I feel like it’s no wonder the US team lost another Ryder Cup, and this one in the friendly confines of Bethpage Black—on home soil. The pressure Keegan Bradley put on these guys must have been enormous.
The appeal to country and patriotism, I would think, might have felt more like a weight than an inspiration. Too much pressure, too much trash talk, and maybe, given the current atmosphere, a certain internal conflict and confusion. What America were they representing—the Ideal, or this dystopian Trumpian disaster? I would think it might be difficult to get behind that.
Anyway, they at least made it interesting on Sunday. But all it really proved is that you can’t win on emotion alone. They had dug themselves a hole that was going to be hard to get out of. And the Europeans were a veteran group, talented and cagey, playing for each other, unmoved by and ready for the typical and predictably boorish American bluster and loudness.
As a country, we still behave like immature teenagers. Like blunt force is all we need.
3 Cents' 