We’re now just nine days away from the Ryder Cup getting underway at Bethpage Black and Keegan Bradley has now been told exactly which four pairings should open up for him.
Bradley is under pressure to get things right from the off this time after the nightmare opening day the USA suffered in Rome in 2023.
Europe won five of the opening eight matches in Italy, with the other three all being halved to put them in the driving seat. As we know, it was a position Luke Donald’s men wouldn’t relinquish.
Still, that doesn’t mean the USA can be counted out. They have an immensely talented 12-man roster, with world number one Scottie Scheffler leading the charge.
That means there are some big calls for Bradley to make and now, Tripp Isenhour has suggested the opening eight players the US skipper should go with.
Keegan Bradley told which eight players to use on Ryder Cup opening morning
As a former PGA Tour player, Tripp Isenhour knows his golf and he’s been speaking on the Golf Channel about the upcoming event.
Going into detail about the opening morning foursomes session, Isenhour explained his eight picks, including a surprise pairing involving the out of form Collin Morikawa.
“I love throwing Scheffler and DeChambeau together. That’s a tough out! You throw them out first. First of all, you can put anybody with Scottie in four-ball, in foursomes you have to be a little more discreet but you still have a lot of leeway as a captain when you put somebody with Scottie Scheffler,” Isenhour said.
“I think Cantlay and Schauffele. They are good friends and they are tough. I know Xander has not driven the ball as well this year, but he is driving the ball better and he is doing everything else fine. Cantlay is that guy, we saw what he did against Rory in singles.
“Then I love Justin Thomas and Sam Burns. I really like the combination, of putting Justin with a really, really good putter in Sam Burns. I think that would be a great one.
And then this one I know Collin Morikawa is not playing at the top of his game, but you put him with one of the best putters on tour, that puts the ball in the fairway which Russell Henley does repeatedly and there is your rookie. He has played in Presidents Cups. But you put a guy like him and put Collin Morikawa in the short grass time and time again, and do it on the right holes, whether they are even or odd and I think that would be a tough line up for Europe to sweep.”
Adding further comment on how the actual tournament might go, Isenhour suggested that things might be tighter than ever.
“I think the Ryder Cup is going to be nip and tuck, it’s going to be right there as you go through this and it literally could come down to a tie. I really think that is a tie. But for the US, if you put those four out first, I think it’s probably going to be a 2-2 split going into the afternoon four-balls.”
What happened in the opening session at the 2023 Ryder Cup
In a nutshell, it was a complete and utter disaster for Zach Johnson and his team.
Team USA sent out Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns first, only for them to get run over by Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton as they lost 4&3.
Likewise, the pairing of Max Homa and Brian Harman also struggled, losing by the same score to Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland.
Things improved slightly as Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa went out but even they lost to Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka, this time, 2&1.
Finally, it was left to Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood on the European side to put the nail in the coffin as they beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay 2&1 to complete a morning whitewash.
This just cannot happen again for Team USA and if it does, they might as well kiss the Ryder Cup trophy goodbye once more.
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