Keegan Bradley and the United States are well aware that they have salvaged the furniture this Sunday despite the defeat in the Ryder Cup. The team’s strong performance in the singles somewhat covers the significant leaks that opened during the two days of foursomes and fourballs. They leave Bethpage with more pride than self-criticism and with the conviction, perhaps too simple, that Europe played very well and won the Ryder Cup because they holed more putts.
In reality, Keegan Bradley only truly admitted fault regarding the course preparation. Here, although he waited until Sunday to acknowledge it, he did not hide. However, he hinted that the responsibility was not entirely his. “We tried to set up the course to help our team, but obviously it was not the right decision. As captain, I have to take the blame. I definitely made a mistake with the course preparation. I should have listened a bit more to my intuition. For whatever reason, it was not the right way to prepare the course. The greens were as soft as I’ve ever seen them without rain. Especially here, where they can get quite firm, and they never firmed up,” he explains.
Bradley suggests that he was persuaded to prepare the course in a way he did not like. “If you look at past Ryder Cups, that’s more or less how it’s done. Sometimes you have to make a decision on what to do and, you know, if I could go back, I probably would have changed that (not leaving the rough so short),” he points out.
Similarly, without going into too many explanations, nor seeking justifications or excuses, Bradley publicly requested that the ‘envelope rule’ be changed. You know, the one where if a player gets injured before the singles and cannot play, another from the opposing team is chosen (their name is written in a sealed envelope at the time of announcing the singles matches) so that the match is cancelled and half a point is shared. “I have some ideas, but I’m not going to tell you right now. The rule has to change. I think it’s obvious to everyone in sports, to everyone in this room. Nothing against Viktor. But that rule must change for the next Ryder.” We’ll see if it finally changes, but it’s striking that he doesn’t want to share his ideas when he feels so strongly about it.
In any case, the United States spoke a lot about pride due to the great performance in the singles and all agreed again that it has been an extraordinary locker room. That’s what Scheffler, DeChambeau, or Justin Thomas talked about. Bradley assures that he always believed in the comeback, even yesterday before going to sleep talking with the vice-captains. As for what he experienced this Sunday, he really started to believe it at a certain moment.
“It was incredible. I expected nothing less. These guys are a truly amazing group. They fought a battle. Their body language was good. They were cheering the crowd. They were fighting all the time, even when things didn’t look good, and I expected nothing different today. They are determined, proud, and play for each other, for their team, for their country, and today they showed the world that, really, anything is possible. For a moment it was a toss-up. I’ve never been prouder of anything in my life. When Scottie was on 9 or 10, that’s when it really started to change. It was a crazy and very fun journey. What they did is almost a miracle,” he argues.
On the other hand, in this same line, Scheffler did not hesitate to praise the work of Keegan Bradley, as well as the atmosphere experienced in the team. “I had enormous confidence in what this team could do and that’s thanks to our captain. I think they did an incredible job. Keegan did an incredible job. Having the confidence of my captains and teammates to go out and play the four and lose the four in pairs… it’s hard to express in words how much it stings and hurts. I’ll go back and reflect on it. But one of the nicest things was that these guys lifted my spirits last night. The guys on this team… it’s a really special group. We have a special captain and I felt proud to be out there fighting with them today. It was very fun to see Bryson in front of me sinking those putts and coming back from 5 down, going down the 17th and seeing J.T. sink the putt, going down the 16th and hearing the roar for Cam. I needed these guys this week and it’s a really special group. Very proud to be battling with them for three days,” he states.
Bradley praised the figure of Luke Donald and regarding the future of the United States in the Ryder Cup, he believes they should continue in this same direction. “I think Luke is an incredible leader. He is very calm and I think he was able to come out of his shell a bit. I think he turned this European team into a truly unstoppable force, especially the first two days, and, you know, in my opinion, I think he’s the best European captain in history. I was very excited to face him, but I knew it was going to be difficult to beat him. He put his team in the best position to win and doing it in these two places is an extraordinary achievement.” As for the future of the USA, he indicates: “The PGA of America put me in an incredible position to succeed. They gave me all the resources. They gave me all the options. I had everything at my disposal. This is no one’s fault but mine. Sometimes in sports, you face an opponent who beats you; they play better. And they played better than us. We put up a great fight, that’s for sure. It was a novel approach and I had to learn on the go. The goal was to give the captaincy a fresh face, a different way of doing things. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. But we have some momentum going forward. I think we can continue down this path and I will help in any way I can the next captain or whoever it may be.”
