2025 Ryder Cup Preview and Odds:
The primary story heading into Wednesday morning’s Ryder Cup selections for Team USA was whether team captain Keegan Bradley would select himself. With a victory at the Travelers Championship plus five other top ten finishes, Bradley certainly had a case to be the first player-captain for the American side since Arnold Palmer in 1963. However, he elected to only serve in the role as captain for the American side next month (September 26-28) at Bethpage Black in New York.
ODDS TO LIFT THE TROPHY (DraftKings)
US -145
Europe +115
ODDS TO WIN THE TOURNAMENT (DraftKings)
US -145
Europe +145
Tie +1000
“The decision was made a while ago that I wasn’t playing. The last 48 hours or so, we had the team set. We weren’t scrambling at all, ” Bradley said. “This was a really tough decision. I would say there was a point this year where I was playing a year ago, and all these guys stepped up in a major way and played their way on this team. That’s something I’m really proud of and something I really wanted.”
Bradley’s six captain’s picks included Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Sam Burns to go along with the six players – Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English, and Bryson DeChambeau – who had already qualified on points. There were certainly arguments to be made against a couple of these selections, but there were no real surprises. Although there were no shocking selections, captain’s picks are always scrutinized even more heavily than the others, and those picks for the American side have not fared well of late. Over the last six Ryder Cups, the USA captain’s picks have a combined match record of 30-49-8.
The European side will have their selections announced next Monday by Luke Donald, who captained the European side to victory two years ago at Marco Simone in Italy. Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Højgaard, and Tyrrell Hatton. Donald’s picks are expected to be Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, and Matt Fitzpatrick. If that is the case, then 11 of the 12 members of the 2023 team will return for Europe and the only change is a twin swap between Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard.
“it broke my heart not to play, ” Bradley added, “because you work forever to make these teams, but ultimately I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be the captain of this team and my ultimate goal when I started this thing was to be the best captain I could be, and this is how I felt I could do this.”
Perhaps Bradley’s somewhat selfless act will be a galvanizing force for this team, especially the captain’s picks, knowing any one of them could have easily been left off. However, this is an experienced European side that should have a great deal of confidence.
Arguably, the best bet to be made at this point is Europe “To Lift the Trophy” in the three-way market at +115. Europe currently possesses the cup, so if the event ends in a 14-14 tie, then Europe retains the cup, and this bet accounts for that.
