Bethpage Black is one of the most challenging, grueling golf courses in the United States, which is exactly why it has that famous sign that warns golfers of the daunting task ahead.
But this week, for the 45th Ryder Cup? It was nothing like the terrifying muni locals know.
The greens were soft and receptive (and never dried out after it rained late in the week). Tees were moved up. And that gnarly rough — one of the course’s most famous characteristics — was hardly an obstacle.
So, what happened?
“We tried to set the course up to help our team,” said U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley on Sunday night. “Obviously it wasn’t the right decision.”
Bradley’s American squad lost 15-13 to the Europeans, a contest that was a laugher until the Americans stormed out in Sunday singles and turned it into a competitive final day.
But one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to win a road Ryder Cup — which Europe did Sunday for the first time in a decade — is not just due to the hostile home crowd but because the hosting team and captain get to set up the course to their liking. That might mean chopping down rough or letting it grow. Or moving tees to have players hit certain distances into greens. Whatever captains think might give their side an edge.
Bradley decided taking some of the teeth out of Bethpage would suit his team well. Problem is, European vice captain and stats guru, Edoardo Molinari, had told people the setup played exactly into the Europeans’ favor, and it wasn’t the way he expected the U.S. to set up the course.
“I think any time you’re the leader of a team or the captain or the coach, or whatever — we talked about this last night — you’re going to get the accolades and you need to take the blame for when things don’t go well. I definitely made a mistake on the course setup,” Bradley said. “I should have listened a little bit more to my intuition. For whatever reason, that wasn’t the right way to set the course up. The greens were as soft as I’ve ever seen greens without it raining. Especially here, it can get pretty firm, and they never firmed up.”
He was then asked if the data said to cut the rough.
“We sat, or I did, and looked at a lot of info. We thought this was the best way to set the golf course up to win,” he said. “You look at past Ryder Cups, and that’s kind of how it goes. You know, sometimes, you’ve got to make a decision on what to do, and you know, if I could go back, I probably would have changed that.
“But the Europeans played just incredible golf. Doesn’t matter how you set the course up when you play that well.”
Europe did play well, holding a commanding 11.5-4.5 lead after two days and four sessions. And Sunday was all set up to be a European victory parade, but after Europe took control of a handful of matches early, it was the U.S. that wrestled a ton of those leads away. The Americans earned the first three points of the day and then needed to win all four of the remaining matches on the course to steal the Cup in stunning fashion, although they came up just short (one win, three ties).
In the final question of the U.S. press conference Sunday night, Bradley was asked if he was out-captained by Luke Donald, who has now won two consecutive Ryder Cups leading the Europeans. Justin Thomas answered first.
“We needed to make more putts,” he said. “That’s what Keegan needed; he needed us to make more putts. That’s what he needed to do.”
“I think in a lot of ways when you’re an away captain there’s a lot less decisions,” Bradley said. “When you’re the home captain, you have to set the course. I wish I could have some of those decisions back. I definitely feel I made a few mistakes there, but it’s tough to tell that it’s going to rain before the Ryder Cup. It’s tough to tell sort of the way the course is going to be when we’re here. We didn’t want the greens to be like this soft. They were perfect. And the grounds crew did an incredible job.
“I’ve got to take responsibility for this outcome for sure.”
