Golf-US captain Bradley facing Ryder Cup home soil humiliation

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By Frank Pingue

FARMINGDALE, New York (Reuters) -U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is staring down the barrel of a legacy-defining disaster after his game plan left the U.S. needing a miracle comeback to avoid humiliation on home soil at Bethpage Black.

Europe hold an 11-1/2 to 4-1/2 lead going into Sunday’s Ryder Cup conclusion. Barring a record comeback, the U.S. may need to not only rethink Bradley’s future with the team but also a comprehensive rethink of their approach to the event.

“I think anytime at a Ryder Cup the captain is to blame or to be celebrated,” said Bradley. “So we all have to do a better job, but most importantly I have to do a better job as a captain.”

Bradley, a first-time captain, has found himself in the crosshairs this week after a series of questionable decisions, perhaps none more than his pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English in Friday’s opening foursomes session.

The duo was rated by one golf analytics website as the worst possible foursomes combination available from the 12-player U.S. roster, a damning assessment that proved prophetic when they lost 5&4 to Europe’s Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

With his team already trailing after day one, Bradley showed no signs of wavering from his original strategy. “We have a plan. We’re going to stick to it,” he declared defiantly.

True to his word, Bradley doubled down on the misfiring partnership, sending Morikawa and English back out together for Saturday’s fourballs. The result was familiar – another loss to the same European pair, this time by a 3&2 margin.

The captain’s inflexibility has left the Americans in dire straits heading into Sunday’s 12 singles matches, with Bradley’s reputation hanging in the balance.

“Ultimately, the accolades and the downfall is going to fall on the captain. That’s how it always is,” said Bradley. “When you accept the role, you are aware that that’s a very real possibility.

“The highlights of it are at the highest level of our sport, and the lows are some of the lowest. You know that when you take the job, and you know, for me, if your team doesn’t perform, you have to look at the leader first.”

Despite needing to engineer a final-day comeback unlike any other under the Ryder Cup’s 28-point format that has been in place since 1979, Bradley refuses to give up hope in his first Ryder Cup at the helm.

“28-3. I was at that Super Bowl. I watched it,” Bradley said of the New England Patriots’ second-half comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in the February 2017 Super Bowl. “What a cool thing to have witnessed live in person.”        

(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)