FARMINGDALE, NY — The fortunes for each side through the first three sessions of this Ryder Cup were encapsulated in two shots on the final hole of the final foursomes pairing on Day 2.
Scottie Scheffler was set up nicely by partner Russell Henley, whose tee shot on the par-4 18th hole rested in the fairway, 116 yards from the pin. Meanwhile, the Europeans were scrambling with Robert MacIntyre’s drive landing in the right rough.
The U.S., already having dropped two of the first three matches on the day, desperately needed to win the hole to halve the match, which meant the No. 1 player in the world finally playing like it.
What they got was Scheffler’s worst shot of the Ryder Cup. Whether you want to call it a shank or a chunk, Scheffler’s ball landed 46 feet from the hole on a hill and in the rough.
When Europe’s Viktor Hovland came out of the rough to hit the green, that essentially assured the Americans would head into the afternoon matches five points down. Even if everything went right the rest of the day, they still would enter the final day’s singles matches trailing.
And Scheffler’s body language, as the stood watching Henley attempt to clean up his mess, said it all.
Keegan Bradley, American’s stars equally to blame for rough start
Keegan Bradley can take plenty of blame for the position his team was in after the second day’s foursomes matches, trailing 8.5 to 3.5. But there is not much a captain can do when most of his players cannot make putts and cannot sustain any momentum, despite playing in front of a New York crowd desperate to get this party started at Bethpage Black.
That crowd brought it on Day 2, making up for a lackluster opening day. But think of them as the balloon.
And Team USA as the pin.
Especially Scheffler.
Scheffler was 0-3 entering the afternoon fourballs, where he was paired with Bryson DeChambeau, who at least has one point after winning his foursomes match with Cameron Young on Day 2, accounting for America’s lone point in the morning session.
Scheffler’s pairings held the lead for one hole through the first three sessions, that coming on the first day’s fourballs. They won six holes totals, compare to 15 for their opponents.
“Disappointed with the finish,” Scheffler said about the missed opportunity on No. 18 in foursomes. “The guys we played against just played great. They did a good job.”
Scheffler’s shot on 18 was a fitting end to the morning session. But this match could have swung the Americans’ way twice late. Typical of how it had gone so far, everything went Europe’s way.
Henley had a 16-footer on No. 16 to win the hole but the ball slid over the edge. All he could do was flip his putter in the air and pull his cap down over his eyes.
The Americans’ chance to even up the match on the next hole was snuffed by Hovland, who made a clutch 13-footer and followed that with an emotional fist-pumping outburst.
“That was big,” Hovland said.
And, by now, expected.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood 8-0-1 so far
Consider, at that point, Europe’s top three players, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood, were 8-0-1.
McIlroy was 6-1-1 in his last two Ryder Cups. Scheffler, his closest counterpart on the world stage, was 0-5-2. Both had two matches remaining this weekend.
“You need your superstars to perform at their highest, and they certainly have showed that so far,” said European captain and Jupiter resident, Luke Donald.
Bradley only wishes he could say the same. But the U.S. captain from Palm Beach Gardens is not without fault for the early collapse.
While Donald has the luxury of rolling out tried and tested pairings with a team that returned 11 of the 12 players who defeated the U.S. two years ago in Rome, Bradley had some work to do.
Where he’ll be second guessed most is not only for pairing Harris English and Collin Morikawa in foursomes, but doing it a second time after they were dominated, 5 and 4, by McIlroy and Fleetwood on Day 1.
Day 2 ended 3 and 2 in the European’s favor.
Bradley frequently has cited analytics when asked about his pairings decisions. Well, according to Data Golf, English and Morikawa was the worst possible pairing in the Ryder Cup.
That’s 132 out of 132 combinations.
Bradley was asked why, after seeing them put up little fight the first time, he stuck with the pairing for Day 2.
“We came in here this week with a plan, and the players are prepared for that plan,” he said. “And we’re going to stick to that plan and make sure the players are ready to play.”
Something has not been working, at least through three sessions. Maybe it’s time for a new plan.
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Keegan Bradley’s plan, Scottie Scheffler’s play killing US in Ryder Cup