Entering the second day of the Ryder Cup trailing on its own soil, the United States was in need of a spark to forge a comeback at Bethpage Black. But to the surprise of many, captain Keegan Bradley decided to stick with the pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English for their match against Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.
[Ryder Cup Live — Saturday Foursomes Updates and Results]
According to Data Golf, the Morikawa-English pairing—which lost 5&4 on Friday—was ranked 132nd out of the 132 possible foursome Team USA groups.
Why did Bradley stick with those two?
"We have a plan of what we're going to do," Bradley said Friday night. "They beat us today. But we're really comfortable with our plan. We're really comfortable with those two players. ... We're sticking to our plan. We're not going to panic and make those sort of mistakes. We're going to stick to what we know. We have a lot of confidence in them."
Sure enough, the McIlroy-Fleetwood pairing started off hot Saturday, winning four of the first eight holes. Morikawa and English punched back on the back nine and trimmed the deficit to two, but Team Europe slammed the door on the 16th hole and won 3&2.
Team USA fans were furious with Bradley's decision to stick to his plan despite what the analytics indicated.
I’m a USA homer. I admit it proudly.
— Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) September 26, 2025
I went in with full positivity.
But it’s time we talk about how atrocious Keegan Bradley did with his morning choices.
He put the absolute worst matchup together. Literally. Morikawa/English was the 132nd best possible pairing for the… pic.twitter.com/hI8xvvX6Ev
Keegan’s career is spurred by proving people wrong, but there’s a difference between using criticism as fuel and refusing to take feedback. Running back English/Morikawa—despite the overwhelming red flags before and after on the pairing—is an error born of arrogance
— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) September 27, 2025
If at first you don't succeed... send out Morikawa/English again.
— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelGolf) September 26, 2025
“Keegan you CANNOT play Morikawa/English again on Saturday morning. Its malpractice! They will get slaughtered again! You CANT do it !!”
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) September 27, 2025
Keegan Bradley: pic.twitter.com/9wi5XT0qlv
I don’t understand how nobody on team USA spoke up and said yeah maybe the Morikawa/English pairing just isn’t it
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) September 27, 2025
With two foursome matches remaining Saturday morning, Team Europe leads Team USA 6.5 to 3.5.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Golf Fans Rip Keegan Bradley's Odd Coaching Decision to Stick With Ryder Cup Pairing.
