Were Bethpage’s green speeds to blame for U.S. loss?

In the week since the U.S. team’s crushing Ryder Cup loss to Europe, a number of theories have surfaced in terms of who — or what — is to blame. One recurring theme: the green speeds at Bethpage Black.

In the U.S. team’s post-loss press conference on Sunday, American captain Keegan Bradley admitted he “made a mistake” with his course set-up directives — which included moving up tees and cutting down Bethpage’s famously gnarly rough — which inadvertently played into Europe’s favor.

Another problem? “The greens were as soft as I’ve ever seen greens without it raining,” Bradley said. “Especially here, it can get pretty firm, and they never firmed up. We didn’t want the greens to be like this soft.”

“We needed to make more putts,” said captain’s pick Justin Thomas, who went 2-2-0. “That’s what Keegan needed; he needed us to make more putts.”

While Bradley refused to place the blame on anyone but himself for the Americans’ issues, vice captain Jim Furyk said that U.S. players had doubts that the greens were running at the requested speed of 12.5 on the Stimpmeter.

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“We were told that they were 12 and a half on the stimp,” Furyk said ahead of this week’s Constellation Furyk & Friends tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. “I think that was the request. We were told that they stimped out that in the morning. Our players one by one didn’t think they reached that. I didn’t have a stimp in my hand to actually confirm it, nor was I allowed to hit a putt as a vice captain. That’s a rule. So I can’t tell you because I didn’t get to hit a putt. I wish I would have though.

“Guys had a hard time getting putts to the hole and it did appear to be a little gluey,” Furyk continued. “I think the request was always there to set the golf course up with less rough, but I think also believing that the greens would be firmer. I know we got some rain mid week but they were really, really soft when we arrived. So that probably is an issue a little bit. It’s not how we were looking at the golf course.”

Faster greens should have played to the U.S. team’s advantage.

“I think historically we play faster greens on the PGA Tour than [the Europeans] do [on the DP World Tour],” Bradley said after Saturday’s four-ball session, which the Europeans won 3-1. “Obviously when we go over to their British Open, the greens are considerably slower than what we play on in an average week. I think like British Open, they are around 10, 10 and a half, maybe 11. For us, when we play faster greens, they generally quicken up as the week goes on [and] the weather’s good. That’s normally what happens.”

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