Should Keegan Bradley Be Worried?

Keegan Bradley insisted that he has faith in his team after a difficult opening day at the 2025 Ryder Cup, where Luke Donald's men won both sessions to lead 5.5-2.5 - Europe's first opening day lead on US soil since 2004 (they went on to win 18.5-9.5).

Bradley said that Europe simply holed more putts and he's confident that more US putts will drop over the next two days, but should he be worried? It certainly looks that way.

The US captain is correct when he said there is a lot of golf left to play and they are only 28% of the way through, but Friday looked ominous for the Americans.

Not so much due to their own play, but more their opponents.

Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm both delivered two points from their two matches, while Rory McIlroy also went unbeaten with 1.5 points from two.

Europe's big guns showed up on day one, while Bradley's strongest trio of Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and World No.3 Russell Henley all came home empty handed.

Scheffler has not won any of his last six Ryder Cup matches, incredibly.

Europe could have swept the opening session 4-0 had it not been for a valiant Schauffele and Cantlay performance to close out MacIntyre and Hovland on the 18th, and all signs point to another very difficult morning ahead.

Donald will have Rahm and Hatton out again as well as McIlroy and Fleetwood, two foursomes pairings that are both 3-0 over the last two Ryder Cups. Fitzpatrick and Aberg should return, too.

While anything clearly can happen, it is hard to picture the Americans clawing back any ground in the morning at least.

And then it looks tricky in the afternoon four-balls, too, as it can be argued that Donald didn't even have his best pairings out in the afternoon where the Europeans still won 2.5-1.5.

Rasmus Hojgaard looks likely to sit out all of Saturday after losing 6&5 in his debut, while Matt Fitzpatrick, who was Europe's strongest player in the morning foursomes, as well as Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland were all rested.

Those three could well play both sessions on Saturday as well as Rahm, McIlroy and Fleetwood. If the foursomes go well, Donald may even have the luxury of resting one or two of his star players.

Bradley has previously described Donald as possibly the greatest European captain of all time and he is 28% of the way to really staking his claim.

The Americans do have some positives to take into day two, though, with Cameron Young starring in his debut where he and Justin Thomas defeated Aberg and Hojgaard 6&5.

Young will almost certainly play both sessions on day two, while Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay look set to be a strong duo once again.

Cantlay halved both of his matches to become the only unbeaten American to play in both sessions.

Bryson DeChambeau and Scheffler will surely not end the week pointless, either, so there has to be belief that their fortunes will turn around over the next two days. Bradley will have faith in those two, and they really need to deliver over the weekend.

The World No.1 couldn't buy a putt on Friday for the majority of the day and whenever he did manage to find the bottom of the cup, Jon Rahm followed him in.

DeChambeau was his wild self with the usual flashes of brilliance and Bradley will be counting on him to pick up two points over the next two days.

USA seem strong through their entire roster so will fancy their chances in the singles. Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka and Rasmus Hojgaard certainly did not play their best on Friday, with Lowry and Straka both enjoying strong partners in McIlroy and Rahm.

Without the big guns by their side, Bradley will be confident in picking up points across all 12 singles games.

Whether the US has a chance by the time the singles come around is another question, though.

If Europe can win 5-3 on Saturday, they'll have a huge 10.5-5.5 lead and need just 3.5 of the 12 points available on Sunday to retain the trophy. The Ryder Cup would then be all-but over.

A 4-4 tie on day two would see the US down 9.5-6.5, a total that they can certainly come back from but would still be underdogs.

They simply must win on day two - and that task looks very difficult based on the opening two sessions.

Bradley should be worried for sure. His men either need to rally to somehow overcome the stalwarts of McIlroy, Rahm and Fleetwood all in great form or simply hope that they don't play as well again on day two.

What can Keegan Bradley do to turn around the USA's fortunes? Let us know in the comment box below.