THE MODERATOR: United States Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley joins us now. Going to go ahead and jump right into questions.
Q. A very respected reputable source has info that they found that Harris English and Collin Morikawa were 132nd best combination of all the possibilities, the last one. What do you have in your information that had them in your top four and you're sending them back out again tomorrow morning?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, we have a plan of what we're going to do. They beat us today, but you know, we're really comfortable with our plan. We're really comfortable with those two players. Excited who they are playing tomorrow.
Be an exciting match, and we're sticking to our plan. We're not going to panic. We're not going to panic and make those sort of mistakes. We're going to stick to what we know.
We have a lot of confidence in them.
Q. Do your data analytics suggest they work really well together, or is it more of a gut feel?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I would say it's a little bit of both. They were really bummed out that they lost their match today. They were eager to get back out on the course, and that's why we did that.
Q. I know Cameron sat this morning, but he came out this afternoon and seemed to be one of the bright spots for you guys today. How proud are you of him, and is that something that you expect out of him, to play as well as he did?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, Cam, that was really cool to see. He came back to his home state at a golf course that he's played. I was really proud to go out there and watch him play the way he did. He played awesome. He's been playing great for a long time. We're excited have him in the lineup tomorrow. Played great. Hit the ball great. A few fist pumps for Cam, which is a little exciting for him, but it was fun watching him out there.
Q. And pairing him with Bryson tomorrow, obviously two big hitters. What went into that decision? Both of Bryson's teammates obviously didn't match to his level in either match.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I don't know if they didn't match his level. But we just thought this was an option for us before the week started. We really like this pairing. Their golf balls are very similar. We feel like they are going to match up really well together.
Q. Just when you go about assessing the overall day, 5½-2½, what do you think went into why that played out?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, we've played 25 percent of the points. We've played the first quarter of a football game or a basketball game. They went out there and they played better than us today. They made more putts.
But listen, we knew this was going to be difficult. We knew this was going to be tough. We didn't expect to come in here and this not be a difficult week. Our boys are in great spirits. I just spoke to them. They are really excited to get out there tomorrow.
What a stage, what an opportunity that they have to go out there tomorrow and prove to everybody, you know, that now they are down, now they have got to go catch up. I like that.
Q. I was going to ask, what was your message to them afterwards?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, like I said, we've played 25 percent of the Ryder Cup. A little bit more. But 25 percent, and we knew this was going to be difficult.
The Europeans played great. Sometimes you go out in sport and you prepare and you do everything you can, and your opponent just beats you, and they played awesome today. It was really incredible to see the Europeans come into a hostile environment and go out there and perform the way they did. They are great players. We knew that. We have to go out and match what they do tomorrow and make a few more putts.
Q. Obviously the atmosphere ramped up a notch in the afternoon when the President came out. What did he say to you guys and what was the timing like? Was it a bit awkward given how the morning session had not gone your way?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: No, it was great. That was really a cool experience. Seeing an active President on the grounds of a Ryder Cup or at a golf event, what a cool thing. The flyover with Air Force One, I'll never forget that the rest of my life. It was really cool.
Q. Scottie teed it up late with a couple birdies but what did you see from him overall in both his matches?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think if you ask Scottie, he would say he's excited tomorrow to go out and play his best golf. When you're the No. 1 player in the world, you have a day that maybe it wasn't his best, normally you bounce back. We are not worried about Scottie Scheffler. He's been in great spirits in the team room. He's eager to get back out there tomorrow.
Q. You said you have a plan and you're going to stick to it. Just emotionally, you go down 3-1, 5½ - 2½, how challenging is it to be like, I'm sticking to the plan and maybe not try to deviate?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, I think your natural instinct is to do that, but we came in here this week with a plan, and the players are prepared for that plan. And we aren't going to -- we're going to stick to that plan and make sure the players are ready to play.
You know, we feel really confident about this lineup, and we love all those players.
Q. Justin Thomas did struggle this morning and played well this afternoon. J.J. Spaun played better than three of the guys you have going in the morning. There was never a thought to maybe inject those guys in the morning seeing how the deficit is more than expected maybe?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I think we wanted the guys to get a little rest. We have a very specific plan for each player that we've spoke to them, and I think that they all want to do what's best for the team. They all would have played if we asked them to. They all would sit if we asked them to. They just want to win the Ryder Cup, and that's what makes this group so great.
We are three points down. That's easy. We can come back from three points down. I think it feels a lot worse because the day is over, but we have a lot more of the Ryder Cup to play.
Q. Being captain has been a theoretical thing. What did you learn about the job today being out there, and what did you learn about your team?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, I learned that Patrick Cantlay is a tough dude. I watched him out there, hit a lot of great shots, make a lot of incredible putts. Proud of the way the guys fought. It not easy when you are down in matches in a Ryder Cup and trying to fight back.
You know, that was a really important halve we had on the last hole. That was a really important win that X and Patrick had in the morning session. I'm really proud of them for doing that. That kept us in this firmly.
I think it's difficult to watch from -- it's more difficult to watch than actually play because you want them to play well so bad, and you don't have control over it. But it was fun watching them play. I look forward to celebrating tomorrow, seeing them make more putts and winning more holes.
Q. Bryson had talked a lot this week about what this meant to be back in this tournament. He had that drive on the first tee in the morning to fire up the crowd, some good, some bad the rest of the day. How do you think he handled the return to this stage, and what did you see from him today?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, he played great. He hit a lot of incredible shots. The shot he hit off 1 was great. But ultimately we needed to make more putts. I think everyone on our team would say that. I think that they would say that we've got to go out tomorrow and roll those putts in, and we didn't do that today.
But like any other day at a tournament, some days you're so happy for the round to be over just so we can get a break, come back tomorrow, and have a fresh start.
Q. I know the pairings are relatively the same, but do you anticipate keeping the same odds/evens rotations tomorrow morning as well?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I think we'll keep that to our team and what we're going to do there.
Q. Just wondering, it feels like a lot of the time when the U.S. lose sessions, it's about making more putts. How do you try and make more putts, because surely the players are trying as hard as they can to make every putt.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, one of the weirdest things about golf that doesn't apply to other sports is the harder you try, the worse you play. So you actually have to try to give up control to do stuff like that. One of the things I struggle with the most is trying too hard, and when you try too hard in golf, you don't play as well. We go out tomorrow, we get back into our process. We have a whole different mindset. We are playing from behind.
We'll go out there, and all the horrible clichés that you guys hear all the time: One shot at a time, process, process, process, and they will start going in.
Q. You said yesterday throughout this process, you're sticking to the plan; you have a plan. Are there things, though, that you see as today unfolds, as the week goes on that force you to change the plan or reconsider what you've told guys about their role and how this comes about?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I think there's definitely some things that you have to adapt to.
We ran into some really incredible play by the Europeans today. So you know, we look at the data. We look at the strokes gained. In the morning session, we just didn't make any putts. Really, hardly any at all. Everything else was pretty good. We actually hit more fairways and less greens.
But that middle match with Collin and Harris, they went up against a final group that shot 5-, 6-, 7-under, something like that, in alternate-shot, which is tough to beat.
Q. While walking around today did you get confirmation that it would have been very difficult to captain and play?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, certainly my role would have been a lot different on this team if I had played. We'll never know how that's ever going to be.
But my role certainly would have looked a lot different than it does this week.
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