Take a look at some answers to frequently asked questions about the Ryder Cup:
What is the Ryder Cup?
The “Ryder” in Ryder Cup has nothing to do with the trucking company. It’s the surname of the man who originally conceived of the competition and donated the trophy, Samuel Ryder. An English businessman, he took up golf at age 50 and was hooked. He began sponsoring various competitions, and in that era (the 1920s), perhaps the biggest natural rivalry was between American and British players. So the Ryder Cup was conceived to pit U.S. vs. British pros. It was first played in 1927, and matches have continued to be held every two years.
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, resulted in the postponing of that year’s Ryder Cup for a year and scheduling future matches in even-numbered years. That went back to odd-numbered years after the 2020 edition was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where is the 2025 Ryder Cup?
This will be the 45th edition of the matches and will be contested Sept. 26-28 on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York.
Wait, you said ‘British’ pros. I thought this was U.S. vs. Europe?
You are correct. The Ryder Cup hasn’t been the U.S. vs. Great Britain and Ireland for a while. Team GB&I was expanded to Europe in 1979. The idea, promoted chiefly by Jack Nicklaus, was designed to a) make the competition more competitive (at the time, the U.S. led the series, 18-3-1), and b) make one of the most dynamic players of the era, Spain’s Seve Ballesteros, eligible.
How has Europe done in the Ryder Cup?
Extremely well. Since 1979, their record is 12-9-1. Ballesteros became one of the greatest Ryder Cup players ever, going 20-12-5 in eight Ryder Cup appearances. He later served as captain of the European team in 1997 (they won). Europe hasn’t lost on home soil since the 1993 matches at The Belfry in England and is the defending champion, having defeated the U.S. two years ago, 16 1/2 to 11 1/2, at Marco Simone in Italy.
How are Ryder Cup teams determined?
It’s a fluid situation as captains like to tailor how many picks they can have. This time around, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley had six automatic qualifiers and then six selections. European captain Luke Donald also had six qualifiers and six picks. Both sides have their own points lists to determine the qualifiers and then the captains round out their teams at their discretion.
From Scottie Scheffler and the automatic qualifiers to Keegan Bradley’s six captain’s picks, here’s who will represent the U.S. at Bethpage Black.
From Rory McIlroy and the automatic qualifiers to Luke Donald’s six captain’s picks, here’s who will represent the Europeans at Bethpage Black.
What is the Ryder Cup schedule?
The first two days are dedicated to team play. Each day will have a morning session and an afternoon session, with four matches pitting two-man teams against each other in each session. On Friday and Saturday, they will play both foursomes (alternate shot) and fourballs (better ball), in that order. The home captain (Bradley) determines which is played in the morning and which is played in the afternoon. They will play singles on Sunday.
How do foursomes and fourballs work?
The concepts are pretty simple. Foursomes (alternate shot): You and I are a team. I tee off. You hit the next shot. I hit the next and so on until we’re in the hole. We alternate hitting tee shots, with me leading off on odd-numbered holes, and you hitting first on even-numbered holes.
Fourballs (better ball): I play my ball and you play yours. Whichever one of us makes the lower score on the hole, that’s our team score. And if we tie, well, that’s our score. And if our score on that hole is lower than our opponents’, we win the hole.
In both formats, we’re playing match play, so overall scoring is done by holes, not strokes. Matches last until one team does not have enough remaining holes to catch up.
If we defeat our opponents, it doesn’t matter if we did it by winning just one more hole than them (1 up), or shut them out (10 and 8), it’s just one point for our team. Tied matches are worth a half-point for each side. There are no extra holes in Ryder Cup matches.
What does ’10 and 8′ mean?
It means we won the first 10 holes of the match. Since there are only eight holes left in a standard 18-hole round, the best our opponents could do is win those eight holes. So the match is stopped after the 10th hole and we win, 10 and 8. That almost never happens, by the way.
So there are eight matches on Friday and eight more on Saturday. What about Sunday?
That’s when everyone plays singles — 12 singles matches.
In each of the team sessions there are four matches, which means only eight guys can play. What about the other four?
Just as in any other team sport, they sit on the “bench” and cheer on their teammates. Picking which guys to play and which to sit is one of a captain’s main responsibilities, along with choosing who plays with whom.
The Ryder Cup began in 1927 and has undergone a few changes. Here’s a list of all the champions and the scores in each match.
How many points do you need to win the Ryder Cup?
Well, 16 team matches and 12 singles equals 28 total points, so 14 1/2. But there is a caveat.
What if there is a tie?
That’s the caveat. Whichever team won the previous Ryder Cup and thus holds the cup can retain it with a tie. Europe is the current cup-holder, so it needs only 14 points to retain the cup.
How are matches determined each session?
The lineups have to be turned in to Ryder Cup rules officials by a certain deadline before the matches begin. For example, for Friday’s morning matches, the deadline is Thursday afternoon, before the opening ceremony (beginning at 4 p.m. EDT). For Friday’s afternoon matches, it’s just prior to the completion of the morning session. For Saturday’s morning matches, the deadline is one hour after Friday play concludes. Saturday is similar in determining the afternoon lineup and Sunday singles.
Each captain is also required, by the same Saturday evening deadline, to put the name of one player in a sealed envelope. That player will not play in singles if a player on the opposing team is injured and cannot play.
Neither side knows what the other side’s pairings or teams are until they are sent out from the rules office about five minutes after the above-stated times.
How do I watch the Ryder Cup?
Great last question. The full coverage times are below but, click here and you can get all the daily featured streams, including “Breakfast at Bethpage” and “Live From the Ryder Cup” (times EDT).
- Friday: 7AM-6PM (USA Network)
- Saturday: 7AM-6PM (NBC/Peacock)
- Sunday: Noon-6PM (NBC/Peacock)
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