J.J. Spaun shares thoughts on Keegan Bradley leaving him out of Ryder Cup foursomes

Given how well-suited Spaun’s game seemed for alternate shot, it was a bit of a surprise when Bradley left him out of Friday morning’s line-up.

Spaun has since told Trey Wingo that while the call was unexpected, he understood the reasoning after speaking with the captain in advance.

“Maybe a little bit (surprised). I wasn’t sure what format I would start in. I talked to Keegan a few weeks prior, and he was just adamant about having a pretty veteran-heavy lineup going out in the first match, which was foursomes.

“So, it had nothing to do with how I was playing or what equipment I played. It was more of he wanted to put guys out there first who have been in that arena, have had success, and have had the experience. Getting my feet wet in fourballs, which is probably an easier format, I think, was appropriate.

“But who knows? I don’t know what the thought process was for Saturday’s matches, but I think Keegan didn’t want to freak out and start changing things around, just assuming, put the batting lineup out there and eventually get things turned around.”

Spaun went on to say he expected changes after Team USA struggled so much in Friday’s session.

“Yeah, I thought there would be a little bit of a change, whether it was someone else… I think Cam [Young] was the only one who subbed in for the foursomes on Saturday. That was different, maybe.

“Honestly, though, the European team were playing so good. They were putting amazingly. They were shooting eight under par on alternate shot, which is just so hard to do.

“With the course setup, it boiled down to the putting, and we would make good putts and they would make it on top of us, or we’d be in there tight and they would make a 30 or 40 footer to beat us to the hole. That happened to me and Scottie on Friday.

“We both hammed and egged 13 through 16, birding those holes, and we didn’t win a hole as we were three down already. So, it’s like, what can you do? You birdie five holes in a row and don’t win a hole. They just outright beat us on Friday and Saturday. And unfortunately, it was just that we were too far behind going into Sunday.”

J.J. Spaun wonders why Europe dominates foursomes at the Ryder Cup

The US have had a rough time in Ryder Cup foursomes for years now, but there is no clear fix on the horizon.

Spaun was asked by Wingo why he thinks Europe is so much better at the format, and he did not have a straightforward answer.

“That’s tough. I don’t know. Behind the scenes, we did everything you possibly could under the sun to really prepare and match up the right foursome teams. We had analytics, ball testing, and personality tests. My god, we did everything,” he stated.

“I don’t know, other than what the Europeans have, the confidence from winning tons of foursome matches…. I don’t know if that’s the difference maker, but that’s a really good question.

“I don’t know how you can go about making more events alternate shots, but there could be something in the European development where alternate shot was a format played very often.”

“I played Muirfield in Scotland this year, and literally, you can only have two balls in play at the club, no matter what time of day or who you’re playing with. So, if you have a foursome, you can only play two balls. So, an alternate shot between four guys. It’s weird. So, I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing or something that these guys are used to, but they might do it a lot more frequently, growing up over there in the European countries.”