Keegan Bradley will remain as just Team USA's Ryder Cup captain after opting not to name himself in his six picks for Bethpage Black.

President Donald Trump had thrown his weight behind Bradley to pick himself on the 12-man team, with six players already qualified and another six handpicked by the captain.

However, the 39-year-old, who was appointed captain in July last year, decided to ignore advice from his president and name Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns as his captain's picks.

Team USA captain Keegan Bradley has decided against naming himself on the Ryder Cup team

Speaking about his decision, Bradley said: "I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups and wanting to fight alongside these guys. It broke my heart not to play, it really did.

"I was chosen to do a job and be a captain for this team and my ultimate goal was to be the best captain I could be. This is how I felt I could do this.

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"If it got to the point where it felt the team was better with me on it I was going to do that. I know 100% for certain this was the right choice.

"These six guys played so incredibly coming down the stretch here and made my job so much easier."

Making up Team USA's star-studded squad include automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau, who were announced earlier this month.

Bradley had said before that if he was not part of the automatic qualifiers, he would not play in the competition.

That is despite words from Trump, who revealed that he believed that the 2011 PGA Championship winner would be a worthy member of the team.

“He is an AMAZING guy,” Trump said on Truth Social.

“Keegan Bradley should DEFINITELY be on the American Ryder Cup Team — As Captain.

“It will be a great Ryder Cup. At the invite of the PGA Tour, I will be there on tournament Friday!”

Keegan Bradley currently sits 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking and could qualify automatically for his own squad | Getty

Rory McIlroy, who will be a key part of Team Europe, added fuel to the fire earlier this week by saying that Bradley would not be able to handle both roles as player and captain.

Bradley hit back at the Northern Irishman, saying: “I am not worried about what they do or say.

“I'm not sure how he would know if it is not possible, nobody has ever done it, I said through this process I wish I could call Palmer and get his advice.

Donald Trump threw his support behind Keegan Bradley ahead of the Ryder Cup

“The simple fact is it’s a different animal now to the 60s, they can make comments on what I can or cannot do. No-one would have known.

“I was confident if I did need to play, I had incredible vice captains to lean on. This was the decision I thought was best.”

Rory McIlroy had hit out at Keegan Bradley, saying he could not handle both roles as player and captain

Bradley's fighting talk comes as Team USA look to reassert themselves at the Ryder Cup, where they have won just three of the last 11 competitions.

However, Team Europe have not won across the Atlantic in 13 years while captain Luke Donald will announce his six captain picks on Monday.