FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — At the end of a long day of golf, Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns faced putts that looked like they were basically the same distance if you did not have to putt them. The Europeans wanted McIlroy to sink his, but the Americans needed Burns to sink his. Neither putt fell, which meant McIlroy and Shane Lowry halved their match against Burns and Patrick Cantlay. But it felt like a win.
Europe arrived here with full possession of the Ryder Cup and spent Friday tightening its grip. It’s Continent 5 ½, Country 2 ½ after two sessions.
“We’re three points down,” U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said Friday night. “We can come back from three points down.”
They can. But also, they are really 3 ½ points down, because if the teams tie, Europe gets to retain the Cup.
Bradley will send virtually the same lineup out for Saturday morning’s foursomes matches that he used Friday morning. That group got dusted, but Bradley said he is sticking to his plan. This might seem like stubbornness. It is not.
For far too long, the U.S. believed it could win Ryder Cups on talent and gut feelings. This led to a few debacles, most notably in 2004, when captain Hal Sutton handcuffed Tiger Woods to Phil Mickelson and sent them out to the first tee at Oakland Hills. The Americans are a much better-run operation these days.
Golf fans might think pairing Collin Morikawa and Harris English in alternate-shot is the dumbest decision in human history, and second-guessing is fair, but if Bradley believed this was the correct move a week ago, what is he supposed to do? Use a Twitter poll to fill out his pairings?
Bradley wants his players comfortable and confident. Comfort comes from knowing the plan well in advance. Confidence comes from knowing their captain believes in them, and that he isn’t panicking.
As Bradley pointed out, McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood played 14 alternate-shot holes in five-under par to beat Morikawa and English. That would have beaten almost anybody.
Bradley also said “In the morning session, we just didn’t make any putts.” This is true, and maybe Saturday will be a different story because of regression to the mean. But also, Burns was first on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting, and he will sit out foursomes again. Morkikawa was 141st and will play. Scottie Scheffler putted so poorly Friday that he might actually have a real underlying problem, and by Saturday afternoon, he will be playing his fourth round in two days.
Scheffler lost both his matches Friday. If he wins his next three, and the U.S. splits the rest … Europe still keeps the Cup.
The U.S. Team's Ryder Cup Reality
Right now, the Americans are telling themselves a story that could be true, and the Europeans are telling themselves a story that is already true. These guys already won a Ryder Cup together. While Bradley said his players’ putts just didn’t fall, European captain Luke Donald admired his guys’ “mental resilience. You look at the putts these guys holed when it mattered, it’s pretty gratifying for a captain.”
The Americans need to believe that their plan will work. The Europeans know that their plan actually works.
Also, this is the most important point of all:
Europe probably has a better team.
For all the talk about Tommy Fleetwood’s failure to win a PGA Tour event until this year, he has been a Ryder Cup stalwart for a long time. Four years ago, Ben Griffin was a loan officer. If Morikawa was European, after the year he had, would he even have made the team? Cam Young was great Friday afternoon, but for the last decade, Justin Rose has routinely posted top-10 finishes in majors.
Bradley will stick to his plan; he should. He will stick with his roster; he has no other option. Scheffler is still the world’s best player, and Bryson DeChambeau is among the best of the non-Scottie division. But all the way down the line, Europe’s players have done more than their American counterparts, again and again and again—and they know it.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as For Better or Worse, Keegan Bradley Is Sticking to His Plan.
