Keegan Bradley seeks Ryder Cup revenge for USA team’s Medinah meltdown

Were it not for the heroics of his European counterpart, Ian Poulter, two years ago at Medinah, Keegan Bradley would no doubt have been named the most valuable player of the 2012 Ryder Cup matches.

As things turned out, of course, Poulter went into his other-worldly Ryder Cup zone and spurred his mates onto a final-day upset of the home team, making Bradley’s energetic and inspiring 3-1-0 Cup debut little more than a footnote to history. But don’t tell that to the 2011 PGA champion, who, to hear him tell it, has thought about little else than avenging his team’s stunning loss this time around at Gleneagles.

”When I’m sleeping, I’m dreaming about it [making the 2014 squad]. When I wake up, I’m thinking about it. When I’m on the course, I’m thinking about it,” Bradley said after opening with a flawless 6-under 65 at the Deutsche Bank Championship last month, before knowing he was on the team. “The more I try not to think about it the more it comes in.”

Even more important than getting to partner with his mentor Phil Mickelson again, Bradley’s zeal for the competition has been driven by revenge.

“I’ve made no secret how badly I want to go back and win the Ryder Cup,” Bradley said after Watson booked him and 2012 teammates, Webb Simpson, and Hunter Mahan, for three seats on the flight to Scotland. “This is a redemption year for a lot of guys who were on the team last year.”

Now that the excitable boy has achieved a spot on his “redeem” team, the question is whether he can bring the same enthusiasm to this year’s unit. Opponent Rory McIlroy, who nearly missed his Sunday tee time and then took Bradley down in their singles match two years ago, has no doubt that his frequent Florida playing partner can match Poulter fist pump for fist pump.

Indeed, if Bradley’s the “American Ian Poulter,” as Watson called his first captain’s pick, that’s because the three-time PGA Tour winner and the bug-eyed Brit are “both nuts,“ according to the world No. 1.

“If I was to compare sides,” McIlroy said earlier this month when he laughingly compared the intensity both golfers infused in their mates in 2012, “[Keegan’s] the guy on the U.S. team that could get anywhere close to the passion that Poulter shows.”

Watson, who watched his young charge take on the Gleneagles track on a trip to Scotland earlier this year, echoed McIlroy’s sentiments.

“There are a lot of great pluses about Keegan,” said Watson, “but the most important thing he brings to it is his unbridled passion to play on the Ryder Cup team.”

With a likely pairing alongside Mickelson again during the doubles sessions, the games can’t start soon enough for Keegan Bradley.

Age: 28
World ranking: 26
Ryder Cup record (Win-Loss-Halve): 3-1-0
Past Ryder Cup appearance: 2012
How he qualified: Captain’s pick (finished 13th in points with -- 3,324.698)