Ryder Cup
 The Ryder Cup is the most renowned golf tournament in the world. Every two years the best European and American golfers come together to compete in this tournament. The name Ryder Cup goes back to the golf fan Samuel Ryder who once donated the trophy and agreed to pay the prize money to the winning team. The Ryder Cup was first competed for in 1927 with the US competing against Great Britain.
Between 1935 and 1973 the Ryder Cup was dominated by the US being defeated only once. The competitions from 1939 to 1945 were cancelled due to World War II. In 1973 Ireland joined the British team which was extended to the whole Europe in 1979. Since this year the European team managed to win the trophy more often than the US team. This is why the Ryder Cup is also considered as the “prestige fight” between the Old and New World.
Every team involves twelve players that were selected according to their rank on the Money List of the PGA-Tour (for American players) or European Tour (for European players). Sometimes these players are even chosen by the respective team captain (through so-called wild cards). Especially Europeans use these wild cards to appoint top players to the team that mainly play in the US and so cannot qualify through the European Money List for the European team. This rule was in force until 2002. Since the year 2004, five Europeans qualify for the world ranking list by the points reached and five other players qualify by the Money List of the European Tour.
The cup is played with a determined number of „matchplays.“ In 2002, those games consisted of 8 foursomes matches (two players of each team hit the ball alternately), 8 fourball matches (two players of each team play simultaneously, the best one receive the points) and 12 singles matches. The winner of each match scores a point for their team, with ½ a point each for any match that is tied after 18 holes. Any won holes are counted (a tied match means no score for both teams). In case of a player lying ahead unable to be caught up on, the round is stopped immediately. The winner counts “X and Y,” while Y stands for the number of remaining holes and X gives information about the advantage at the time of abandoning (Example: “3 and 2” means two holes still to play, match stopped at hole 16 with an advantage of three points for the winners).
The Solheim Cup is the women's equivalent of the Ryder Cup, featuring the same US. vs. Europe format. |