Keegan Bradley made some seriously rookie mistakes throughout the week at the Ryder Cup.
And when Shane Lowry holed the putt to retain the Ryder Cup on the 18th green at Bethpage Black, it got Rich Beem thinking about where the United States need to go from here.
The PGA of America and Bradley have a lot to answer for, according to Beem.
Bradley‘s woeful decision making throughout the week at Bethpage has been well documented already.
Bradley has admitted he made mistakes at the Ryder Cup, especially regarding the way in which he set up the course.
On Sunday, his team fought back incredibly hard, but the damage had already been done.
When Viktor Hovland was forced to sit out the singles, Bradley and his Ryder Cup players looked extremely frustrated.
However, had he made some very simple calls earlier in the week, things would have been very different on Sunday.
Bradley was not happy with the softness of the greens at Bethpage, the United States’ problems ran far deeper than the condition of the golf course.
Rich Beem criticizes Keegan Bradley and the PGA of America after the Ryder Cup
The Americans’ fightback on Sunday cannot overshadow the urgent need for things to change.
Beem was speaking on Sky Sports in the UK about The United States team and, specifically, their poor showings on Friday and Saturday.
He criticized some of Bradley’s decisions and the PGA of America for their roles in the defeat to Europe at Bethpage.
Beem said: “I am not too sure where they are getting their information. Sticking to the plan, as Keegan Bradley said after Friday, and putting Morikawa and Harris English out two days in a row against Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.
“Nobody can handle those two guys, much less Morikawa and Harris English. It’s a blind draw and you don’t know who you are going to be playing against but I’m not sure which stats gave them [that]. Of all the pairings this is the weakest possible team you could put out there in any situation.
“I think there are a lot of questions which still need to be addressed for the Americans. Whether it starts with the captains or the PGA of America or it starts happening with more past captains. All I know is that Europe thrive on this.
“When Shane Lowry said I won The Open Championship in Ireland as an Irishman but this is bigger, Americans do not think that. We do not think that way. It’s more about individuals. We have to look at this in a different light or we are just going to have to rely on singles play to get wins for us.“
Beem is 100 per cent correct here. What data was Bradley using? He certainly didn’t look at Data Golf’s list of the 132 ‘optimal pairings’ for the Ryder Cup.
You know, the one where Morikawa and English were ranked as the worst partnership out of all potential pairings at Bethpage!
Successful ex-Ryder Cup captains need to be involved for the US
Past captains who have achieved success in the Ryder Cup should be more involved with the US team moving forward.
Where was Paul Azinger? Where was Steve Stricker?
The two most successful American Ryder Cup captains had nothing to do with the US team at Bethpage Black last week.
And that has to change ahead of the 2027 edition of the competition at Adare Manor in Ireland.
One thing’s for sure, Azinger and Stricker would not have allowed Bradley to roll with the Morikawa and English pairing on day one, let alone a second time on day two.
The man from Vermont clearly surrounded himself with a bunch of yes men at Bethpage Black.
It’s not an overstatement to suggest that’s why he and his American Ryder Cup team performed so badly during the first two days of action.
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