On Wednesday, U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley announced his six Captain’s selections. He opted not to pick himself, despite his excellent season, and instead chose Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns. Those six join the automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English to form the 12-man team.
While those 12 players will be analyzed and broken down in every possible way over the next couple of weeks before the event, let’s take a look at who didn’t make the squad before we turn our focus to Bethpage Black in New York.
Biggest U.S. Ryder Cup Snubs
Keegan Bradley
Can it be a snub if the Captain doesn’t pick himself? It definitely feels like it. Bradley was asked about leaving himself off as a player, and he said, “I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups. I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys and it broke my heart not to play. It really did… But ultimately I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be a captain.”
The 39-year-old had a great year, with a victory and 11 top 25 finishes in his 21 events. He advanced to the TOUR Championship and finished T7 and just missed out on being an automatic qualifier.
While he would have been justified selecting himself, he ultimately opted to focus just on his responsibilities as Captain. He probably saved a lot of second guessing and will now be able to zero-in on getting the right players in the right spots in all the matchups against Europe.
Maverick McNealy
At just 29-years-old, McNealy will likely have Ryder Cup appearances in his future, but his solid season wasn’t quite enough to get him the nod this year.
McNealy broke through for his first PGA TOUR win last fall at The RSM Classic and had a solid 2025 with 20 made cuts in 24 events and 11 top 25 finishes. He had some of his best showings in the last few months, including a top five finish at the Memorial in a Signature Event in June and a solo third at the BMW Championship in mid-August.
He finished 10th on the points list just ahead of Bradley. McNealy also finished ahead of Young, Cantlay and Burns on the list, who were each picked ahead of him. He had more top 10s, a better OWGR ranking and a better finish at the most recent major than the selections, but he ultimately will have to wait to make his potential debut until 2027 at Adale Manor in Ireland.
Brian Harman
Harman does have Ryder Cup experience, but his 12th-place spot on the points list wasn’t quite enough to earn him the call.
He picked up his fourth PGA TOUR win as part of the 2025 season and had 10 top 25 finishes while making the cut in 20 of his 23 events. Harman finished in the top 25 in five of his last six events, including a T10 at The Open.
The steady veteran could have been an interesting pick, for sure, but his 2-2-0 record from 2023 in the States’ loss to Europe wasn’t quite enough to get him the selection to return this year.
Andrew Novak
Novak finished 13th on the Ryder Cup points list ahead of Young, Cantlay and Burns, but the 30-year-old’s only win came at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he played alongside Griffin.
He did have a runner-up finish on his own at the RBC Heritage the week before, and a T6 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship more recently. Novak faded a little bit down the stretch aside from that T6, though, missing the cut at the Wyndham and finishing 48th of 49 golfers in the BMW and T25 out of 30 golfers in the TOUR Championship.
If Novak had been picked, it would have been deserved, but Burns, Young and Cantlay finished the year a little stronger, and Cantlay also has more Ryder Cup experience.
Ryder Cup Preview
We’ll have a much fuller Ryder Cup preview in the week leading up to the event on September 26 through September 28, with all the analysis and insight you expect from the team at DK Network.
An early look at the Ryder Cup page on DraftKings Sportsbook has the US as -145 favorites to lift the trophy and -115 to lead first. Scottie Scheffler comes in as the favorite at +180 to be the top Team USA point scorer with Bryson DeChambeau at +400 just behind him and Burns and Cantlay with the shortest odds of the Captain’s picks at +1400.
Cantlay also has the shortest odds to be the top USA Captain’s Pick at +350 just ahead of Burns at +370.
