Keegan Bradley endured a hugely disappointing start to his tenure as captain of the US Ryder Cup team, who trail Europe 5.5-2.5 after day one.
Bradley was happy with the American players despite the European dominance, which started with a 3-1 win in the morning session.
That European Ryder Cup foursomes success was followed by a 2.5-1.5 victory for the visitors in the afternoon fourballs, with seven of the 12 American players failing to get off the mark on day one.
Cameron Young impressed on his Ryder Cup debut in the fourballs, partnering with Justin Thomas to overcome Ludvig Aberg and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns then secured a half point against Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, ensuring it wasn’t a total disaster for Bradley after two sessions.
Keegan Bradley criticized for ‘really bizarre’ decision on day one of the Ryder Cup
Xander Schauffele was the only other points scorer for Bradley, having won his foursomes clash with Cantlay against Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland.
It meant star men Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau were pointless on day one, with Bradley largely deserving the blame in the eyes of Andrew Coltart.
He said on Sky Sports Golf: “If you are going to win a Ryder Cup you have to rely on your top players. The top players have to come to the party.
“Bryson went out there with Justin Thomas this morning and the star spangled banner, unfortunately it fell in the first session.
“Keegan Bradley’s plan did not work today. He is going to have to go to Plan B, it’s as simple as that, and he will have to re-jig quite a few things.
“The [Collin] Morikawa and [Harris] English match, that was a really bizarre partnership we saw from the off.
“I do not know where they got their details from which said that was a good pairing to put out there on day one against a strong European side like that. You had to go with your best eight and America failed to do so.”
What happened in Friday’s foursomes at the Ryder Cup?
Europe definitely had the momentum going into the afternoon fourballs at Bethpage, having enjoyed a stunning start to the day.
DeChambeau and Thomas were given the honor of kicking the Ryder Cup off, but they lost 4&3 to Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood impressed shortly after, handing Europe a 2-0 lead with their 5&4 defeat of Morikawa and English.
And after that, Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick defeated Scheffler and Russell Henley 5&3 to give the away side a stunning 3-0 lead.
But that was reduced to 3-1 by American duo Schauffele and Cantlay, who edged past Hovland and MacIntyre by two.
Golf fans weren’t happy with the Ryder Cup coverage of the foursomes at Bethpage Black, but European captain Luke Donald could not have dreamed up a much better start.
Keegan Bradley doubles down on ‘bizarre’ Ryder Cup pairing on day two
US captain Bradley will be left scratching his head over many issues, but particularly the shortcomings of Scheffler and DeChambeau.
And golf fans could be forgiven for thinking he would be living to regret his Morikawa-English combination, which was brutally dispatched by McIlroy and Fleetwood, but that doesn’t look like it’s the case at all.
Bradley clearly feels there is something there with the two players, having decided to partner them once more for Saturday’s foursomes.
Remarkably they’ve kept the very same places, and intriguingly they are set for an immediate chance at redemption against the exact same European pairing of Fleetwood and McIlroy.
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