FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The No. 1 participant on the planet appeared something however on Day 1 of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Scottie Scheffler got here into this occasion with the expectation that he would dominate as he has carried out on the PGA Tour and the majors all yr. As an alternative, the three-time main winner went winless in each periods Friday and is now 2-4-2 all time within the occasion. He has not gained a full level since 2021, when it was performed at Whistling Straits.
“While you’re the No. 1 participant on the planet, you will have a day that perhaps it wasn’t his finest, usually you bounce again,” U.S. crew captain Keegan Bradley stated. “We aren’t anxious about Scottie Scheffler.”
Enjoying with J.J. Spaun within the afternoon four-ball, Scheffler was not as sharp as he sometimes is from tee to inexperienced and appeared confused a number of occasions on the greens, lacking putt after putt.
“We gave ourselves loads of alternatives,” Scheffler stated. “It actually simply got here all the way down to me not holing sufficient putts.”
Essentially the most placing outcome, nonetheless, got here within the morning, when Scheffler and foursomes accomplice Russell Henley misplaced 5 and three to Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.
“We simply did not gap sufficient putts early. We had some probabilities,” stated Scheffler, who will play with Henley once more in Saturday morning foursomes. “I believe the putts simply did not fall.”
Placing was a much-discussed subject among the many American gamers who struggled Friday. Bryson DeChambeau, who performed with Justin Thomas within the morning foursomes and Ben Griffin within the afternoon, additionally misplaced each of his matches.
“They made every part,” DeChambeau stated. “I felt like I used to be clutch once I wanted to be, however … there have been so many putts that simply did not go in for us that went in for them. Luck is on their aspect proper now.”
Bradley cited the variety of putts the Europeans made a number of occasions, as properly. And whereas he did insert Cameron Young into the foursomes lineup instead of Thomas as a change Saturday, the remainder of these pairings that misplaced Friday morning, together with Collin Morikawa and Harris English (who fell 5 and 4 to Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood), shall be teeing it up once more within the morning session.
“We’re sticking to our plan,” Bradley stated. “We’re not going to panic and make these form of errors. We will follow what we all know.”
Based on DataGolf, the Morikawa-English pairing is the worst potential tandem of any of the 132 doable mixtures for both crew primarily based on strokes gained.
“We got here in right here this week with a plan, and the gamers are ready for that plan,” Bradley stated. “We take a look at the information. We take a look at the strokes gained. Within the morning session, we simply did not make any putts. Actually, hardly any in any respect. The whole lot else was fairly good.”
Bradley stated his message to the crew after Friday harped on the truth that solely 28% of the full factors have been performed for and that there is nonetheless loads of golf forward. However that is the fourth-largest deficit the U.S. crew has confronted on Day 1 of a Ryder Cup on residence soil, in keeping with ESPN Analysis. Of the three earlier occasions, just one has resulted within the American crew coming again to win: 1999 at Brookline.
“Hear, we knew this was going to be troublesome. We knew this was going to be powerful,” Bradley stated. “We did not count on to return in right here and this not be a troublesome week. … What a stage, what a chance that they should go on the market tomorrow and show to everyone that now they’re down, now they’ve to go catch up. I like that.”
