Keegan Bradley vows to ‘stick to the plan’ after tough Ryder Cup opening day

United States captain Keegan Bradley insists he will “stick to the plan” despite a chastening opening day of the Ryder Cup.

Bradley saw his US team slip to a 5.5-2.5 deficit after a ruthless European side took control of the competition.

A comprehensive 3-1 win in the morning foursomes set the tone for the visitors, but Bradley has named three of the four pairs again for Saturday morning’s session with a determination that his way is the right way.

The most head-scratching selection is the retention of Collin Morikawa and Harris English, who were thrashed 5&4 by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood and they go head-to-head again.

A reputable source of golf data had ranked Morikawa and English as the 132nd of 132 possible combinations for the American foursomes, but Bradley will not be swayed.

“Well, we have a plan of what we’re going to do,” he said. “They beat us today, but we’re really comfortable with our plan.

“We’re really comfortable with those two players. Excited who they are playing tomorrow.

“It will 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. 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.”

Despite a tough opening day, where the United States failed to be inspired by the presence of Donald Trump, Bradley knows the contest is far from over.

“We’ve played 25 per cent of the points. We’ve played the first quarter of a football game or a basketball game,” he said.

“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.

“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 again.

“What a stage, what an opportunity that they have to go out there tomorrow and prove to everybody that now they are down, now they have got to go catch up. I like that.”