Does Ryder Cup Team USA Really Need An Inquest?

On Saturday evening, the inquest into Team USA’s failings at the Ryder Cup had already started.

Did they shoot themselves in the foot by setting up the course in a way that suited the Europeans? Should Keegan Bradley ever have been captain? What will it take to get the best out of Scottie Scheffler? All relevant questions, but I think it's the last of those issues that needs solving the most.

Make no mistake, the US suffered a mauling over the opening two days, with the hosts seven points behind on Saturday evening and expectations among many reduced to avoiding the worst defeat in its history.

A day later, the situation looked decidedly brighter. True, the Europeans sealed their expected victory at Bethpage, although not without an almighty scare thanks to a brilliant US fightback.

A 15-13 defeat, while damaging and disappointing, is not a disaster, so does Team USA really need an inquest? I’m not sure it does.

There are several theories as to why Europeans were able to win on US soil for the first time in 13 years, and they all come down to fine margins.

Some argued that it came down to the visitors simply making more putts. Bradley even hinted as much in the aftermath, saying: “I think I would have set the course up a little differently.”

Fair enough. So, does that need a big root-and-branch dissection of the Team USA failings or simply a bit more thought on course set-up four years from now when it comes to Hazeltine?

And the captain? The choice of Bradley was baffling given his lack of experience, with no previous position, even as a vice-captain, while he could have offered something as a player.

The decision was forced on the PGA of America to some extent because it couldn’t reach an agreement with its top target, Tiger Woods. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the Europeans had already been settled for months in the knowledge that Luke Donald was staying on.

So, yes, the decision to appoint Bradley – at this stage of his career – was baffling, and seemingly made at least partly because of his disappointment at not making the team in 2023.

But again, does that hint at a fundamentally flawed US set-up, or does the PGA of America simply need to draw up a longer shortlist of potential captains before beginning the interview process? I think it’s the latter.

Even with those issues, ultimately, so close was the US to glory that there would have been a very different outcome had one problem been solved: the Scottie Scheffler conundrum.

Scheffler came into the week as by far the world’s most dominant player.

By his standards, he had a slow start to the year, not helped by a Christmas Day mishap with a wine glass that meant he missed the start of the season.

But look at his record since May. His first title came on the fourth of that month, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. Since then, there have been five more wins, including two Majors, and he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 once.

It’s not just his playing record that suggested big things. Bradley also sang his praises as a team player, saying: “I can't express, I really want to be clear on just what an incredible teammate Scottie Scheffler has been and what an incredible person he is.”

And yet, for the second match in a row, his form simply didn’t translate to the format.

Yes, match play is a lot different to grinding down the field over four days of a PGA Tour event. Still, zero points from four before the Sunday singles, and an overall Ryder Cup record of just 4.5 points from a possible 12, is baffling.

Even as an amateur, Scheffler struggled in match play, losing all three of his sessions at the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup, and only winning his singles match five years later at the Walker Cup.

He struggled at the 2022 Presidents Cup, too, with just half a point in the Friday afternoon four-ball to show for his four matches.

And yet there is a match player competitor in him somewhere. We saw it at last year’s Presidents Cup, where he won three of his five matches to help the US lift the trophy at Royal Montreal.

The fact is that, had Scheffler even had a relatively modest two wins from his four opening matches at the Ryder Cup, the US would be the champions.

So, an inquest? An overhaul? I don’t think so.

Yes, put more thought into course set-up next time it comes to the US. Obviously, do your due diligence before settling on the next captain, but most of all, work out how to get the best out of Scheffler in a match play environment.

Do that, and I see no reason why the US can't turn its latest defeat into a positive ahead of the trip to Adare Manor two years from now.