The Americans are on life support at the Ryder Cup.
After dropping three of the four morning matches on Saturday, Keegan Bradley’s squad needed an overwhelmingly successful afternoon session. Instead, the bloodbath got even nastier at Long Island’s Bethpage Black.
Team USA won only one match in the afternoon, leaving the point total at 11.5 to 4.5 in favor of Europe after Day 2. With 12 single matches on Sunday, Europe needs just 2.5 points to retain the Ryder Cup and three to win it outright.
America’s captain is doing his best to remain positive, but knows the hurdle his squad needs to clear on Sunday.
“The message [to my team] was, I was at that 28-3 [Super Bowl] against the Falcons. I was there. I was also at the game where Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson against the Seahawks. But my message was, if you were a 16-year-old kid and you were going to get to go play for your country in singles in New York at Bethpage Black you would be so excited.
“Of course I want to go out there and make history tomorrow. They all do. But I think you’ve got to relish in the opportunity to get out on the course tomorrow and play for your country at a course like this, at a venue like this. I think it’s something that you’ve got to look forward to.”
Bradley, the St. John’s alum, went into desperation mode in the fourball matches, but there was simply no stopping the European train. They capitalized on every opportunity while the Americans couldn’t find the bottom of the cup in either session.
Team USA’s captain paired up Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau against Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood. It was a matchup that heavily favored the Americans, but their dynamic duo was absolutely demoralized.
Fleetwood and Rose won 3 & 2 as the pair answered every jab landed by Scheffler and DeChambeau with what felt like knockout blows — they were -10 through 16 holes.
There’s been no bigger disappointment than Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, who turned in a historic underperformance. No player has ever gone 0-0-4 in the first four sessions in Ryder Cup history, Scheffler is the first one as he fell in the morning session alongside Russell Henley to Fleetwood and Jon Rahm. The U.S. never had a chance without the 29-year-old performing as his usual dominant self.
Instead, it was Rory McIlroy who answered the call as the other premier superstar in the event. The Northern Irishman went undefeated in both of his matches on Saturday. The 2025 Masters champion was clearly the target of the Long Island fans on the second day of the Ryder Cup.
Europe’s Rory McIlroy gets the last word as he keeps on winning at the Ryder Cup. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The heckling reached a level where extra security was called in to get in on his afternoon match alongside Shane Lowry in the match against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young — who they defeated 2-up.
However, McIlroy answered the call and let out the frustrations with an animated reaction after pouring in a massive putt on the 14th hole and then a roar on the 18th green. The 36-year-old is 3-1-0 through the first two days.
“Look, we knew what we were going to get coming here,” said Lowry. “It was a very tough day. Being out with Rory doesn’t make it any easier. I think he’s getting the brunt of it.
“But yeah, look, I think we dealt with it very well. You know, I said at the start of the week, I don’t know what way I’m going to deal with it but I’m going to be myself and I was myself out there today and thankfully that worked.”
Hatton and Fitzpatrick put the finishing touches on a dominant European day in the final afternoon match. They walked onto the 18th tee tied, however, they left the green with a win defeating Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns in devastating fashion.
Among the players who provided some points in the afternoon session were JJ Spaun and Xander Schauffele in their win over Rahm and Sepp Straka. The pair charged back from one down on the 17th tee and won the final two holes to provide a full point to USA.
Spaun sat out the morning session, however, and Schauffele fell 3 & 2 alongside Cantlay to Tyrrell Hatton and Rahm — who put on an absolute clinic Saturday morning.
Cantlay and Burns managed to tie their afternoon match against Hatton and Fitzpatrick to give a half a point to both sides.
Bradley made a series of controversial decisions in the morning that may have set the tone for the day.
Collin Morikawa and Harris English were dominated for a second straight day by McIlroy and Fleetwood — 3 & 2, joining Scheffler and Henley — who fell to Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland (1-up) — as the most disappointing fourball groups.
Bradley stated it was important to stick to this strategy despite how poorly it looked in Day 1.
“They beat us today, but you know, we’re really comfortable with our plan,” Bradley said after Friday’s disaster. “We’re really comfortable with those two players [Morikawa and English]. Excited who they are playing tomorrow.
“[Should] be an exciting match, and we’re sticking to our plan. We’re not going to panic. We’re not going to panic and make those sort of mistakes. We’re going to stick to what we know. We have a lot of confidence in them.”
The time to panic seemed to be Friday.
Now, the Americans are hoping for some sort of miracle. They can only afford to lose two of Sunday’s 12 matches, which would be the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history, or else Europe will complete the tall task of winning an away Ryder Cup.
However, it seems to be a tall task to stop the momentum the Europeans hold.
“Olé, Olé, Olé, “Olé,” could be heard all over the grounds of Bethpage as European supporters celebrated their success, while chants of “U-S-A” were few and far between with the dominance of the home team.
