Ryder Cup: Slow start sees Americans dig a hole on home soil

No US team has come back to win from a 3-1 or worse deficit since 1971.

NEW YORK MINUTE: USA captain Keegan Bradley during the morning foursomes. Pic: Vaughn Ridley/Sportsfile

The last thing the Americans want to hear is advice from a Scottish poet who died a century and a half before the Ryder Cup started, but Robert Burns could tell captain Keegan Bradley a thing or two about “best laid schemes.” Bradley’s plan to send out Bryson DeChambeau to try to drive the first green and create “a tsunami wave of support” for Team USA in the opening foursomes “gang oft agley.” The opening birdie of the 45th Ryder Cup from DeChambeau not only didn’t spark much enthusiasm from the notorious New York crowd, it did not light up the board with red as Europe seized early control at Bethpage Black with a 3-1 opening session.

It certainly didn’t measure up to the production of Luke Donald’s lineup.