Despite nearly overseeing one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time, Keegan Bradley’s captaincy at the Ryder Cup is unlikely to be remembered as a success in the minds of many.
Team USA were emphatically beaten over the first two days at Bethpage. And while they deserve enormous credit for their fightback on Sunday, the fact is that Europe were able to win just one singles match and still win the event.
Keegan Bradley seemed to be completely outthought by his opposite number over the week.
Europe left absolutely nothing to chance – though Kevin Kisner argued Team USA did the same.
The Americans’ plan led to some bizarre moments, including Russell Henley teeing off on the odd holes alongside Scottie Scheffler in foursomes on Friday, and Bradley pairing Collin Morikawa and Harris English in both morning sessions.
But it is arguably another decision Bradley made which will define his captaincy.
Keegan Bradley heavily criticised for a decision he made in the build-up to the Ryder Cup
In the months leading up to the Ryder Cup, Bradley’s connection to Bethpage Black was a key narrative being pushed by the team.
However, that was not the Bethpage Black that hosted the Ryder Cup. And speaking on 5 Clubs, Brendon de Jonge suggested that he could not believe what they decided to do with the iconic course.
“I’ve got to start with the course setup, I thought it was an absolute travesty. They stripped the identity of Bethpage Black the way they set that golf course up. Not only that, but you as the American team have the ability to make this your home field, make this the biggest home course advantage you can. By making that golf course as easy as they did, they completely threw that away,” he said.
“You look at the list of the guys that qualified, where did Russell Henley win? He won at Bay Hill, probably the hardest golf course that we play outside of the majors. Muirfield Village where Scottie Scheffler won, Ben Griffin finished second there. You’ve got the US Open champion on your roster in J.J. Spaun. Harris English played well in the majors, a couple of runner-up finishes. These are guys that are made to play difficult golf courses. Now you go ahead where you’ve got what is typically a very, very difficult golf course, and you’ve turned it essentially into a pitch and putt with zero rough, soft greens, absolutely dropped the ball there.”
The only mistake Luke Donald made during the Ryder Cup
What frustrates American fans is that they know that the European team will be looking at this year’s event and quickly assessing what they could have done differently.
They will not be patting themselves on the back for too long, with thoughts quickly turning to Adare Manor in 2027.
It remains to be seen whether Donald will stay on. Should he continue, it would be no surprise to see him not repeat one decision he made on Saturday afternoon when Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm all played.
De Jonge suggested that that was possibly the only error from the European skipper.
“The only thing that I could really question is that they had too many guys playing five matches. And if you look at it, all those guys that went five, they lost their singles matches. Rory, Fleetwood and Jon Rahm all went five sessions, and all three of those guys lost on Sunday,” he added.
“Rory spoke to it, he was like, ‘I had absolutely nothing on Sunday’. If you could avoid getting to that point where these guys are absolutely gassed come Sunday, because it is a long week and it’s a tough walk around that golf course. Obviously, it’s fine, you’re going to nitpick some stuff, but that would be the only thing that I would say that maybe the European staff got wrong.”
Even that decision had upsides, with McIlroy and Fleetwood winning their points on Saturday afternoon. They had built up such a lead that they could threaten to throw it all away on Sunday.
But clearly, playing all three of their top players five times proved to be a gamble which very nearly backfired after what had been a flawless week.
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