JJ Spaun reveals the real reason he was benched at Ryder Cup

The 2025 season is an important year for PGA Tour veteran JJ Spaun. He won his first major championship by winning the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Then, as a rookie in the 2025 Ryder Cup, Spann’s performance was one of the few bright spots in the U.S.’s 15-13 loss to Bethpage Black.

One of the biggest controversies of the Ryder Cup (not involving rowdy fans) is why Spahn was benched for both Friday and Saturday’s foursomes, a match in which Europe dominated the United States.

While some thought captain Keegan Bradley left Spahn on the bench because of his golf ball, that proved not to be the case. Spann revealed the real reason he only played three games with Bethpage Black during a recent podcast appearance.

But that’s not all. He also claimed that the entire team wants Bradley to be the captain on the field and that Bradley deserves to be captain again, just maybe not in 2027.

Spahn explains why he was left out of Ryder Cup foursomes

The first two days of the 2025 Ryder Cup were the story of Europe’s dominant players, but they achieved something special in foursomes.

Europe beat the U.S. 3-1 in both foursomes on Friday and Saturday morning, making a comeback on Sunday almost impossible (though the U.S. came close anyway).

Spahn, who finished second in the U.S. Ryder Cup rankings and in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, was on the bench in both tournaments.

Despite losing Friday’s four-ball match, he still performed well and then won Saturday’s four-ball match and Sunday’s singles match, with many questioning why Bradley didn’t play Spann in the foursomes.

Appearing on Trey Wingo’s Straight Facts Homie! On his post-Ryder Cup podcast, Colt Knost claimed that Spahn knew he wouldn’t play foursomes at Bethpage because he was the only member of the team playing Srixon golf balls.

But during a recent guest appearance on the Wingo podcast, Spann revealed that he was surprised he wasn’t playing foursomes, and Bradley’s real reason boiled down to a desire to have experienced Ryder Cup players competing in these events.

“Maybe a little bit,” said Spahn, who admitted he was surprised to be the backup at Bethpage. “I’m not sure what form I’m going to start in. I’ve spoken to Keegan [Bradley] A few weeks ago, he insisted on fielding a veteran lineup in the first game, a foursome. “

He went on to explain that his device was not the culprit:

“So, it has nothing to do with the way I play, it has nothing to do with the equipment I play with,” Spahn said. “He wanted to get guys up first who have had success in that arena and have experience rather than getting my feet wet in four balls, which I thought was probably a simpler format, would be appropriate.”

That’s the explanation for his absence from Friday’s foursomes match. But Spahn isn’t quite sure why he was left out again when Bradley was paired in Saturday’s foursomes, which included Colin Morikawa and Harris English again after being beaten in Friday’s match.

“But who knows? I don’t know what the thought process was going into Saturday’s game, but I think Keegan didn’t want to panic and start changing things and just assume, put the batting line-up up there and eventually get things turned around,” Spann told Wingo. “I think whoever it is, it’s going to change a little bit — I think Cam [Young] Perhaps the only man coming off the bench in the foursomes on Saturday, things were different. “

Ultimately, Spahn doesn’t think the lineup changes will have an impact because the entire European team performed very well on Friday and Saturday, especially on the greens.

“But to be honest, Europe played really well. They putted really well. They were eight under on the alternating strokes, which is really hard to do.”

He pointed to Friday’s four-ball loss with Scotty Scheffler as an example, explaining that at one point he and Scheffler had five birdies in a row … but didn’t win a hole.

“It comes down to putting… They absolutely beat us on Friday and Saturday, and unfortunately we were too far behind going into Sunday.”

Spahn says Team USA wants Keegan Bradley to play in Ryder Cup

Another hot topic in Spaun’s Wingo interview was Captain Bradley. The biggest question ahead of the event was whether Bradley would use one of his captaincy picks to play for himself and play in the team while serving as captain.

Ultimately, Bradley decided it was best to focus on his captaincy duties despite being one of the top players in the country.

But that’s not what Team USA players want. According to Spann, they tried to convince Bradley to choose him.

“He was in trouble. The whole team believed he should be on the team. We almost tried to convince him to join,” Spahn revealed.

It wasn’t until the last minute that Bradley decided to go against their wishes.

“It was very close before he had to make a choice. He thought about it for a long time until he had to finalize the lineup. We all said, ‘If you weren’t the captain and you were sitting here ranked 10th in the world, would the captain pick you?’ Of course, 100 percent of the time,” Spahn said.

Spahn also said he has a lot of respect for Keegan because he does “three times as much” as a regular captain because he still plays and competes at a high level on the PGA Tour.

But should Bradley be captain again? When Wingo asked Spann this question, he said, “I think [Bradley] Should be given another chance,” but suggested the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adele Manor might not be the right time.

“I think if he keeps playing, this will be the ultimate redemption [to the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team]play, and then maybe two years later, he captains the team and wins,” Spahn imagined. “That would be the ultimate comeback. “

Spahn worried about ‘letting teammates down’ at Ryder Cup

Another talking point during Spahn’s appearance was his first Ryder Cup experience.

He admitted that the Ryder Cup was on Spahn’s mind from the moment Bradley told him he would join the team after winning the U.S. Open and he experienced intense pressure.

“Okay, so I emphasize For the Ryder Cup… from that point on, all I could think about was the Ryder Cup, how am I going to perform, am I ready? Can I handle this? To be honest, it was too stressful before this. I tried to put it in the back of my mind…but it consumed so much mental space…the Ryder Cup was the only thing I could think about,” Spann explained. “I was worried about not playing well because I didn’t mind if I didn’t play well and let myself down. But I’m on a Ryder Cup team and you can let down your teammates, your country, your captain, and I just thought ‘I don’t know if I’m ready for that. ‘”

So how does he play so well? It turns out that Bradley and teammate Justin Thomas talked to him when he arrived at Bethpage, explaining that he had earned his spot on the team and reminding Spann that he and Scheffler were the only players on Team USA to win a major in 2025.

Despite all the pep talks, Spahn said he was nervous when the kickoff came.

“Yeah, I was very nervous on the first tee. Literally, I was nervous about every shot.” But he “calmed down” after losing the first match.

In the end, Spann ended the game with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses, almost helping the US team achieve a historic comeback on Sunday. But he’s also secured his spot on Team USA going forward, and it would be unwise to let him sit out any games.

You can watch Spaun’s full appearance on Straight Facts Homie! The podcast is here.

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