US captain Keegan Bradley has an enormous task on his hands this evening. He’ll go to sleep knowing that the team that has led after day one in each of the last five Ryder Cups has gone on to win.
The Europeans have won the last six Cups in which they were ahead after the opening day. And this time, the gap between the US and Europe isn’t even close – they were destroyed on Friday.
Bradley must somehow project confidence and full belief in his players, without second guessing the things he could have done differently.
Outside of the team hotel, though, it’s a different story.
Should he have started with foursomes, a format in which the Europeans have dominated lately?
Should he have benched three of his in-form rookies for the morning session, including the reigning US Open champion J.J. Spaun?
And should Scottie Scheffler’s playing partner, Russell Henley, have taken the lead on the odd holes, when Scheffler’s style of play would have perhaps been a better fit?
But most of all, questions will be asked about whether Bradley himself should have played.
He was put in an impossible position with no playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963, but he was a player in form, ranked higher than four of the players he picked instead of himself. And more than once this week, he’s admitted that he’s thought about playing.
“I catch myself every now and then looking down the fairway,” he said.
“Seeing the guys walk down the fairway and think how badly I’d like to do that, and how badly I’d want to be in the group with Scottie Scheffler and seeing him play and being his teammate.
“But I feel like I’ve been called for a bigger cause here, to help our guys get ready to play and play at the highest level. But in the back of my mind, I’m always thinking, ‘I could have been out there.’”
Tonight, he has to forget all of that and make his players believe they can turn it around.
He can start by showing them footage of the “Battle of Brookline” in 1999, when the Americans recovered from 6-2 down on Friday. It’s one of the most storied comebacks in all of sport, and Bradley must convince his players that they can do it too.
