It was close to a dream first day for Europe, who dominated the opening foursomes and still edged to a fourballs session win despite Rory McIlroy missing a golden opportunity to win the final match on Friday. In fairness to McIlroy, he was due a missed putt, and before him Sam Burns had spurned a similar chance, so a halved match was probably the right outcome.
It's no surprise then that Luke Donald sticks to the plan, picking the same foursomes pairings only shuffling the order. Keegan Bradley has made just one change, and a good one. But he'd better hope that sticking with a pairing which was widely questioned before a ball was struck pays off. Let's take a look.
Bradley's one change is to bring in Cam Young to partner with Bryson DeChambeau in a powerhouse top pairing. We know it'll be DeChambeau hitting off the first and based on some generally strong play throughout a winless day one, his drive will come to rest somewhere very close to the green, likely in the fairway, giving Young the chance to set up an opening birdie.
Young was excellent on Friday afternoon, starring in a pairing with Justin Thomas, but there are two questions for him now: can he transfer that to foursomes, and how will he fare with a more single-minded partner? Thomas played the role of hype man for Young, the sole New Yorker in the US side. What DeChambeau brings to the pairing is much more tangible, but will it make for something as effective?
Donald's most controversial decision so far wasn't particularly controversial, as he kept to the plan and benched Matt Fitzpatrick yesterday afternoon, despite the former US Open winner having been by far the best player. Had he played with Ludvig Aberg, against Young, it likely wouldn't have affected the result as the Swede didn't play well. His putter in particular was an issue and Rasmus Hojgaard outperformed him.
We do know these two work as a pairing because they were electric in downing Scottie Scheffler in the first session. If they take out DeChambeau, Fitzpatrick will have doubled his individual points tally in what's his fourth Ryder Cup, answered every question levelled at him and Donald, and struck a massive blow in Europe's quest for 14.5 points. I don't know what to expect.
Verdict: USA 2&1
Match three in the first session is now the second match of this one and, to be frank, this is where criticism of Bradley's captaincy could get pretty serious. We knew on Thursday that this US pairing was ranked 132nd of 132 by DataGolf, yet Bradley has his own numbers men and evidently they felt differently. He has backed them, despite Collin Morikawa and Harris English suffering a thumping defeat.
Now, it should be said that any US pairing, even the most efficient, would've struggled to contain Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, who produced an outward 30. Yes, Bethpage was a timid version of itself, but that's still phenomenal golf. They're now 3-0-0 as a pairing and while McIlroy will have been disappointed not to win his second match, when separated they both still delivered.
On that form, there's no other outcome here than a European win and a heavy one, too. We have to allow for the fact that golf is inherently volatile and that these remain two world-class US golfers. We have to accept too that McIlroy and/or Fleetwood could drop off considerably from the irresistible stuff they produced at times on Friday.
Even doing so, that leads to the idea of a potentially tighter match, but how exactly are we meant to escape the conclusion that this so far flawless European duo will find a way to win regardless?
Verdict: Europe 4&2
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