Accountability Is Necessary After USA’s Humiliating Defeat at Home

Ryder Cup Regrets for Team USA

Forget James Comey. If there’s someone in the US who deserves scrutiny right now, it’s Keegan Bradley, the captain of Team USA’s Ryder Cup. Losing at home is tough enough, but it seemed worse this time because of some questionable decisions Bradley made over the weekend.

One of his first mistakes was pairing Collin Morikawa with Harris English. They struggled on Friday, but instead of switching things up, Bradley kept them together for Saturday. Unsurprisingly, they ended up losing again, this time to Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

But Bradley was determined to stick to his strategy. “In the past, I’ve panicked with pairings and switched everything, but it didn’t work,” he said. “We wanted to stick to the plan, and that’s what we did.”

His next decision was to pair world number one Scottie Scheffler with Russell Henry. Henry, who had the responsibility of teeing off on a hole that favors big hitters—despite being one of the shortest drivers on the PGA Tour—didn’t help their chances, and they lost. A weird hole for Scottie didn’t improve things either.

Later, Bradley teamed Scottie up with Bryson DeChambeau. They’ve been quite a duo, but they couldn’t keep up with Fleetwood and Justin Rose. In an unfortunate milestone, Scottie became the first player in modern Ryder Cup history to lose all of his matches on Friday and Saturday, going 0-4 in team play.

The home-field advantage is vital in the Ryder Cup, and the adjustments made to the Beth Page Black course seemed to play into the hands of the Europeans instead. Bradley acknowledged some errors in judgment. “We tried to set up a course to help the team,” he said, admitting, “Obviously, that wasn’t the right decision.”

This year’s Ryder Cup was fraught with chaos. Team USA’s strategy came off as confusing. Scotty showed heart, but the caddy situation was contentious. Fans clashed, with some even throwing beer, spurred on by McIlroy’s wife.

This isn’t acceptable. A major overhaul of Team USA seems necessary by 2027. Bradley needs to step down. Our best players should perform like the stars they are. If America loses three consecutive Ryder Cups, can we really still call ourselves the greatest?