Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
Despite a furious comeback during Sunday’s singles matches, Team USA fell to Team Europe in the 2025 Ryder Cup, 15-13. In the process, Europe retained the cup and claimed the first victory for an away team since Europe did so in 2012 at Medinah.
While there was plenty of blame to share for Team USA’s abhorrent showing during the first two days of the competition, much of it eventually fell on the shoulders of captain Keegan Bradley.
To his credit, Bradley didn’t back down from the criticism, although he did make a seemingly silly complaint about the tournament rules after Viktor Hovland earned a half point in his singles match despite not playing due to injury.
However, a recent interview with Team Europe assistant captain showed just how much Bradley screwed up his pairing on the opening two days of the event.
Team Europe Used Golf Analytics To Embarrass Team USA At The Ryder Cup
Molinari sat down for an interview with the “No Laying Up” podcast and discussed several elements of golf analytics and how Team Europe used them to his advantage.
Molinari explained that Team Europe ran simulations for every possible pairing of players, determining not only how they fit togetherB but also which players should hit first on which holes during the foursome part of the competition.
Team Europe went on to win the two foursomes sessions by a combined score of 6-2, providing them with the margin they needed to hold on for the victory on Sunday.
By comparison, Bradley twice sent out the team of Colin Morikawa and Harris English, which Data Golf rated as the worst of Team USA’s 132 possible combinations. Morikawa and English lost those matches 5&4 and then 3&2.
Additionally, Bradley had the team of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley playing together, but with Henley, one of the shortest hitters in the event, driving on the longer holes. That duo lost 5&3 on Thursday before deciding on their own to switch the order for Friday, when they lost to Hovland and Robert MacIntyre, 1 down.
Ultimately, it appears that Bradley and Team USA completely ignored what the numbers felt were the best way to line up, and it ended up costing the Americans dearly.