Michael Jordan Predicted USA's Ryder Cup Woes During Friday Play, 'We Got Problems'

Even before things completely fell apart for the United States on the first day of play at the Ryder Cup on Friday, NBA legend and golf superfan Michael Jordan could tell the Americans were in trouble.

Per James Colgan of Golf.com, Jordan declared "we got problems" when he saw Tyrrell Hatton, who was paired with Jon Rahm, sink a 10-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole to go three up over Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas in the first foursome of the day.

DeChambeau and Thomas took a lead right out of the gate with a birdie on the first hole. They remained one up through the sixth hole, but things turned starting at No. 7.

The Rahm-Hatton pairing took the lead on the eighth hole and eventually ended the match with Hatton's par putt on No. 15 to win 4 and 3.

Europe won three of the four morning foursomes to begin the tournament. The lead extended to three points (5.5 to 2.5) by the end of the afternoon four-ball session.

On the bright side, that was actually an improvement compared to how the U.S. fared on the opening day of the 2023 Ryder Cup. The Americans were down by five points going into Saturday two years.

The bad news is those issues from two years ago don't appear to have been fixed. Keegan Bradley is the youngest captain for the American team since Arnold Palmer in 1963.

Bradley's plan to turn things around on Saturday was largely to keep things as they were, with the exception of pairing DeChambeau with Cameron Young in the morning foursome.

"Well, we've played 25 percent of the points. We've played the first quarter of a football game or a basketball game," Bradley said after Friday's matches (h/t Colgan). "They went out there and they played better than us today. They made more putts."

The last time the U.S. won the Ryder Cup after trailing at the end of the first day was the historic comeback in 1999. Europe has won five of the past seven Ryder Cup titles dating back to 2010.