Luke Donald has admitted that he was surprised by two decisions Keegan Bradley made at the Ryder Cup this year.
The 39-year-old’s captaincy of the American team was the biggest talking point before, during, and after the event at Bethpage Black.
Most golf fans agree that he would have been better off playing for the United States rather than leading them from the sidelines.
Donald has now added even more fuel to the fire by sharing that the European team could not believe two of Bradley’s decisions.
Do you expect Keegan to play better now his Ryder Cup captaincy is over?
Luke Donald was surprised by two Keegan Bradley decisions
One of Keegan Bradley’s most controversial decisions at the Ryder Cup was to play Collin Morikawa and Harris English together.
The American duo lost 5&4 to Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood in the foursomes format on Friday morning.
Everyone then expected Bradley to mix things up on Saturday, but they played together again and lost 3&2 to McIlroy and Fleetwood.
“Everyone was a little surprised with Morikawa and English going for a second time,” Donald recently told The Times.
“If it didn’t work out and it was a weak pairing on paper, maybe you don’t run it back.”
Bradley’s other decision that surprised the European team was that Russell Henley hit the first tee shot in his first foursomes match alongside Scottie Scheffler.
“That one and Henley going off first were the two things that we all kind of looked at each other,” Donald added.
The odd-numbered holes would have suited Scheffler’s fade off the tee perfectly, but Bradley preferred Henley to go first on those.
Scheffler and Henley lost 5&3 to Ludvig Aberg and Matthew Fitzpatrick on Friday morning, so his decision did not pay off.
Did Keegan Bradley make a bigger mistake than how he set up Bethpage Black at the Ryder Cup?
Luke Donald reveals change that helped Europe win Ryder Cup
Donald also spoke about one of his decisions that helped the European team win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Robert MacIntyre teed off on the odd-numbered holes in his foursomes match with Viktor Hovland, losing 2up to Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Donald then switched the order for their next match on Saturday morning, and they beat Henley and Scheffler 1up.
“We changed the [Bob] MacIntyre and [Viktor] Hovland one. On Friday, Bob went off the odds,” the European captain explained.
“Statistically, it was a little better, but after the first round, Bob didn’t feel comfortable on some holes that went left-to-right. He likes to hit a cut, so they ended up changing, and it worked out.”
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