Well, that was a seriously bad start to the Ryder Cup for Keegan Bradley and his players, wasn’t it?
Bradley was in control of the set-up at Bethpage Black and it has to be said that his decision to keep the rough down in the hope of inducing a birdie-fest somewhat backfired on day one of the Ryder Cup.
However, the 39-year-old made a couple of other decisions which were even worse, and the sad thing is that everyone could see it before the matches had even started on Friday.
Bradley shared his confidence ahead of the Ryder Cup, but that now looks hugely misplaced.
In a Ryder Cup, there is nowhere to hide. You either play well and become a hero or go missing and feel the wrath of fans and journalists alike.
Bradley will be fully aware that he is in a highly pressurized position.
However, rather than embrace that pressure, he seems to have crumbled under the weight of it.
A true sign of people feeling the pressure in any walk of life is poor decision-making and Bradley has undoubtedly been the victim of that.
Two baffling decisions Keegan Bradley made on day one of the Ryder Cup
The United States are in a real hole now, with Team Europe firmly in control of the 45th edition of the Ryder Cup.
Luke Donald’s side lead 3-1 after the morning foursomes and if truth be told, it could have been even better for them.
While Donald got all of the big calls right, Bradley flattered to deceive, and one decision that he made in particular was truly mind-boggling.
Bradley’s decision to pair Collin Morikawa and Harris English together for the Friday morning foursomes was hugely surprising.
And it ended up being an awful call from the man from Vermont.
Morikawa and English had little chemistry together and the former’s game is a really poor fit for Bethpage with his lack of length off the tee.
Data Golf produced an ‘optimal pairings rankings’ list ahead of the Ryder Cup and Morikawa and English were ranked dead last in 132nd on that list.
Every single American fan questioned Bradley’s decision to pair those two players together in the Friday foursomes and they were all proven right after the match had finished.
They were lucky to lose by the score of just 5&4 in the end.
Another decision from Bradley cost the Americans dearly. He decided to pair Russell Henley with Scottie Scheffler on Friday morning.
On paper it was a decent enough partnership but Bradley just didn’t think hard enough in my opinion.
Sure, Henley and Scheffler performed well together at the Presidents Cup last year, but the Ryder Cup is a completely different animal and crucially, the conditions at Bethpage should have made Bradley’s mind up for him.
Henley is one of the shortest hitters on tour, and after the deluge of rain that soaked the course at Bethpage Black on Wednesday, he struggled all day, leaving Scheffler with simply too much work to do.
The 36-year-old from Georgia was out of his depth, and that much was made clear very early on. Bradley missed a trick by not pairing Scheffler with Bryson DeChambeau.
Maybe the 39-year-old US Ryder Cup captain was out of his depth as well.
Bradley made yet another poor Ryder Cup decision at Bethpage
Aside from the two shocking calls from Bradley mentioned above, he made another big error.
DeChambeau should be a key player for the US team, but he was kind of wasted playing alongside the out-of-form Justin Thomas.
Putting the LIV golfer out first was a risky move as well. It was always either going to set the tone in a positive way or backfire badly and unfortunately for the USA, it was the latter.
Thomas’ game is a really poor fit for Bethpage Black and it was a bizarre decision to put him in the foursomes lineup in the first place, but the call to pair him with DeChambeau was even worse.
Putting DeChambeau out first with Thomas in the foursomes wasn’t as baffling as the decisions to pair Morikawa and English together and to use Henley on what is a mammoth golf course.
However, it was a really poor call. Donald nailed it by sending his power-pairing out third, with Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood producing the goods.
It’s very much back to the drawing board now for Bradley ahead of the Ryder Cup four-ball matches on Friday afternoon.
Whether he is up to the task remains to be seen.
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