USA Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has deep roots at Wheatley Hills Golf Club

The 2025 Ryder Cup arrived at one Long Island club really early, long before the stands began going up at Bethpage Black. The roots of the upcoming matches reach back nearly 20 years at Wheatley Hills Golf Club, when a college golfer got hired to work in the bag room.

Keegan Bradley took the 10-hours-a-week gig in East Williston in exchange for practicing and playing privileges. He later admitted that his workday eventually consisted of about 25 minutes of actual work, if that. He still is eminently grateful for the boost that sent him on to the PGA Tour and ultimately to the captaincy of this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team.

“He maintained his relationship with Wheatley throughout his career and he never forgot the people who helped him out,” said Dr. Glenn Muraca, a Wheatley Hills club member and Bradley’s first big patron. “He actually texted me a few days ago and goes, `How many tickets do you need?’ ”

While it has become legend that the St. John’s golf team received special permission to hold secret practices on Bethpage Black even when it was closed, it should be noted that the Red Storm had more out-in-the-open sessions at Wheatley Hills.

“He was just about to graduate and a bunch of guys at Wheatley said, `He’s a really talented kid, a great, great kid. Let’s give him the ability to practice here,' ” said Muraca, a Queens-based physician and former baseball player at Hofstra. “The board voted on it and gave him approval to have a work/playing privileges type of situation. That’s how we got to know him.”

Members were impressed with the kid’s respectfulness and politeness. So much so that Muraca talked Bradley’s bosses into letting him go out to play with the member one early morning. “They said, `You can’t take him out, he hasn’t even punched in yet. He’s got to work.’ I said, `C’mon. We’ll be back quick.’ I took him out, we played and I was in awe of his talents. I went into the pro shop and said, `This kid is never touching another bag. He’s going on Tour.’

“I had played in a bunch of Bob Hope Pro-Ams back in the day with some really big hitters. He was longer and more accurate than any of them. It was like a Nolan Ryan fastball. You’d hear that pop off the club. His short game was brilliant, too. The whole package was there. He just needed to practice and hone his skills. He needed the opportunity.”

Who knows if Bradley would have reached the Tour, won the PGA Championship in 2011 or be awarded the Ryder Cup captaincy without the East Williston crew? But the staff and members sure helped. It wasn’t just Muraca. Bradley has told of a day when he had pulled up in his rickety Ford Focus without much money for rent, and Wheatley members gave him an envelope with more than $1,000 in cash.

Still, one of Muraca’s donations stood out. Bradley was playing on what was then known as the Hooters Tour, planning to go to the PGA Tour qualifying tournament, known as Q School.

“He was like, `Doc, I don’t have money for Q School and the deadline is coming up. What can I do?’ I asked how much it was. He told me $6,000. I said, `OK, I’m going to give you the money,’ ” Muraca said. “He went out and won that weekend. He won $30,000.”

And he was on his way. On his way to the coming week, leading the red, white and blue on the Black. “I think he would take this over any other tournament,” Muraca said, adding that some Wheatley members will be watching on TV at the club, some will be in the gallery and a bunch will be marshaling the 17th hole. “I’m sure Keegan is going to go over there and chat it up with them.”