildcard announcement.

The resurgent 37-year-old finished 11th in the US points list and won the Travelers Championship and ZOZO Championship this year to stake a strong claim for a captain’s pick.

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But Bradley was was ultimately overlooked by Johnson in favour of Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Sam Burns in his six wildcard selections.

And on an upcoming Foreplay podcast clip shared by Barstool Sports’ Dan Rapaport, Bradley has detailed his rollercoaster of emotions in the build-up to that crushing phone call.

Bradley has revealed the arrival of a Netflix camera crew filming for the second series of “Full Swing” had given him false hope that he was about to learn he’d be making his first Ryder Cup start since 2014.

When Netflix called, Keegan allowed himself to believe he was getting a Ryder Cup pick. And then, heartbreak.

Awesome show today. pic.twitter.com/SYW8c0X6cV

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) September 21, 2023

And, it is of course, the hope that kills.

“I got a text from Zach – ‘hey guys, I’m going to be calling everybody tomorrow morning.'” Bradley explains. “I’m like ‘oh s***, I’ve got another night now of sweating this out.’

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“I wake up, I’m very tired and I get a call from Netflix and they say, ‘Keegan, we’ve got a camera crew five minutes from your house. Why would they send a camera crew if I’m not getting picked?

“For the first time I let my brain think, ‘I did it!’ Why would they be rushing a camera crew to my house? And as soon as I picked up the phone it was a ‘hey Keegan… and I looked over at [wife] Jill a second into the call and go ‘no.’

“(Johnson) was really nice and I hung up the phone. You’re all going to see this. This is real life and no-one has ever seen this call before. It was devastating.”

Bradley has slowly been coming to terms with the fact he won’t be in Rome next week, recently posting this heartfelt message on his Instagram account:

“I’m proud of the effort I put in to make this amazing team over a decade later. But it wasn’t meant to be. All of the support has been amazing, but it’s time now to get behind this US team.

“I’m gonna be watching and pulling as hard as I can for them! GOUSA.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.