Day 1 at the Ryder Cup opened with fireworks, but not the kind the Team USA wanted. Fans barely had time to catch up from the losses of the first two matches in the morning before Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood set the course ablaze. They dismantled Collin Morikawa and Harris English 5&4 in a performance that was as ruthless as it was record-breaking. The result? Golf analysts are calling it a bloodbath, and Keegan Bradley is at the center of it.

Analysts on X did not hold back after the disappointing performance. “Toss out Morikawa-English, an alternate shot team that never made a lick of sense, that got steamrolled, again when you’re getting your ass kicked is…something,” wrote Matt Vincenzi from Sports Illustrated. Golf Digest’s Joel Beall didn’t mince his words either, almost suggesting never to send out the duo again, calling it a “malpractice,” while Bob Harig just dropped the facts —“The Morikawa-English pairing was far from inspiring today and is going up against Rory and Tommy.” 

Jason Sobel followed too with a sarcastic jab — “If at first you don’t succeed… send out Morikawa/English again.” Sobel might have been sarcastic, but he’s stating facts. Morikawa and English are set to go out again on Saturday morning, in the foursomes match against Fleetwood and McIlroy. It’s had everyone raising eyebrows and questioning Bradley’s decision, but he’s confident. “Well, we have a plan of what we’re going to do… We’re really comfortable with those two players,” he said in the post-match press conference. 

“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,” he added. And with that, another analyst, Shane Ryan, couldn’t help but take a brutal dig at his decision — “And when it works out this poorly, the only logical move is to do it again, ideally against the same team that just waxed you.” 

When Bradley was asked if “data analytics suggest they work really well together,” for sending out Morikawa & English as a pair again, he was rather diplomatic. “I would say it’s a little bit of both. They were really bummed out that they lost their match today. They were eager to get back out on the course, and that’s why we did that,” he added. While everyone expected a reshuffle for Day 2, Bradley seems to be doubling down — not just on a failed pairing, but against the duo that handed him the worst loss in 21 years.  

The last time there was such a bad defeat was in the 2004 Saturday foursomes, when Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke crushed America’s Chris DiMarco and Jay Haas 5&4 — a painful memory that hadn’t been matched in over two decades. But Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood weren’t just out to win; they came to rewrite history. Their dominant performance against Collin Morikawa and Harris English was record-breaking. With just a single hole won by the Americans and only four tied, the European duo slammed the door shut by the 15th, matching that 5&4 margin and delivering the biggest home-team defeat since 2001.

And yet, with all those fresh wounds, Saturday’s pairings have somehow taken an even wilder turn — with Keegan Bradley opting to run it back and send the same struggling duo straight back into the McIlroy-Fleetwood storm.

Keegan Bradley’s picks for Day 2 at Bethpage

Keegan Bradley received a lot of criticism from fans on social media for sticking with the Collin Morikawa and Harris English pairing, with one fan bluntly saying, “Keegan should be fired on the spot for that Morikawa / English pairing. One of the more baffling decisions I’ve seen.” And yet, despite the brutal Day 1 showing, Bradley is rolling the dice again. Same pairing. Same opponents. Same uphill battle.

Saturday’s foursome matchups reveal Bradley is sticking to his script, with only one swap — Cameron Young comes in for Justin Thomas alongside Bryson DeChambeau in the first foursomes match on Saturday morning. The duo will go up against Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg, who defeated Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley, 5 &3, on Day 1. Otherwise, it’s business as usual — even as the Americans stare down a 3-point deficit, one that no Ryder Cup team has ever overcome on home soil.

For Europe, meanwhile, it’s smooth sailing. Captain Luke Donald reshuffled his order with intent, sending out Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Åberg first to set the tone early. With McIlroy and Fleetwood in the middle and Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton backing them up, the Europeans are going for the kill, and they look confident. As for the Americans? Keegan’s doubling down — but if Saturday goes the way Friday did, the heat on his decisions is only going to get worse.