Keegan Bradley’s captaincy has come under scrutiny ever since it was announced by the PGA of America last year.
Many questioned the decision to give the honor to someone with a genuine chance of making the team as a player.
There were discussions about whether Bradley could become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer, but he ultimately chose not to.
Some of his choices at Bethpage Black have also been criticized, not least playing Collin Morikawa and Harris English together in foursomes.
The American pair lost 5&4 to Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood on Friday morning, yet Bradley still sent them out again on Saturday morning.
Alan Shipnuck has now shared a theory on why Bradley did that after seeing them lose to McIlroy and Fleetwood for the second time.
Alan Shipnuck questions Keegan Bradley’s decision-making
Shipnuck is convinced that Bradley’s age has played an important role in his shortcomings at the Ryder Cup so far.
He believes that Bradley is scared to upset the United States players because he’s from the same generation and competes with them every week on the PGA Tour.
“The US captains have traditionally been old guys no longer playing the Tour,” Shipnuck suggested on X.
“The perils of picking a millennial: Keegan surely wanted to bench Morikawa, English, and Henley until Sunday, but they’re colleagues he has to see every day.
“He doesn’t want them to hate him! So here we are.”
It would make sense for that to be on Bradley’s mind this week, but it seems unlikely that he would put individual feelings ahead of the team.
Alan Shipnuck criticized the crowd on day one at Bethpage Black
Shipnuck was also critical of the crowd at Bethpage Black when he spoke to Dan Rapaport on Friday evening.
He could not believe that the American fans were so quiet on the first day after all the talk about them being the noisiest supporters around.
“You said the crowd was interesting. I would say they were a woeful disappointment. There was almost no energy out there,” Shipnuck explained.
“It was as quiet a first tee as you’re ever going to get on Friday morning at the Ryder Cup. All the build-up about the New York crowd, the New York crazies, they didn’t deliver.
“Maybe that’s because the actual crazies got priced out. We were talking about it all week. But it was very flat.
“What more can you ask for than Bryson to almost drive the green and make a 20-footer, and even then, they were still flat as a crowd.
“Once Europe got into the matches, they really dominated the middle holes, and there was no energy out there.”
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