Keegan Bradley faces many big decisions involving his US Ryder Cup team, one of which could involve Patrick Reed.
Reed has been told to impress at The Open Championship in order to clinch a spot on the 2025 Ryder Cup team for Bethpage Black.
The American has just clinched his first LIV Golf individual title, emerging victorious from a four-way playoff in Dallas.
But Reed has dropped two places in the US Ryder Cup qualification standings despite his maiden success on LIV Golf.
He occupies 35th place in the rankings, with PGA Tour star Scottie Scheffler the only player to have qualified thus far.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesKeegan Bradley told to pick two PGA Tour players over Patrick Reed for Ryder Cup
Their leader meanwhile sits ninth in the list, but Bradley still plans to be the US Ryder Cup captain in New York later this year.
And Bradley has now been given advice about selecting Reed, with Rex Hoggard saying on Golf Channel: “He certainly would bring a lot of fire to that team. He would bring experience, which I think is going to be very important.
“But I am almost leaning towards Eamonn’s [Lynch] argument on this one that he is not a perfect fit for that team room right now.
“If I am looking at that bubble there are two players who stand out to me right now and that’s Andrew Novak and Maverick McNealy.
“They have certainly played well enough this season to not only deserve consideration from captain Keegan Bradley but to probably have an inside track to be one of the picks right now.
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“My bigger concern is not about how they play or who they are as players, it’s more to do with roster construction.
“We know that going into Bethpage Black this is going to be such a different atmosphere, it’s going to be so intense.
“And it looks like Keegan is already going to have to have a couple of rookies on that team and I would just be wary of picking a rookie as one of your six picks.”
How have Andrew Novak and Maverick McNealy performed on the PGA Tour in 2025?
Lynch thinks Reed would be toxic for the US Ryder Cup team, who have struggled with unity at times during various editions of the team event.
In stark contrast, Team Europe have enjoyed a superb harmony more often than not, with such unity on display in Rome in 2023.
Europe have decided to stick with captain Luke Donald for Bethpage Black, with the captain having been in charge of a very tight-knit group last time out.
And that harmony really worked in their favour as the hosts defeated the visitors 16½ – 11½ in the Italian capital.
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While Reed hasn’t moved up the Ryder Cup rankings, he does now occupy fourth place in the LIV Golf individual standings.
And like Reed, Novak secured his only career PGA Tour win this season, triumphing at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Ben Griffin.
McNealy meanwhile posted his best finish of solo second at The Genesis Invitational, with Bradley undoubtedly able to keep a closer eye on their displays than those of Reed.
Novak finds himself in 13th place in the qualification spots for the team competition at this moment in time, with McNealy in 11th.