Keegan Bradley’s Team USA got off to a poor start at the 2025 Ryder Cup, but he’s doubling down on his game plan.
The Americans almost suffered a sweep in morning foursomes, and their pairings looked ill-suited to each other compared to Europe’s tried and tested lineup. They were beaten comfortably in three of the four matches, but won their final match on the 18th.
Keegan Bradley showed bravery by selecting Justin Thomas for fourball. Thomas performed poorly in the morning session alongside Bryson DeChambeau, but made up for that with a decisive win in fourball with hometown hero Cameron Young.
But on reflection, that decision looks rooted in stubbornness rather than genius after Bradley’s Saturday pairings were announced. Bradley chose to stick with his most criticized pairing from Friday, Collin Morikawa and Harris English, despite their decisive loss in foursomes.
Keegan Bradley defends Collin Morikawa and Harris English selection
Bradley’s Morikawa and English pairing was ranked 132nd out of a possible 132 foursomes pairings that could have been made at the Ryder Cup by Data Golf.
Their morning match went about as well as you would expect. Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, Europe’s elite pairing from Rome, beat them 5&4 in a match that was never in the balance.
So, lesson learned for Bradley? Apparently not. He chose the same pairing again for Saturday’s foursomes, who matched up against Luke Donald’s “Fleetwood Mac” star duo once again.
Bradley defended that decision, saying that while his team trailed by three points after Friday, he’s sticking to his game plan. “We have a plan of what we’re going to do. They beat us today, but you know, we’re really comfortable with our plan,” he said.
“We’re really comfortable with those two players. Excited by who they are playing tomorrow.
“It will be an exciting match, and we’re sticking to our plan. We’re not going to panic. We’re not going to panic and make those sort of mistakes. We’re going to stick to what we know. We have a lot of confidence in them.”
Bradley was then asked whether he selected the pairing based on his data, or just a gut feeling about the way they can play together.
He answered: “I would say it’s a little bit of both. They were really bummed out that they lost their match today. They were eager to get back out on the course, and that’s why we did that.”
It’s the type of decision that can be judged as inspired or insane, depending on the outcome. But more and more, it seems Bradley is simply inflexible and unwilling to adapt on the fly.
Keegan Bradley’s Scottie Scheffler pairing shows unwillingness to adapt
Bradley chose to stick with Thomas on Friday afternoon. A controversial decision, but an understandable one. USA were down 3-1 and needed his level-headed experience to guide them through what could be a tournament-defining afternoon session.
Thomas won his fourball match, rewarding Bradley’s trust. To some extent, you can justify Bradley picking Morikawa and English again. They ran into a red-hot pairing of McIlroy and Fleetwood who probably weren’t going to be beaten by anyone on the day.
Why not roll them out again and see how they perform when every putt isn’t falling for their opponent?
But what really reveals Bradley’s stubbornness is who he has paired with Scottie Scheffler. The world number one lost twice on Friday and is in need of a confidence boost. That’s where a captain should divert from the game plan, and pair Scheffler with someone who can lift him on Friday.
Instead, Bradley chose Russell Henley as his partner. Henley played poorly on Friday morning as a Ryder Cup rookie and looked ill-suited to Bethpage Black’s distance. Scheffler, who couldn’t get a putt to fall, couldn’t carry the pairing.
But Bradley has asked him to carry Henley again on Saturday. Scheffler is the best player in the world, but he needs a reliable partner to get him into a rhythm. Instead, Bradley went for more of the same, and it could cost him the Ryder Cup.
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