Lanny Wadkins gives key piece of advice to Jim Furyk after he was announced as Ryder Cup captain

“So things like that, you put a guy who’s a straight driver and a great putter with a guy who’s a great iron player, and it works out. You’ve got to think ahead and do stuff like that, especially in foursomes in alternate shot, which is traditionally our weakest format.

“We generally do okay in best ball or four ball. I think you have to think through some of the pairings and not be afraid to sit someone who’s not playing well. You have to go with the best players at the time.”

Wadkins isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel. Of course, Team USA needs to consider which pairings work best and which order they should play. That’s the bare minimum when it comes to analytics in this event.

But shockingly, Keegan Bradley didn’t follow this advice, putting the worst possible pairing statistically together at Bethpage Black with Collin Morikawa and Harris English. They are streets behind the Europeans who have an analytical machine whirring away in the background.

Jim Furyk must learn from 2018 mistakes at Adare Manor

When he led Team USA in 2018, Furyk was not thinking analytically. Instead, his tenure essentially involved him picking players he was friendly with, leading to accusations that the American team had simply become an old-boys’ club.

By selecting his friend Mickelson to the team, who had an unbelievably poor season that year, Furyk set the tone. He wasn’t interested in form or analytics. It was about gut feel. But Mickelson didn’t win a point in that event.

Thomas Bjorn and the Europeans set up Le Golf National to favor accuracy over power, but Furyk ignored that, pairing Mickelson with Bryson DeChambeau. Predictably, they lost 5 & 4 to Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren, and that pairing wasn’t seen again.

That, combined with his separation of Reed and Spieth, were unjustifiably terrible decisions, and ones that he must learn from to stand any chance of beating Europe in their backyard.

• READ MORE: Jim Furyk has already given away his plan for Adare Manor as he’s named US Ryder Cup captain