‘Million-dollar question’: U.S. captain mystified by team’s repeated failures

U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker admitted that he does not understand why his team has again struggled so badly in foursomes.

The U.S. team lost all five matches in Friday’s session against the International team. A 3-2 American lead after Thursday became a 3-7 deficit heading into Saturday’s matches.

“I think we have to look at it, obviously. It didn’t go great. I feel like our guys played pretty well, all in all. I know the scoreboard doesn’t reflect it,” Snedeker said.

It was the second straight Presidents Cup in which the U.S. team was swept in Friday foursomes. In 2024 at Royal Montreal, the Americans followed a clean sweep in Thursday four-ball by going 0-5 in Friday foursomes, sending the competition to a tie.

The Americans’ Ryder Cup record in foursomes offers little encouragement. At Bethpage Black last year, they won only two of eight matches in the format on the way to a heavy defeat.

The biggest problem, GOLF.com writer Kevin Cunningham argues, is that the U.S. team appears not to understand why it keeps failing in foursomes. Snedeker called it the “million-dollar question” and could offer no stronger explanation than saying that “some days the ball just doesn’t want to go in.”

“I can’t put my finger on it. I really wish I could,” Snedeker said. “I tried my best to do it, and we have another session to go out there and try to figure it out.”

Snedeker said the team had practiced the format and that he believed the pairing decisions were correct. Still, several selections raised questions. Cameron Young and Justin Thomas lost 3 and 2 to Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Scott is 46, while Bezuidenhout is ranked 104th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Snedeker acknowledged that the Young-Thomas pairing may not have been the right decision, although their strong performance on Thursday made it difficult to leave both players out.

“That was something we had thought about beforehand. We felt like Justin and Cam had played so well the first day, it was going to be kind of hard to keep them off the golf course. That’s one of the things as captain you look back on maybe when this thing is all over with it might not have been the right decision, but it seemed like the right decision at the time,” Snedeker said.

An even more questionable decision may have been sending world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler out in foursomes. Scheffler and Sam Burns lost 1 down to Corey Conners and Nick Taylor. Despite his status as the world’s top-ranked player, Scheffler is now 1-8-0 in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup foursomes.

At Bethpage Black a year ago, Scheffler and Russell Henley lost two matches, 5 and 3 and 1 down. At the 2023 Ryder Cup, Scheffler and Burns lost Friday foursomes 4 and 3, while Scheffler and Brooks Koepka were beaten 9 and 7 by Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland on Saturday, one of the most lopsided matches in Ryder Cup history.

Although Scheffler and Burns narrowly won their Thursday four-ball match this year, pairing them again in Friday foursomes appeared unwise. Snedeker’s explanation was that the players are close friends and should feel comfortable.

“I think they both — the first two matches, they both played really well, I thought. There wasn’t anything that kind of made me want to break them up. I feel like they’re — as I said from day one, they’re best friends. They play a ton of golf together. I want them both to feel comfortable and go out there and do what they do,” Snedeker said.

The U.S. team now faces the task of overcoming a four-point deficit in 20 remaining matches. Sunday will feature 12 singles matches, a format the Americans typically dominate, while Saturday morning brings a four-ball session. Four more foursomes matches will follow Saturday afternoon.

Snedeker said his players were ready for the challenge, but he offered no specific lesson from Friday’s sweep that might reassure fans about an improvement in the format. In an era when Europe’s Ryder Cup team has shown the benefits of decisions grounded in advanced analytics, the captain’s comments suggest that U.S. golf has learned little from its repeated failures in team events.

Based on GOLF.com reporting by Kevin Cunningham.