Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup captaincy will be defined by a succession of woeful decisions at Bethpage Black.
Bradley began the week full of confidence, telling the world how much belief he had in his Ryder Cup team, but he will be leaving Bethpage Black on Saturday night with his tail tucked safely between his legs.
After the mauling dished out by the Europeans on day one, Bradley lamented the lack of putts holed by his US Ryder Cup team.
However, any true golf fan could see that the United States’ problems ran a lot deeper than that.
US Ryder Cup captain Bradley made some truly strange decisions on day one.
Picking Collin Morikawa and Harris English as a pairing on Friday was utterly mind-boggling and then sticking with that partnership on day two was downright laughable, from a European perspective at least.
However, it wasn’t actually Bradley’s worst decision on Saturday, believe it or not.
Keegan Bradley made another unforgivable decision on day two of the Ryder Cup
There’s no sugar-coating it, Bradley has failed miserably in his role as US Ryder Cup captain.
Many of his captain’s picks back in August were questionable to say the least, and then when it came to game-time, he made some head-scratching calls.
The Morikawa and English pairing was just downright bizarre. They lacked any kind of chemistry together and all of the data suggested that they would be a poor partnership.
However, another decision from Bradley was truly unforgivable.
J.J. Spaun was bizarrely left out of the foursomes matches on day one, but the fact that he didn’t make the squad bemused many American fans at Bethpage.
In the regular PGA Tour season he was ranked 36th in strokes gained off the tee, 5th in strokes gained approach and 7th in strokes gained tee-to-green.
He is one of the best and most reliable ball-strikers in professional golf and has a track record of holing long putts under intense pressure.
Surely that’s the profile of a perfect foursomes player, right? Bradley seemed to be more interested in proving people wrong by doubling down on his awful initial decisions.
One thing’s for sure, Spaun would have been a better option for the USA than Morikawa, and Bradley leaving the reigning US Open champion on the sidelines on Saturday morning summed up his terrible captaincy.
Keegan Bradley’s stubbornness has cost America the chance at Ryder Cup glory
What’s the definition of insanity again? Do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.
Morikawa and/or English definitely should have sat out the Saturday morning foursomes but Spaun not playing was just as bad.
Quite what Bradley’s players have left after two days of serious beatdowns at Bethpage remains to be seen.
The singles could easily be dominated by the Europeans again.
Donald’s players have been far superior on the course this week, but they’ve also been a lot better prepared off it.
And that is a damning indictment of Bradley’s Ryder Cup captaincy in general.
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