UNITED States captain Keegan Bradley defended the raucous New York crowds that seemed to cross a sportsmanship line on Saturday in heckling Europe golfers at the Ryder Cup. Personal insults, profane remarks and yelling to disrupt putts were among the things that pushed police to walk with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry during their four-ball victory. It did not prevent Europe from seizing a record 11.5-4.5 lead entering Sunday’s 12 concluding singles matches, with the Americans a distant 10 points from reclaiming the trophy. Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, a six-time winner this year with two majors among them, was no help, making the first 0-4 pairs start by an American in Cup history.
Bradley stated that he thought the fans were passionate because their home team was getting beaten badly. He mentioned that while he was not at Rome, he had heard many stories that Rome was pretty violent as well. The US captain added that the fans of New York from what he had seen had been pretty good overall. Bradley acknowledged that you are always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that was unfortunate. He said he was happy to see American players trying to quiet down some people that were behaving inappropriately.
The captain saw United States futility as partly to blame for the crowd’s behaviour. Bradley admitted that part of it was their fault because they were not playing up to the standards the fans wanted to see. He said the spectators were angry and they should be feeling that emotion given the performance. Bradley emphasised that amid Scheffler’s struggles the world number one had been the best teammate in their team room this week without question. He described the situation as tough but noted that this is what happens in sports all the time.
Bradley said they had experienced some wacky stuff going on during the competition. The American captain expressed pride that his players did not mope as the score grew more lopsided against them. He specifically highlighted that Scheffler was at the top of that list in terms of maintaining professionalism. Europe captain Luke Donald praised Scheffler while admitting this had not been his week on the course. Donald stated that he had the utmost respect for Scottie Scheffler and believed he would be one of the greatest players ever to play this game.
The European captain acknowledged that it had not been Scheffler’s time during this particular event. Donald explained that match play while playing with a partner was different from individual stroke play. He noted there were different scenarios in team competition where you have to rely a little bit on your partners as well. The captain emphasised that it was hard to do it all by yourself but reaffirmed that Scottie Scheffler remained a champion golfer. The Americans had imposed the most lopsided victory in the current format on Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits with a 19-9 triumph.
The United States team now faced being on the wrong end of such a rout unless they could mount the greatest last-day comeback in Cup history. American Sam Burns insisted that it was doable despite the significant deficit. He stated that every guy had to go out and basically win a point as that was their mission for the final day. Bradley told players how he had attended the 2017 Super Bowl when NFL legend Tom Brady rallied New England from 28-3 down to win the title over Atlanta. The Patriots had scored the last 31 points in that historic comeback victory.
The American captain also appealed to his players’ childhood dreams during his team talk. Bradley’s message was that if you were a 16-year-old kid and you were going to get to play for your country in singles in New York at Bethpage Black, you would be so excited. He expressed his own desire to go out there and make history on the final day while acknowledging that all his players shared that ambition. Bradley concluded that he thought they had to relish the opportunity to get out on the course and play for their country despite the challenging circumstances. – AFP