Those hoping to see an overhaul in how Team USA prepare for the Ryder Cup may be a little disappointed with the lack of notable changes announced since Keegan Bradley’s side were beaten at Bethpage Black.
The 2025 Ryder Cup needs to be a turning point for the American side. In the time Xander Schauffele has been on this planet, Europe have won an away event four times.
Did Keegan Bradley make a bigger mistake than how he set up Bethpage Black at the Ryder Cup?
Schauffele was born the month after Team USA’s most recent victory across the Atlantic in 1993.
Keegan Bradley made plenty of mistakes over the week in New York. Meanwhile, Europe were in scintillating form over the first two days at Bethpage. They were able to win just one singles match on Sunday and still leave with the trophy.
Billy Horschel calls for a big change after Team USA’s latest Ryder Cup loss
But when it comes to errors, there was arguably no bigger mistake than how Bethpage was set up. Bradley admitted his regret over how the course played.
However, it seems that Billy Horschel would lay a greater portion of the blame at another door.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Horschel suggested that those who work with the data have not given the captains anywhere near enough support over the last decade.
“I think we’ve got complacent a little bit at the Ryder Cup. We decided to have no rough, we try to get the greens fast. Every one of those European players play in America, they play on fast greens. We’re not going to surprise them with fast greens, but we have the same setup every time. I think we’re just playing to 2016, Hazeltine, our success there,” he said.
“I think the stats guys that we have used for Ryder Cups and Presidents Cup, I think it’s time for them to see their way out. Not that they haven’t been helpful, but I think they haven’t been as beneficial as they can be. I dealt with them in ’22 at the Presidents Cup, not that I didn’t think they were good, but I think there was information that was lost and I thought that some stuff that I mentioned to them about maybe to help them do a better model and be even more successful, I felt like they turned their nose up to me a little bit.
“But I think it’s time to find another group that will do a better job. Obviously the European team has an unbelievable group, and obviously Edoardo Molinari is unbelievable in what he does. I think we’ve got complacent just doing the same things over and having the same people over and over.”
The pairing Keegan Bradley’s captaincy is likely to be remembered for
Certainly, the course setup did the American team no favours at all. But another decision Bradley’s captaincy is going to be remembered for concerns one particular pairing he selected twice.
It was reported that Collin Morikawa and Harris English were the worst possible pairing for foursomes – out of 132 possible combinations.
They were thrashed by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood on Friday morning.
Despite the data, pairing them together once was not unreasonable. Nevertheless, Bradley decided to put them together again on Saturday – where they were, once again, beaten by McIlroy and Fleetwood.
In fairness, it is hard to imagine that any American pairing would have beaten the European duo in either match.
But that decision summed up a confusing strategy.
The fact that Cameron Young did not play in the first session, J.J. Spaun sat out both mornings, and Ben Griffin did not play at all on Saturday surely supports Horschel’s view that big changes are now needed.
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