Russell Henley says how he truly thinks Scottie Scheffler played during his third Ryder Cup defeat

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Scottie Scheffler’s miserable Ryder Cup continued on Saturday morning, as he lost his third straight match in New York. 

Keegan Bradley paired Scottie Scheffler with Russell Henley once again, after the duo lost on Friday morning. They were more competitive on Saturday against Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland, but lost on the 18th hole. 

Scheffler’s Ryder Cup record has come under question at this tournament. He hasn’t won since Whistling Straits in 2021, and became the first world number one to lose his first three Ryder Cup matches.

Henley, who took the blame for their opening loss, said how he felt his teammate played during their second foursomes match. 

Russell Henley says Scottie Scheffler played ‘so well’ during Ryder Cup loss

Scheffler didn’t play well on Friday. He couldn’t make a putt in the afternoon, which cost him and J.J. Spaun the win in fourball. 

That wasn’t the case the following morning. He piled on the pressure against MacIntyre and Hovland with his typically precise approach play and clutch putting. If Henley made a birdie putt on the 17th to tie the match, they could well have won their first point. 

Henley complimented Scheffler’s play and rued his own mistakes. He said, “I feel like I played really steady, hit a lot of good tee shots, made some putts when it counted. I wish I would have made one or two more on 16 or 17. I thought I hit pretty good putts there.

“But I really just kind of rode Scottie. He’s played so well today. He made everything. I kind of made one mistake on the front that kind of got us to 2-down when we probably should have been 1-down.

“Overall, I feel like it was a pretty good day, but they just kind of out-putted us. They made a lot of great putts. They hit a lot of good shots when it mattered. Overall, I feel like we played well, just got beat.”

Henley was sloppy with his approach play, repeatedly putting Scheffler out of position around the green. That prevented them from cutting into their deficit midway through the round, despite their late surge.

Scheffler looked back near his best in the matchup, so it should worry Keegan Bradley that it still wasn’t enough to cut into the European lead. 

Putting has been the difference between Team USA and Europe

Despite Europe’s commanding lead, there really hasn’t been much to separate these sides at the Ryder Cup. That’s until they pull out the putters.

Going into Saturday’s fourball, Europe led the USA in strokes gained off the tee by only 0.89, and strokes gained from their approach by 0.54. It was neck and neck between the sides until they got to the green.

That’s where Luke Donald’s team had a decided advantage. They led the Americans in strokes gained by putting by 5.16. That’s an unbelievable swing that shows just how good the Europeans have been under pressure on the green. 

Poor putting plagued Scheffler on Friday, but it’s plagued the USA all tournament. And with the way this course has been set up, this is effectively a putting contest.

If the Americans can’t sink some putts, it’s all but over.