Professional golf is inherently a selfish sport. You do not have to concern yourself with what other people are doing, or how your game is affecting your peers. Your job is to perform at the highest level you can, and your livelihood and stature in the game is determined by your play. You have every incentive to prioritize the self within the confines of your sport. This is true every single week, with every single event - except for one: The Ryder Cup.
If you are not the most familiar with golf, the Ryder Cup is a team competition, one of the few in professional golf, that pits an American team against a European team. They play forms of matches against each other for points, and the winning team walks away with the trophy. I’m leaving out many details, but the point is, it’s one the few events in golf where there is incentive to think about and consider other people.
Each team has a captain who has plenty of duties regarding the team, including picking the roster of the team. This year’s American team is captained by Keegan Bradley, a unique situation because Bradley still plays actively and still fancies himself as a high quality player, one who would deserve to be in conversation to be on the team. Most years, he would be a near shoo-in for the team. But as a captain, many expected he would not play on the team. He even said as such, remarking at the announcement of his captaincy last year that the only way he’d be on the team would be if he automatically qualified, which happens if you are one of the top six Americans. Bradley was not. So case closed, right?
No. Bradley had a good year, peaking at the Travelers Championship in June with a win. Since, he has played poorly, only recently playing well at last week’s Tour Championship with a top ten finish. He had no top ten finishes in the stretch between the Travelers and the Tour Championship. With a stretch that poor, coupled with his captaincy and the emergence of several strong American options in Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, and Sam Burns (among others), there is almost no viable reason that Bradley would be on the American team that is announced at 11am today. Except for one.
Ego.
Keegan Bradley is almost certainly going to pick himself for the team.1 Of course, there are layers to this. He has played well enough to be considered. He was controversially left off the last team in 2023, a year where he arguably played better than he has this year. And it has been since 2014 that he has been on a Ryder Cup team. So he very badly wants to be on it, and in any other situation, he very likely would be.
But the audacity of a captain of a team picking himself, over the choice of other more deserving and better players, is a laughable embodiment of American culture.
As a leader, you have the calling to set aside your own desires and flesh to seek out the best for those under your charge. This is true whether you are a schoolteacher, a coach, a senator, or the captain of the American Ryder Cup team. We can point to plenty examples of leaders who chose their own desires first, namely every horrible political leader that we can think of. The Ryder Cup is trivial compared to many of the consequences of these disastrous leaders. But the human condition is the same in us all - we want the credit, the crown, and the cheers. And the noble, virtuous, good leader must set aside these desires, consider others more significantly than themselves (as Paul writes in Philippians 2), and do what is humble and best for the team.
Could the American team be better with Keegan Bradley, the player, on the team? Maybe. I know of a church who is currently changing their ministry structure for one of their ministries, not because the ministry is failing, but because they just want it to be different. Will this turn out better? Maybe. But either way, just like Bradley, it is an example of poor leadership. The good leader should not recklessly do what they want just because it’s what they want - they should look at the group they are leading and shepherd them in such a way that their benefit is achieved, even at the expense of the leader’s desires.
This may seem like too deep of a point for a golf exhibition, especially one that the American team has a good chance of winning whether Bradley picks himself or not. But it’s set off something in me that I couldn’t let go.2 We’re living in a leadership crisis, where the norm of leadership is becoming more and more obsessed with the gain of the leader more than the gain of those under their authority. We are surrounded by leaders pursuing personal gain at the expense of people they are supposed to be leading. So yes, Keegan Bradley picking himself is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. But it is a product of the culture we are in that says it’s ok to pick yourself, because it’s ok to choose your own flesh and desires, even when that robs others of their best.
This isn’t all Keegan’s fault - he didn’t choose to make himself captain at a time when he was still a viable candidate. He didn’t choose to leave himself off previous teams where he was a deserving choice. But he can choose what to do in this situation. And he can choose to be noble, and to lead well, by choosing someone else for an experience that he was robbed of. Instead, he is likely to rob someone of an experience3 they deserve and earned for the comfort of his own ego.
By the time you are reading this, Keegan has probably called Ben Griffin and told him sorry, but despite you having the best year of your career and finishing higher than me on the points list, you aren’t going to be on the team. Or maybe it was Cam Young, and sorry Cam, I know you are from the New York area where this year’s Ryder Cup is going to be hosted, but I’m going to take myself, because I’m also from the New York area and I want to be the hometown hero. Or maybe it was Sam Burns, because I know last Ryder Cup you got picked over me, but this time, it’s your turn to get left at home while I go in your place.
There is no case for Keegan Bradley to pick himself, not from data, from form, or from character. His decision to pick himself might not seem significant for your life. But it’s a decision we are faced with daily - will we pick ourselves over others?
What will you decide?
if I was wrong on this, well, my bad. but keep reading because I still make some good points! but I’m 95% sure he is going to pick himself as I write this on Tuesday night
if you couldn’t tell, I haven’t written in a while. so thanks Keegan for infuriating me so much that I had to write! be back with more writing soon, though.
being picked for a Ryder Cup team is an extremely big deal for a golfer and a career-defining achievement for most. for Young and Griffin, it would be their first selection.
Let’s seek to be true leaders in Christ, brother! Loved reading this.