Xander Schauffele makes controversial PGA Tour decision before Ryder Cup

Xander Schauffele has gone against Keegan Bradley's wishes and declined participation in next week's Procore Championship on the PGA Tour.

Schauffele's omission from the field was confirmed to GolfMagic by a PGA Tour spokesperson at Friday's 5pm deadline. 

"No Xander," read an email in our inbox. 

Bradley never made it mandatory but he did urge as many players as possible on his team to participate in the first FedEx Cup Fall event, which takes place two weeks before the biennial dust-up at Bethpage in New York.

The US Ryder Cup captain made his request because the Procore Championship marks the final PGA Tour event for his players to build up competitive reps ahead of their eagerly anticipated clash against Luke Donald's team.

Bradley, among other Americans, considers Zach Johnson's 2023 US Ryder Cup team lost the opening foursomes session 4-0 to Donald's Europeans largely as a result of them not being sharp enough entering the contest in Rome. 

It marked the first time in Ryder Cup history that the European team held a 4–0 lead after the first session as the home side cruised to a five-point victory at Marco Simone. 

Ten of the 12 players on Bradley's US Ryder Cup team have confirmed their participation in the Procore Championship at Silverado Resort’s North Course in Napa, California from 11-14 September. 

The only omissions are Schauffele and LIV Golf's Bryson DeChambeau.

Bradley himself won't be playing in the event.

Schauffele's official reason for not taking part in the Procore Championship remains unknown, but he did comment on the subject at last month's BMW Championship.

"I don’t know how many guys have signed up or not, but I wouldn’t say there’s an expectation for us to play, but a lot of us do want to play just to stay fresh, knock off some rust," Schauffele said. "I’ll have an even longer break, so we’ll see how that goes."

The BMW Championship ended up being Schauffele's last event of the 2025 FedEx Cup season as he failed to advance to the 30-man Tour Championship following an indifferent season where he went without a win. 

Despite failing to etch his name on silverware this season, Schauffele still managed to automatically qualify for Bradley's team.

"The Ryder Cup is unlike any event in golf… I cannot wait to get to New York and give everything I’ve got to help our team succeed," said Schauffele after qualifying for his third straight Ryder Cup team. 

Schauffele's decision to bypass the Procore Championship means he will be the only PGA Tour absentee from Bradley's team. 

Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Russell Henley, Harris English, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, Ben Griffin and Justin Thomas are all in the field.

LIV Golf's DeChambeau was much keener to take part in the Procore Championship but the PGA Tour last month confirmed he remains suspended until further notice as a result of his ties to the breakaway golf league. 

DeChambeau accepted a fee in the region of $125m to join LIV Golf in the summer of 2022 and he has been suspended, along with all other PGA Tour members who have defected to LIV Golf, ever since. 

"That’s up to the [PGA] Tour and their decision to make," DeChambeau told Sports Illustrated about the PGA Tour's call to deny him entry into the Procore Championship. 

"It’s on them if they don’t let us become together as a team and play."

DeChambeau added: "That just shows you… yeah, I’m not gonna say that, yeah, it's a scenario that's unfortunate, and I wish it was different, but LIV's willing to let me play."

While captain Bradley understands the PGA Tour's protocols, he is irritated by the decision to snub DeChambeau a sponsor invite.

"I thought that the Ryder Cup sort of transcends all of this, and really, the last thing on my mind is the PGA Tour-LIV stuff," Bradley told Sports Illustrated. 

Unfortunately for Bradley, the Ryder Cup is run by the PGA of America and not the PGA Tour. 

There is expectation Schauffele will play a number of sessions at the 2025 Ryder Cup alongside his good pal Cantlay, who has also endured an indifferent period on the PGA Tour without a win to his name now in three years. 

DeChambeau's preferred partner at the Ryder Cup is a little tougher to gauge, but we believe there is a good chance he will join fellow big-hitter Young multiple times during the week. 

Check out our preview of predicted US Ryder Cup team pairings. 

European Ryder Cup captain Donald will see 11 of his 12 players compete in next week's BMW PGA at famed Wentworth in England.

The only omission from his team at the flagship DP World Tour event of the season will be Austria's Sepp Straka, who is understood to be dealing with "personal issues" at the moment. 

Straka was one of Donald's six captain's picks that he revealed on Monday. 

Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick also received call-ups on the team. 

It meant no place for record Ryder Cup points scorer Sergio Garcia, who told GolfMagic he was distraught to miss out on what would have been a joint record 11th appearance on the European team. 

Garcia told GolfMagic it was "mentally tough" to miss out and so he decided to WD from this week's Irish Open on the DP World Tour. 

Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre and Rasmus Hojgaard automatically qualified for Donald's 2025 European Ryder Cup team. 

Europe will attempt to become the first away team to win the Ryder Cup since the Miracle at Medinah in 2012. 

The 2025 Ryder Cup takes place at Bethpage Black in New York from 26-28 September.