On Monday, the world of golf was put into collective disbelief when Keegan Bradley was appointed as the 2025 United States team Ryder Cup captain. The vast majority of fans and media lauded the choice, but it was a surprising one, nonetheless.

During his pre-tournament press conference, Rory McIlroy, who was the leading point scorer in the 2023 Ryder Cup, was asked for his thoughts on the Bradley appointment.

“I think it has come as a surprise for everyone. We had dinner in London on Sunday night with Luke [Donald], and he told us then.

“Its’ an interesting appointment. The youngest captain since Arnold Palmer I think was a playing captain as 34. But he knows Bethpage very well. He went to university in the area. He’s obviously very passionate about the Ryder Cup.

‘It’s certainly a departure from what the US have done over the last few years, and time will tell if that’s a good thing or not.”

When he was asked how the room reacted while the European team was out to dinner, he said “disbelief.”

“I think disbelief, probably. I think Keegan was probably in disbelief, at some point, too, but it’s certainly an interesting pick.”

McIlroy got off to a hot start at the Scottish Open, where he is the defending champion. He will have to chase down Ludvig Aberg, who is leading after he completed his first 36 holes.

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NFL cornerback, Sauce Gardner, has recently caught the golf bug and has documented his early golf journey on social media.

The New York Jets star took to X once again on Wednesday, saying golf was harder than football.

Never thought I would say this, but golf is harder than football.

— SAUCE GARDNER (@iamSauceGardner) July 10, 2024

Prior to the 2024 season, LIV Golf signed Jon Rahm for a mega deal reported to be in the range of $600 million. Rahm currently sits second in the LIV Golf individual season standings, but many would argue he’s underachieved so far this season.

The Spaniard is yet to win a LIV event and has also been extremely disappointing in majors as well. He finished T45 at The Masters as the defending champion, missed the cut at the PGA Championship and was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Open with an infection in his toe.

LIV Critics have attributed Rahm’s lack of major success to the fact that the LIV schedule is lighter and doesn’t require the players to practice as much as they had previously. At this week’s pre-tournament press conference at Valderrama for LIV Andalucia, Rahm was asked if the move to LIV is the primary reason for his struggles.

“Is the format less competitive than before?” said the reporter.

“No.” Rahm answered.

“It’s not easy to win golf tournaments, I’ve been close. I just haven’t gotten it done.”

While he didn’t attribute his less than stellar season to being on a new tour, he did admit it wasn’t his best when asked to rate his performance this season.

“There’s been weeks where I feel like I scored a lot better than I felt.”

“And there’s been a couple weeks where it could have been better.

“I haven’t won yet so that would deduct quite a bit from it.

“I would say maybe six to a seven out of 10 if I had to say. But the year is not over.

“[There is] still a lot to play for.

“It would not be unheard of to see a player finish strong and change that to maybe a nine out of 10.”

Rahm will begin his quest to turn his 2024 season into a “nine out of 10” this week in his home country at LIV Golf Andalucia.

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