Golf at its most passionate - The Ryder Cup

From Next magazine issue 3/2004. Text by Markku Rimpiläinen

So why does the Ryder Cup evoke such powerful emotions? Perhaps the reason is that in Ryder Cup competition the best golfers from both sides of the Atlantic play for their teams and not for themselves, even though the fate of the whole team always depends on the performances of the individual players. National pride, of course, is also very much at stake. There are many who believe that the Ryder Cup has rekindled the fundamental values and joy of the game in the world of professional golf. This three-day competition is also revered by the golf-watching public. The match play format ensures that a high level of excitement is maintained at all times. Interest in the event is so great that some of the tickets are distributed by lottery. Staged since 1927 The Ryder Cup has been played since 1927, at first between the USA and the British Isles and since 1979, between the USA and Europe. The competition has its origins in unofficial international matches. The forms of play became established when a prosperous English seed merchant named Samuel Ryder became the patron of the event. The rules of the Ryder Cup have changed over the years. However, the competition has always been a match play event. The total number of strokes played during a round is of no significance: instead, each hole is a mini-contest in its own right, and the player or pair of players who wins more of the eighteen holes takes the match and scores one point for the team. In the case of tie (nine holes a side), each team scores half a point. If the points tally of the two teams is equal at the end of the three-day competition, the winner of the event held two years earlier retains the Cup. Today, there are 28 points to be won during the competition. The two 12-man teams fight for the points over three days, and the forms of play are foursome, fourball and singles. Singles is played man against man. Fourball involves two partners scoring their better ball against the better ball of their opponents, and in foursome two partners play one ball alternately from the tee and alternately to the green against two opponent partners. Tactics can be decisive The various forms of play provide plenty of opportunity for tactics. Deciding on the pairings and the order of play is the main task of the two team captains. A classic example of successful tactics was seen at the last Ryder Cup in 2002, when European team captain Sam Torrance sent his top players out first in the singles round. As a result, the Europeans amassed the fourteen and a half points they needed to win by the late afternoon, leaving the top guns of the USA team to play out meaningless matches at the end of the day. Europe has come out on top in three of the last four Ryder Cup competitions. This year, Bernard Langer of Germany captains the European team, and his opposite number for the USA team is Hal Sutton.