By Frank Pingue
FARMINGDALE, New York (Reuters) -U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is staring down the barrel of a legacy-defining disaster after his gameplan has left the U.S. needing a miracle comeback to avoid humiliation on home soil at Bethpage Black.
Europe hold an 11-1/2 to 4-1/2 lead going into Sunday's Ryder Cup conclusion and barring a record comeback by the U.S. may need to not only rethink Bradley's future with the team but also a comprehensive rethink of their approach to the event.
"Europe has played really, really phenomenal golf, but the boys fought," Bradley said after his team managed to capture only two of the eight points up for grabs on Saturday. "It was a really tough day, but they fought hard."
Bradley, a first-time captain, has found himself in the crosshairs this week after a series of questionable decisions, perhaps none more than his pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English in Friday's opening foursomes session.
The duo was rated by one golf analytics website as the worst possible foursomes combination available from the 12-player U.S. roster, a damning assessment that proved prophetic when they lost 5&4 to Europe's Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.
With his team already trailing after day one, Bradley showed no signs of wavering from his original strategy. "We have a plan. We're going to stick to it," he declared defiantly.
True to his word, Bradley doubled down on the misfiring partnership, sending Morikawa and English back out together for Saturday's fourballs. The result was familiar – another loss to the same European pair, this time by a 3&2 margin.
The captain's inflexibility has left the Americans in dire straits heading into Sunday's 12 singles matches, with Bradley's reputation hanging in the balance.
Despite needing to engineer a final-day comeback unlike any other under the Ryder Cup's 28-point format that has been in place since 1979, Bradley refuses to give up hope in his first Ryder Cup at the helm.
"28-3. I was at that Super Bowl. I watched it," Bradley said of the New England Patriots' second-half comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in the February 2017 Super Bowl. "What a cool thing to have witnessed live in person."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
