American fans would have been truly concerned knowing Scottie Scheffler would score only one point at Bethpage Black, despite the US team’s broader issues.
Heading into the event, the world number one appeared to be the key man for Keegan Bradley’s team.
He was coming off two major wins in 2025 and had just added another victory at the Procore Championship, a run of form that surely made an impression on the European side.
But his performance did not match the expectations. Scheffler lost four matches over the first two days, extending his winless streak in Ryder Cup play to eight matches.
He did manage a win over Rory McIlroy in Sunday singles, though it came after a week when the Northern Irishman seemed worn down by constant pressure from the crowd.
And some of that may come back on Keegan Bradley and how he used his star player throughout the week.
How Keegan Bradley’s setup impacted Scottie Scheffler at the Ryder Cup
Bradley has already acknowledged that he made mistakes with how he set up Bethpage Black. The course was not nearly as punishing as many expected, with players often able to get away with errant tee shots.
The greens were also forgiving, allowing players to attack pins without much risk. That played right into Europe’s hands early on, and Luke Donald’s team built a seven-point lead heading into Sunday singles.
Michael Kim spoke about the impact of those decisions on the Mayo Media Network, suggesting they did not play to Scheffler’s strengths.
“I don’t know exactly what the thinking or rationale was, trying to make the course easier. To me, I’m not blaming it on Scottie, but the fact that the number one player and the best player in the world had such a bad record to me, you need your horses to get you many points.
“An easy setup like that where the shot quality isn’t as important, it’s a bit more of an iron and putting contest, probably doesn’t suit Scottie’s game as much.”
But even with those factors in play, Kim is not convinced a tougher setup would have changed much.
“To be honest though, I don’t know if it would have mattered a ton. I think Europe was going to win regardless. It seems like the US always crushes it in singles. But I think it could have been long rough, I think they would have still figured out how to win.”
Why Keegan Bradley faced a challenge that Luke Donald had already conquered
Donald is rightly being praised as one of Europe’s best ever captains. Only four men have led teams to away victories in the Ryder Cup over the past 30 years, and he is the only one who has also done it on home soil.
And Kim, after chatting with Donald, believes Bradley was always facing a tough task trying to balance his own game with everything else that comes with captaincy.
He said: “I spent a decent amount of time with Luke Donald a few days ago. We had an outing together. And just hearing the level of detail that he tries to go into, and some of his thoughts, I remember talking to him a year before and he was trying to think of the messaging. The detail that he went into, I think, is just hard to do for Keegan especially, when he was trying to play his way onto the team, was trying to play well himself. It was just going to be a tough job for him regardless.”
When asked about whether he thought Bradley should have included himself in the team, he did not back that possibility.
“It seems that anyone that I’ve talked to that had the captain’s job says they think it’s a really bad idea because you have a lot to juggle. And more than that, the captain’s job itself is so stressful.
“Luke was telling me he wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about stuff and all these decisions that you have to weigh up. The overall mental stress of the week as a captain is even higher than as a player, at least it was for Luke and some of the other captains I talked to. They’ve done it and I haven’t, so I go with their thinking that it’s probably not the best idea trying to do both.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
