Keegan Bradley Questions ‘Strange’ Ryder Cup Envelope Rule After Hovland WD

It’s safe to say the week has not gone as US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had envisioned.

Not only was his team outclassed by the Europeans in the first four sessions of the biennial match at Bethpage Black, but he was also forced to reveal the name of a fall guy who would play no part in Sunday singles thanks to the little-known envelope rule.

The rule was used for just the third time in Ryder Cup history when Europe’s Viktor Hovland withdrew from the Sunday singles with a neck injury that kept him out of the Saturday afternoon four-balls.

Unlike the opening four sessions, all 12 players on each team are used in the Sunday singles, with one player up against another. However, that presents a problem – what happens if a player withdraws through illness or injury?

Enter the envelope rule. It sees both captains put the name of one of their players in an envelope, with that player sitting out the Sunday singles in the event of a withdrawal on the other team.

The player whose name is in the envelope is paired with the ill or injured player, with the match halved.

While each captain puts a name in an envelope before the Sunday singles of every Ryder Cup, the unfortunate player never finds out his name was in the envelope if it’s not needed.

Sadly for Bradley, that wasn’t the case this year, and he had to reveal that Harris English was the unlucky member of his team to miss the session to accommodate Hovland’s withdrawal.

As the session got underway, Bradley gave his thoughts on the rule, saying: “It’s tough. It's a strange rule, but we've got to go with what the rules say.”

Back in 2002, US captain Curtis Strange said it was “the most uncomfortable thing I ever had to do,” and that’s without the envelope having to be unsealed.

So, how did English take the news that Bradley had, in effect, chosen him as the player he could most manage without? “He took it so well,” he added. “I’m really proud of him.”

Even if English had played, US hopes of victory were all but over before the start of the final session, having been comprehensively outplayed all week.

The Europeans led 11.5-4.5 overnight, needing just 2.5 points to retain the trophy or 3 more points to win it outright.

Those numbers were reduced by half a point thanks to the envelope rule, but despite the situation, Bradley refused to throw in the towel, instead drawing comparisons to the 2017 Super Bowl, when New England Patriots were 28-3 behind against Atlanta Falcons before coming back to win 34-28.

He said: “I was at that Falcons 28-3 -Tom Brady! We can be the Patriots today, why not? I told [the players] to remember how cool it would be when you were 16, to go out at Bethpage Black and represent your country.

“No matter the score, go out there and enjoy the day, win your match and don’t worry about anything else.”

While Bradley’s optimism is admirable, history is not on his side. Since the 28-point era began in 1979, no team has come back from a margin as big as the US faced at the start of Sunday’s session.

Even 10-6 deficits have been turned around just twice, in 1999 when the US won the infamous Battle of Brookline and 2012, when Europe completed the Miracle of Medinah.