Keegan Bradley insisted the timing of Donald Trump’s Ryder Cup arrival was not “awkward” after the President failed to inspire the Americans to turn the tide at Bethpage Black.
Trump made a grand entrance in New York on Air Force One after Team USA had already fallen 3-1 behind in the first session of the tournament. A national anthem decision by organizers ensured it was all about him.
Despite the scoreline, Bradley and his team welcomed Trump with open arms. And asked if the timing of his arrival was “awkward” at all given the scoreline, the USA captain insisted he had nothing but good things to say about the occasion.
Bradley said: “No, it was great. That was really a cool experience. Seeing an active President on the grounds of a Ryder Cup or at a golf event, what a cool thing.
“The flyover with Air Force One, I’ll never forget that the rest of my life. It was really cool.”
Europe captain Luke Donald, meanwhile, revealed he was paid a compliment by Trump on his leadership.
He revealed: “Yeah, I saw Mr. President and shook his hand and said hello, and he said, ‘You know what, you’re becoming a real great leader.’
“It was nice of him to say that. It was, again, nice of him to support this event, and yeah.”
By the time the afternoon fourballs concluded, USA was three points down with two days of action remaining. And while Europe drew first blood, Bradley insists the battle is far from over.
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He said: “Well, we’ve played 25 percent of the points. We’ve played the first quarter of a football game or a basketball game. They went out there and they played better than us today. They made more putts.
“But listen, we knew this was going to be difficult. We knew this was going to be tough. We didn’t expect to come in here and this not be a difficult week. Our boys are in great spirits. I just spoke to them. They are really excited to get out there tomorrow.
“What a stage, what an opportunity that they have to go out there tomorrow and prove to everybody, you know, that now they are down, now they have got to go catch up. I like that.
“Well, like I said, we’ve played 25 percent of the Ryder Cup. A little bit more. But 25 percent, and we knew this was going to be difficult.
“The Europeans played great. Sometimes you go out in sport and you prepare and you do everything you can, and your opponent just beats you, and they played awesome today.
“It was really incredible to see the Europeans come into a hostile environment and go out there and perform the way they did. They are great players. We knew that. We have to go out and match what they do tomorrow and make a few more putts.”
