Hard questions await the United States after latest Ryder Cup debacle

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — In match play, as in life, the little things matter. One missed putt can lead to one lost hole, one lost hole can lead to one lost match, one lost match can lead to one lost session, one lost session leads to a lost Ryder Cup.

Little issues lead to big problems. That’s how you end up on the losing end of a 15-13 Ryder Cup despite delivering one of the greatest singles-day performances in the Cup’s history. That’s how you end up with questions about every element of the American Ryder Cup experience, from your team’s putting skills to its heart and spine, from the captain’s fitness for the job to the infrastructure choosing and supporting him. Everything is under scrutiny now, and it all ought to be.

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The United States is in Ryder Cup freefall. Two straight losses to a team that’s a perfect mix of youth and veterans, a hungry, incredibly well-organized group of what sure seems like best mates. Two straight Ryder Cups looking lost, overmatched, beaten in every phase of the game — not by much, true, but by enough to lose. There are no silver medals in the Ryder Cup.

How did the United States get here, and how can the American team reverse its downward spiral?

In the immediate aftermath of the loss, United States captain Keegan Bradley spent much of the post-Cup press conference leaping onto the sword. “This is no one's fault but mine,” he said. “When you are the leader of the team and you're the coach, the captain, whatever you want to call it, and you lose, you have to take the blame.”

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That selflessness is an admirable trait, and quite the stark difference from some other Ryder Cup captains who blamed their players for the loss. And he’s right; Ryder Cup captains neither deserve as much scorn as they get for losing, nor as much praise as they get for winning.

But blame does belong on Bradley’s shoulders. He made the controversial pairings of players who didn’t fit, and then repeated the pairings the very next day — to losses in both sessions. His setup plan failed, and failed spectacularly.

“I definitely made a mistake on the course setup,” he said. “I should have listened a little bit more to my intuition. For whatever reason, that wasn't the right way to set the course up. The greens were as soft as I've ever seen greens without it raining. Especially here, it can get pretty firm, and they never firmed up.”

Little things leading to big things. A decision to pair two players despite data suggesting otherwise, and then a decision to pair them again after they lose. A decision to mow down the rough and soften the greens. A stroke here and there, and soon enough you’ve lost a hole. And you know what happens from there.

But the rot in the United States Ryder Cup effort runs deeper than just this week. There are systemic issues at play here, years and years of the same mistakes made by different people. Bradley hinted at this in the press conference, discussing how much he had to do to prepare for this week.

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“I had to learn a lot on the fly,” he said. “I had to rely on a lot of people. I was going up against an incredible team.”

The days where the United States could tap an aging-but-not-yet-aged veteran, run out the 12 best guys in the country and expect an easy victory are long over. And yet, that’s still the philosophy that the PGA of America and Ryder Cup officials follow every year, the lone difference this time being they selected a surprise youthful captain.

The rationale behind selecting the 39-year-old Bradley, who's still in his prime as a player, was dubious from the start. Would a younger captain relate better to younger players? Didn’t Bradley deserve this after being humiliated on Netflix last time around when he was not selected as part of the 2023 team? (Answers: Not necessarily and definitely no.) Bradley is, by all accounts, an affable and fiery leader, saying all the right things. But when the U.S. does this routine of blowing everything up every few years and starting with a blank page, well, it’s no surprise that there’s no continuity, no institutional knowledge for captains and vice-captains to lean on in future years.

Big, sweeping, theatrical moves in a bold new direction might work. Little moves in a known successful direction almost always work. Enough of those little moves, and you have the equivalent of a big move.

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European captain Luke Donald hinted at this in his own deliriously alcohol- and laughter-filled press conference. (Unrelated aside: the Ryder Cup winning team’s press conference is one of sports’ great traditions.) Donald outlined some of his tasks as captain, which ran all the way down to the most minute details of the team’s stay in America.

“My job is literally to give these guys a better chance to win. It can be as simple as some very small things,” he said. “I'll give you an example. At the hotel rooms this week, the doors to our hotel rooms had a big crack that let in light. We brought things that covered the light. We put different shampoos that had a better smell. … We changed the bedding because the beds weren't very good, and they just had sheets, and we created much nicer beds so guys could sleep. They could have more energy.” (The shampoo was Le Labo, McIlroy helpfully added, in case you want to smell like a winner.)

Was Keegan Bradley delving into that level of detail with the United States team? Perhaps, perhaps not. But if Europe is, that’s now the cost of entry.

A bar of light at the bottom of the door might lead to a little more wakefulness in the middle of the night. A little less sleep might mean a little less energy. A little less energy might mean a little lost focus, which leads to a shot that’s the tiniest bit offline. You see where this is going. Do the little things right, and the big things become that much easier. And when there are just two points between you and victory, the big things maybe aren’t as big as you fear they are.

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As the United States was finishing up its press conference, an unmistakable sound rose up from the putting green adjacent to the interview tent: one final round of “Olé! Olé! Olé!” The European fans were heralding the arrival of the victorious European team, ready for their own turn in front of the media.

Perhaps the European team turned up early to their press conference. Perhaps the Americans ran a touch long. Either way, the two teams crossed paths once more. It was a little thing, but it surely stung like hell for the United States team. They filed out of the interview tent and past the delirious European team without a word exchanged between them.

They’ll all meet again as individuals at tournaments soon, but it will be a long time before they meet as teams again. And the U.S. will have to marinate in this pain until then.