Brandel Chamblee points out the error Keegan Bradley made before the Ryder Cup even started which Europe never would

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Keegan Bradley will be more than aware that only something greater than a miracle will prevent his Ryder Cup captaincy from being torn apart over the next few weeks.

The Ryder Cup looks set to remain in European hands, with Luke Donald‘s men going into the Sunday singles needing to win three of the 12 matches to retain the trophy with an outright victory.

Europe have won every single session at Bethpage Black so far. Meanwhile, five members of the American side are looking to make their first contribution to the scoreboard during the Sunday singles.

The home team have not been far away in a handful of matches this year. However, there have arguably been a catalogue of mistakes which could potentially lead to one of the heaviest defeats in Ryder Cup history.

Brandel Chamblee points out the mistake Keegan Bradley made before the Ryder Cup even started

Many were baffled to see Bradley put Collin Morikawa and Harris English together in foursomes on both of the first two days. The pair lost both of their matches against Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

Meanwhile, putting Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau together on Saturday afternoon when Team USA needed a lot more than one point also seemed strange.

But it seems that the writing was starting to be written on the wall some time ago. There has been so much talk about Bethpage playing host to the 2025 Ryder Cup.

Ultimately, it has been an underwhelming venue when it comes to the layout. And speaking on McGinley & Chamblee, Brandel Chamblee insisted that Bradley has to take a lot of the blame for leaving the iconic course toothless this week.

“In sports, somebody is going to out-prepare the other team and I just think that Europe has done a better job of preparing going all the way back to when they won in Rome. Going all the way back to when Rory said we are going to win at Bethpage. They began to prepare exactly how to win from that moment,” he said.

“That was a team that had a much, much smaller pay-roll that went very, very far. This was a game of moneyball, it really was. They had better analytics, better research and they better prepare their team to come into a hostile environment. They’ve been at it for around two years and because of that they have simply outperformed the US team.”

“Every captain makes mistakes but this idea that you set up a golf course with wide fairways and no rough, trying to make the golf course play like what used to be the template for the United States, I think that was a mistake. They’ve got very straight hitters on their team, even Bryson DeChambeau, he hits it nine miles but he’s hitting it dead straight this week.

“I’m not sure that template works anymore, and I’m not sure they’ve even done research on that. Quite simply, the data Europe has been using and the data the US has been using, Europe is winning 10&8.”

The member of Team USA who’s driven the ball furthest on the PGA Tour this year has not hit a single shot this week

Many will remember how Hazeltine played to the American team’s strength in 2016. Crucially, Europe’s side included DP World Tour stalwarts such as Andy Sullivan, Chris Wood and Matthew Fitzpatrick. Those three men played one match each over the first two days.

And it proved to be an extremely tough week for Darren Clarke’s side. But much has changed since then.

Obviously, driving distance is not everything, but the three highest ranked players on the PGA Tour this year in that category are all on the European side, with Rory McIlroy second on tour behind Aldrich Potgieter.

Incredibly, the member of Keegan Bradley’s team who sits highest on the list is someone not actually playing this week in vice-captain Gary Woodland.

That is not to say that Woodland should be teeing it up. But obviously, Bradley went all-in and set the golf course up for a clear advantage Team USA simply did not have.