What really went wrong for the USA in the Ryder Cup?

If you follow any form of social media you cannot have failed to notice that the subject that refuses to go away is America’s Ryder Cup defeat. 

It is reminiscent of Europe’s victory at Gleneagles in 2014 when an American team captained by Tom Watson was hammered by Paul McGinley’s side. It came two years after Medinah and the Americans turned on one another, with Phil Mickelson winning very few friends by openly criticising Watson. There are some things that you simply do not do and publicly turning on a legend such as Watson is right up there. 

It was a defeat that forced the Americans to take a long hard look at themselves and the way they prepared for the Ryder Cup. Not that it seems to have done them very much good. Defeats in Paris and Rome and this latest humiliation in New York only seem to confirm that the USA are simply not very good when it comes to the team ethic.

Keegan Bradley’s hapless captaincy at Bethpage was highlighted by his extraordinary decision to have the punishing rough largely removed because he believed it would suit his team. But it has now emerged that there were some extraordinary things going on behind the scenes.

Justin Thomas, currently recovering from back surgery, has revealed that Bradley wanted lightning-fast greens and that the team ended up "fighting" with organisers to make them faster. This makes perfect sense. Players who compete on the PGA Tour on a regular basis are faced with fast greens no matter where they play. The putting surfaces are far quicker than those found on the DP World Tour, so why wouldn’t Bradley have wanted to give his men an edge?

Stories had circulated that Thomas had blamed the Bethpage greenkeepers for the way that the course had been set up. Not true, and he took to Instagram to make this clear: "I never once blamed the Bethpage staff, they did an amazing job, and did exactly what they were told. 

"I mentioned frustration with whomever Keegan and people spoke to, which (to my knowledge) is not the superintendent and greens crew more so the PGA and whoever sets up the course. Again to my knowledge don’t think communication is really annoyed between super and captain, for obvious shady reasons. I could be very wrong though… We got our asses kicked there's no doubt about that regardless of the course we played!"

Bradley has repeatedly admitted that cutting the rough was a mistake, and that it was his mistake. But, like Thomas, he has distanced himself from the issue of the greens. For all the mistakes Bradley made - and there were many - it seems utterly extraordinary to me that the PGA of America would go over his head and ignore his wishes when it comes to green speed. If you watched the 2025 Ryder Cup then you do not need me to tell you that Luke Donald’s European Team putted like men possessed for the first two days, while the home side struggled on the greens. What does that tell you?

The greens were finally to Bradley’s liking for the 12 singles matches on the Sunday but by that time the damage had been done. However, it cannot possibly be a coincidence that during the singles it was the Americans who found the putting surfaces to their liking. Of one thing I am utterly certain - this sort of blunder would NEVER happen in Europe. When a European captain tells the powers-that-be what he wants from the course set-up that is exactly what he gets.

Thomas told No Laying Up: "I don’t really understand that. I don’t know why [the greens] weren’t at all what Keegan had asked for. I mean, he had been pretty clear of asking for a certain speed and wanting them fast enough.

"I watched them argue with us that they were 13s [on the Stimpmeter]. It’s like, ‘Guys, we play golf every week, like, look on TV at how many guys are leaving putts short. Nobody is getting … You can’t have a putt, roll, three feet, four feet past the hole. Like these greens are slow, speed them up.

"It was just bizarre because that’s not something you would expect at a home Ryder Cup. And again, that’s not an excuse, [the European players] had to adjust to them just as much as we did. That’s kind of a fun advantage you generally have [as a home Ryder Cup team] is being able to do that a little bit, and it was just so frustrating that we were being fought with and argued with on the speed of the greens that we asked for. So that was bizarre."

And speaking of bizarre, it has now emerged that Bradley wants another crack at the captaincy at Adare Manor in 2027. Speaking ahead of the Hero World Challenge, he said: "I have this like gaping hole in my career now that I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to fill. Being the captain of the Ryder Cup team is not something you can work hard for. It’s just something that’s sort of elected on you.

"Of course I would love to do it again, I would love to avenge that loss, but that’s not up to me. I don’t think that’s fair for me to come out here and say that. But I would love to do it again at some point. I don’t know if that will ever happen, probably won’t. I think if you ask any losing captain if they would like to do it again, they would all want another shot."

Bradley described the aftermath of the defeat as “the darkest time in my life.”

He said: "I don’t know how else to describe it,. There’s always this letdown after a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup regardless of the outcome because the emotions are so extreme. It’s a Ryder Cup hangover and you’re just exhausted and you’re down, you know. That takes a toll on you. But it just was a tough time. Still is. The last couple weeks, I’ve felt more like myself. Getting back, getting ready to play tournaments, playing the Skins game, getting ready to come play here.

"Really, it’s been tough for all of us; not just me, the players as well. I feel like every time I see a player on the team here I want to just go give him a hug and sit down and chat. But I’m grateful for everybody. I’m in a unique position where I could make another team, which has never been done. I would love to do that."

It is difficult not to feel a degree of sympathy for Bradley and that truth is that the USA have made stranger decisions in the past than giving him another chance. And the truth is that he could hardly do a worse job than he did at Bethpage.