At 7:07 a.m. ET, Collin Morikawa was on the driving range finishing his swing with just one hand on the club, exhaling and adjusting his hat before going back to the well. By 8:53 a.m. ET, a member of the home USA crowd sarcastically shouted at their captain, “Working out well, Keegan!” The likely and sudden surrender of a point seemed obvious for many to see ahead of time. But not from the captain.
Before he told the assembled USA operation on Netflix’s Full Swing that they were going “to Bethpage to kick their f***ing ass,” Keegan Bradley may have signaled why this 2025 Ryder Cup has come embarrassingly undone so soon after sunrise each of the first two days. “They’re going to underestimate me, they’re going to doubt me,” he said. “I’ve been doubted my whole f***ing life and that’s when I do my best work.” That best work may succeed in the solo world of pro golf. Keegan, by his own admission, has operated as an outsider, unsure of his place in the “boys club” or as some elite top prospect. At times, it can make him come across as uncomfortable or awkward. In a lonely sport, he’s used this to fuel an unlikely career that continues at the highest level of the game. But this response to the doubters can quickly go awry in the Ryder Cup.
There’s no real other explanation for why he doubled down, dug in, and sent the decrepit Morikawa-Harris English duo out in the unforgiving alternate shot for a second straight day. Data Golf suggested this combination was 132nd out of a possible 132 in their modeling and analysis. It’s a reputable site but certainly does not have to be a guide or your bible. Other models may disagree. There was also the data point of Europe mopping the floor with Morikawa-English in Friday foursomes, 5 and 4, in a match that ended on the 14th green.
It was a dubious pairing to begin with, then they got waxed, and then Bradley sent them out yet again in the same exacting format for a second lashing in a Ryder Cup that had already entered desperate territory for his side. He was asked about the move to put them in the lineup again with that last-place Data Golf modeling. “We have a plan of what we’re going to do,” he said. “They beat us today, but you know, we’re really comfortable with our plan. We’re really comfortable with those two players…Be an exciting match, and we’re sticking to our plan.”
Maybe he wanted to prove Mike Tyson’s sage advice wrong, too. Bradley had a plan, got punched in the face, and decided to stick to that plan of getting punched in the face. Europe is on the verge of a knockout.
Compounding the decision to send the Morikawa-English speedbag out again was the fact that they drew Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, the same European team that crushed them on Friday, 5 and 4, in a match that ended on the 14th green. The only small victory for the USA team was that the match made it back across the road to the 15th tee, where the U.S. won a couple of holes late to prolong certain death. But they were cooked much sooner.
At 7:40 a.m. ET, there was English fist pumping an opening birdie that put the USA ahead in the match. It would last just one hole. Fleetwood buried a 30-foot putt on No. 2 to pull even. The Euros won the third to take a lead they would never come close to losing again. At 8:25 a.m. ET, McIlroy buried a 20-foot birdie at the fifth hole, and the result felt secure. Recent form from the players, data models, the prior day’s result, and the draw made it seem obvious and predictable. But not to the captain. Bradley, with the feistiness that has made his career so admirable to follow, was determined to try and prove the skeptics wrong.
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Morikawa, who in another potential worrying sign put a new putter in the bag this week, would miss critical putts at Nos. 7 and 8 that bumped the margin to 4 down. By 9:13 a.m. ET, a member of the crowd shouted, “Tommy and Rory go easy on them.”
The European duo were the focus of the crowd, another red flag. When there’s more fervor for shouting dumb jeers at the opponent (Rory) than there is for boosting the home side, the opponent is in a good place. It may be personally uncomfortable to deal with, but in terms of the golf match, the disproportionate heckling was a sign of an absence of things to cheer for.
But that’s really all the match served as for the home crowd through the final couple hours: a forum to shout dumb shit at Rory. The matchup that looked bad on paper was over before many in the U.S. had poured their Saturday morning coffee. You could argue it’s just one point of 28, or that they ran into a buzzsaw (Europe was great, but also left some doors open). The American side, however, was not in a position to mess around with any points this week. Whatever the motivation – stubbornness to prove the haters wrong, a player plea to their leader – it was a clear mistake ahead of time that became the expected disaster in execution. If this continues to play out as a humiliating home loss, the Friday lineup choice will be the most powerful exhibit for the traditional prosecution of the losing captain.
