Bradley’s underdog story can ignite powerful crowd synergy in New York

Captain Keegan Bradley poses with his gifted FDNY Custom Cap during the 2025 Ryder Cup Practice Round at Bethpage State Park on Monday, September 22, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)

Call it schmaltz if you like, but there's something about Keegan Bradley's story that has Europe on guard.

When it comes to heralding the American sports underdog, the USA is the undisputed world champion, as fans of Rocky, Remember the Titans, or Cinderella Man can attest.

Bradley ticks all the boxes when it comes to playing the part of the unlikely American hero: the outsider who overcomes improbable obstacles and perceived bias to lead the boys in red, white and blue to glory.

He makes no apologies for his raw Americanism, as illustrated by the gathering on the first tee on Monday to hear a speech from the firefighter son of a fireman who died in the 9/11 attacks.

Chris Mascali, a 42-year-old lieutenant from Ladder 157 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, told them how his father, Joseph, was one of 10 in a 12-strong crew that never made it out of the World Trade Centre that day.

He told them what to expect from New Yorkers and that "it's going to be tough and it's going to be raw and they need to be ready for that."

Bradley was a shock choice as successor to 2023 captain Zach Johnson, whose "bad news" call to tell him he wouldn't be going to Rome remains the highlight from three seasons of Netflix's docu-series' Full Swing'.

He was devastated as he took the call alongside his wife as his young son, oblivious to the drama, played with a football in the background. It was a scene that resonated with American fans, and they will rally behind him now as a result.

Bravest Golf Team member Joseph Felder poses with Team USA Captain Keegan Bradley alongside a FDNY Custom Cap during the 2025 Ryder Cup Practice Round at Bethpage State Park on Monday, September 22, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)

"I think the thing about Keegan is he's real," Paul McGinley said after watching a Golf Channel feature on Bradley's journey this week.

"I think people can identify with him. He's genuine. If you look at where he came from, the humbleness of where he came from, how he wasn't a superstar as a kid…

"That piece on Netflix was the best thing we've had now in Full Swing in all the two years put together. By far.  I mean, that was real. That brought people into the downside of what professional golf can be.

"Everybody sees the glamour and the money and all the stuff that goes with it. So I think people are going to connect. They're going to rally behind him. I think he's going to be a guy that's going to lead with the heart. I think the crowds will identify that.

"We're very good at playing underdogs and if you want to know why we are underdogs, you've got the New York crowd and a leader like Keegan and the quality team that America has. We are under no illusions, no illusions whatsoever about the size of our task."

Bradley played on losing teams at Medinah in 2012 and Gleneagles in 2014, proving a feisty competitor alongside Phil Mickelson, with four wins out of five against European pairings that included stalwarts such as Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, and Graeme McDowell.

A lone wolf, he was snubbed by Johnson because he didn't fit the boys' club vibe the 2023 captain felt best for Rome.

As Jason Dufner, the man he beat in a playoff for the 2011 PGA Championship, once said: "Let's face it, he's always been a little quirky, a little weird."

He's a different person now, according to pal and assistant captain, Gary Woodland, who believes Bradley's non-selection for Rome forced him to open up to his peers.

"For him to lead this team, he was going to have to make the effort to connect with the guys, to reach out, to be emotional, be vulnerable," Woodland told golf writer Alan Shipnuck.

Bradley was a 13-year-old sitting on his father Mark's shoulders when the Americans won the Battle of Brookline in 1999 — a moment his aunt, six-time major winner Pat Bradley, described as "a defining moment for him."

"Keegan saw the excitement of that Ryder Cup, and that was the moment when he said, 'Dad, I want to be a Ryder Cup player someday,'" she told the New York Post of the nephew who has vowed not to unpack his Medinah suitcase until he's part of a winning team.

"This has been in Keegan's soul since he was a little boy," she said of the nephew, whose decision not to pick himself this year has been described as the ultimate team sacrifice. "Keegan was born for this. He has been on this journey since he was a little boy."