Honestly, walking onto the grounds at Bethpage Black for the second day of the 2025 Ryder Cup felt less like a golf tournament and more like a slow-motion car crash for the Americans. If you were looking at the Ryder Cup pairings day 2 hoping for a miracle, you weren't alone. Keegan Bradley was basically trying to find any combination of players that wouldn't crumble under the weight of a European onslaught that felt inevitable by Saturday morning.
The vibe was weird. New York fans are usually loud—like, "scream at your backswing" loud—but there was this heavy tension in the air after Friday's shellacking. Europe went into Saturday with a 5.5 to 2.5 lead, and Luke Donald looked like a genius while Bradley looked like he was throwing darts at a roster in a dark room.
The Saturday Morning Foursome Gamble
Most people think the Ryder Cup is won on Sunday. It’s not. It’s won (or lost) when the captains decide who has to share a ball in the high-stress alternate shot format. For Saturday morning, Bradley made a move that raised a lot of eyebrows: he split up Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas.
Instead, he paired Bryson with the local hero and rookie Cameron Young.
It worked. Sorta.
They led off at 7:10 a.m. against Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Åberg. It was the one bright spot in a morning that otherwise felt like a funeral procession. Bryson and Young were absolute hammers, winning 4 & 2. Young was playing like he’d been in ten of these things, not just his first. But while they were high-fiving on the 16th green, the rest of the leaderboard was turning a shade of European blue that was hard to look at.
The Morning Scorecard
- Match 1 (7:10 AM): DeChambeau/Young (USA) def. Fitzpatrick/Åberg (EUR), 4 & 2
- Match 2 (7:26 AM): McIlroy/Fleetwood (EUR) def. English/Morikawa (USA), 3 & 2
- Match 3 (7:42 AM): Rahm/Hatton (EUR) def. Schauffele/Cantlay (USA), 3 & 2
- Match 4 (7:58 AM): MacIntyre/Hovland (EUR) def. Henley/Scheffler (USA), 1 up
Look at that Match 2. Bradley sent Harris English and Collin Morikawa out again after they got absolutely smoked on Friday. Why? Nobody knows. They got clobbered 3 & 2 by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood. Rory was thriving on the heckling. The more the Long Island crowd yelled at him, the more putts he poured in. It was vintage Rory—using the spite as fuel.
Why the Afternoon Four-Balls Were a Tactical Mess
By the time the afternoon sessions rolled around, the score was 8.5 to 3.5. The U.S. needed a sweep. Instead, they got another heavy dose of reality. The Ryder Cup pairings day 2 afternoon session saw Bradley go for "star power" over chemistry.
He put Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau together.
On paper? Terrifying. In reality? It was a disaster. Scottie was clearly gassed or just out of sync, and they ran into the buzzsaw known as Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose. Rose is 45 years old, but he was playing like he was 22, making eight birdies in 15 holes. They took down the World No. 1 and the U.S. Open champ 3 & 2.
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It was painful to watch.
The only reason the U.S. didn't go into Sunday facing an impossible 12-4 deficit was J.J. Spaun. The rookie birdied the last two holes alongside Xander Schauffele to flip their match against Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka. That one point felt like a tiny band-aid on a gunshot wound, but it kept the score at 11.5 to 4.5 heading into the singles.
The "Envelope" Drama and the Hovland Injury
One thing that almost nobody talked about until it was over was the Viktor Hovland situation. Hovland had to withdraw late on Saturday due to an injury, which triggered one of the weirdest rules in golf. Because the teams have to be equal for the Sunday singles, Bradley had to put a name in an "envelope."
That player would sit out, and the match would be halved automatically.
Bradley chose Harris English. It was a mercy killing, honestly, given how English had struggled all weekend. But it highlighted the lack of depth the U.S. felt they had. When your captain is "benching" guys via an envelope rule because he doesn't trust the form, you know the ship is sinking.
What Really Happened with the Fans
We have to talk about the New York crowd. It was... a lot.
There’s "passionate," and then there’s "shouting personal insults at Rory McIlroy’s family." It got ugly. But here’s the kicker: it actually helped Europe. Every time a fan crossed the line, the European players seemed to huddle closer together. They played with a "us against the world" mentality that the Americans just couldn't match. Keegan Bradley later admitted that he wished the energy had been more focused on cheering for the U.S. than tearing down the visitors.
Key Takeaways from the Saturday Disaster
If you're looking back at how this went so wrong, it comes down to three things:
- Trusting Cold Hands: Keeping English and Morikawa together after a Friday blowout was a massive coaching error.
- The Scheffler Slump: You can't win a Ryder Cup when your best player goes winless in four team matches. Scottie looked lost at Bethpage.
- European Synergy: Rahm/Hatton and McIlroy/Fleetwood are legitimate dynasties. They don't just play together; they think together.
Even though the U.S. made a legendary charge on Sunday to bring the final score to 15-13, the damage done during the Ryder Cup pairings day 2 was simply too much to overcome. You can't give a team like Europe a seven-point lead and expect to keep the trophy.
How to Apply This to Your Own Game
You probably aren't playing in front of 40,000 screaming New Yorkers, but the pairings logic still applies to your weekend scramble or member-guest:
- Complementary Styles Over Rank: Don't just pair your two best players together. Pair a "bomber" with a "grinder."
- Emotional Resilience Matters: If your partner gets down after a bad hole, you need to be the one who brings the energy up. If you're both "sinkers," the round is over by the 5th hole.
- Know When to Pivot: If a pairing fails on Day 1, don't "hope" it gets better. Change it.
Next time you're setting up a team event, look at the stats of your buddies. Who putts well under pressure? Who always finds the fairway? Build your pairings around those traits, not just who has the lowest handicap.
If you want to dive deeper into the specific stats of that Saturday session, you can check the official Ryder Cup scoring archives for the hole-by-hole breakdowns.