Keegan Bradley will be aware that one of his most important tasks over the next few days is getting the most out of Scottie Scheffler if Team USA are going to be able to regain the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Scottie Scheffler is undoubtedly the best player on either side heading into the 2025 Ryder Cup. His victory at the Procore Championship will not be remembered at the end of his career, but it certainly sent out an ominous warning to the Europeans.
But Scheffler has a point to prove at the Ryder Cup. He had a fairly miserable week in Rome two years ago, failing to win a single match at Marco Simone. That was also the case at the Presidents Cup the previous year.
Team USA are no strangers to having their talisman struggle on the Ryder Cup stage. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson lost more matches in the event than they won.
Brandel Chamblee suggests which player he expects Scottie Scheffler to be paired with at the Ryder Cup
Brandel Chamblee believes that it is imperative that Scheffler delivers in the coming days.
And speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Chamblee outlined what he believes Keegan Bradley will have planned for the world number one.
“I think he probably needs to get four points. He is the leader of this team. He is the soul of this team. He is by far the best player in the world, which hasn’t automatically guaranteed points,” he said.
“You have to still go out there and win those points. It’s early yet. He hasn’t played a lot of Ryder Cups, he doesn’t have a lot of matches under his belt. But his Ryder Cup record is certainly nothing to write home about.
“I suspect he will go out with Russell Henley in foursomes, I suspect he will go out first, and that’s hugely important.
“If you go back to 1979 and look at who has won the very first match of the first session, when there has been a win, it has 68 percent of the time predicted the winner of the Ryder Cup.
“It sends a message to the team and you get to go back to that well over and over again.
“He has said in the media centre today that he is just one of 12 players and he is no more special than anybody else.
“That speaks to his leadership but he clearly is the best player in the world. That did not work for Tiger and when Phil was in that arena it didn’t really work for him, but it did work for Seve and it worked for Nick, so it can be done!”
Why Russell Henley could bring the best out of Scottie Scheffler at Bethpage
Scheffler and Henley won two of their three matches together at Royal Montreal last year. That makes the 36-year-old the obvious candidate to be paired with Scheffler.
That was certainly one of the big problems with getting the best out of Woods. Finding him the right partner proved to be an issue for a number of captains. Few will ever forget Hal Sutton putting Woods and Mickelson together in 2004.
Woods seemed to benefit most from playing alongside Steve Stricker, with Stricker someone who generally did not make big mistakes.
And Henley should be the metronome of the American team. He will keep the ball in play and leave Scheffler with an opportunity to get an iron in his hands.
From there, there is no one you would rather have with the pressure on.
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