United States captain Tom Watson tabbed veterans Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan and Webb Simpson on Tuesday to round out his Ryder Cup team.
Bradley and Simpson played in the 2012 Ryder Cup, and followed up by playing in last year's Presidents Cup. Mahan played in the 2008 and 2010 Ryder Cups and has played the last four Presidents Cups for the United States.
Those three join Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Zach Johnson, who were the nine qualifiers for the U.S. team.
Bradley has played on the last two international teams for the United States, at the 2012 Ryder Cup and the 2013 Presidents Cup. He went 3-1 in his first Ryder Cup and teamed with Phil Mickelson in his three victories, but Bradley lost to Rory McIlroy in their singles match. Bradley was 2-2-1 at the Presidents Cup, with a 2-1-1 mark when paired with Mickelson.
The 2011 PGA Champion hasn't won since the 2012 season, but Bradley was the runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and has three fourth-place finishes, including at the U.S. Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2014.
Mahan will be making his third Ryder Cup appearance. He is just 0-1-1 in his previous two singles matches, but is 3-1-2 in foursomes and fourballs combined. Mahan won the Barclays two weeks ago for just his sixth top-10 of the season. Two of those came in World Golf Championship events, and he shared seventh at the PGA Championship.
The 2012 WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship winner had a chance to help the U.S. tie the 2010 matches and retain the Ryder Cup. He was 2-down with two holes to go against Graeme McDowell. Needing to win the 17th at Celtic Manor to extend the match, Mahan came up short on the 17th, then chunked his chip shot. After McDowell putted to four feet, Mahan missed his par try and he conceded the hole to McDowell, and therefore the Ryder Cup to Europe.
Simpson will be making his second Ryder Cup appearance. He paired with Bubba Watson for a pair of 5 & 4 wins in fourballs matches in 2012. Simpson earned his ninth top-10 finish the season last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. The first of those top-10 was a victory at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
The 2012 U.S. Open champion was a third-round loser at the WGC-Accenture Match Play earlier this year and missed the cut at three of the four majors.
Earlier in the day, European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley selected Stephen Gallacher, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood as his three captains picks.
This year's Ryder Cup will take place at Gleneagles in Scotland from September 26-28.
The European team has won two in a row and five of the last six Ryder Cups. Watson captained the U.S. team to a 15-13 win in 1993 at The Belfry. That was the last U.S. win on European soil.
[SportsNetwork.com]
