Updated Sept 2025 – Well that was unexpected. Having gone to the final day singles with no realistic hope of winning, the US team almost delivered a comeback that would have been greater than any before. A triumphant relaxing coast to the finish line was transformed into a roiling nail-biting scramble. Fantastic drama from start to finish and almost worthy of a place in this list.
It was a reminder of how great the Ryder Cup is as a sporting event and competition. It’s easy to forget that it was not ever thus. Such was the level of American domination – they won 21 of the first 25 contests never once losing on home soil – that the competition nearly folded in the 1970s through lack of interest.
It was only in 1979 when Great Britain and Ireland teamed up with the rest of Europe (a proposal put forward by Jack Nicklaus) that the event revived, becoming a genuine sporting contest. There have been big wins for sure, but many of the matches have been settled by the narrowest of margins. As the official website itself puts it “Drama, tension, incredible golf, camaraderie and sportsmanship are served in equal measure … It’s an event that transcends sport”. There have also been moments of controversy, gamesmanship and incompetence. In this blog I try and pick out the best of the great moments and also the not-so-great.
I fully expect 2025 to generate more of both. Hopefully this blog will get you in the mood for what is to come.
1. The greatest comeback – The Miracle at Medinah 2012
The Ryder Cup had been contested for 60 years before GB or Europe first won the trophy in the USA. Once the duck was broken, at Muirfield Village in 1987, there were further wins for Europe – in 1995 and 2004 – but the US team always started as strong favourites on home soil. This was the case in September 2012, when the two teams lined up at Medinah, Il.
The US team’s status as favourites looked solid on day one which they edged 5-3. It began to look better still on the second morning when they stretched their lead to 8-4. Wins then in the first two afternoon fourballs saw them to a huge 10-4 lead. If the Americans could clinch either of the two unfinished matches still on the course, their lead would surely be unassailable going into the final day.
Their irresistible run to victory was slowed temporarily by European duo Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia who narrowly beat Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. This was, remarkably, the American pair’s third loss out of three. That left Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy on the course against Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner. If Europe were to have any chance, however slim, of winning the trophy they needed a point from this one.
It did not look likely. With six holes left the Americans were two up, and McIlroy, world ranked number one, seemed slightly off his game. Thankfully he picked up a birdie on the 13th to halve the deficit, and this lit the blue touchpaper for his partner, Poulter. The Englishman went on a tear, birdieing 14, 15 and 16 to put the Europeans into a one-hole lead. And he wasn’t finished. He birdied 17 to halve the hole, then sank a 12-footer on the 18th for a stunning fifth consecutive birdie and another half to clinch the match one-up.
Poulter’s incredible run, accompanying by his customary fist-pumping, eyeballs-out passion, was the spark for an incredible day three. Europe still required an unlikely eight points from the 12 singles matches to halve the match and retain the trophy. But one by one the wins came – Donald, a still-inspired Poulter, McIlroy and Lawrie took the first four matches. There was a brief flurry from the Americans but another unlikely comeback, this time by Justin Rose over Phil Mickelson, seemed to be the clincher. Eventually a five-foot putt for German, Martin Kaymer, on the last was enough to clinch a one-shot victory (over the hapless Steve Stricker, a captain’s pick who won no points in his four matches) and retain the cup for Europe.
The match became known as ‘the Miracle at Medinah’. Europe have had more convincing triumphs, but none will be as memorable as this one.
2. The greatest sportsmanship – Nicklaus vs Jacklin, Royal Birkdale 1969
The rather arcane rules imposed at the time by the US PGA meant that Jack Nicklaus had won seven major championships, including the career grand slam, before he qualified to represent America in the Ryder Cup. His belated debut came at Royal Birkdale in 1969. Aged 29, Nicklaus was going through a rare major ‘drought’, but was still by most accounts the best golfer in the world.
His first Ryder Cup was to be a somewhat feisty one, marred by aggressive behaviour and poor sportsmanship from players on both sides. Before the contest the combative GB captain, Scot Eric Brown, had told his players not to help look for American balls lost in the rough. On the course, American Ken Still got involved in two disputes – one after being asked to move by Maurice Bembridge in the day one foursomes, then another after his partner Dave Hill putted out of turn in the day two fourballs. The second incident led to a shouting match and nearly resulted in an actual fist fight between the American and British pairs.
Perhaps one reason for all the aggravation was that, unlike most recent runnings of the contest, the GB team thought they might actually have a chance in this one. The US had beaten GB by a humiliating margin of 23 ½ to 8 ½ in 1967, but this looked like it could go either way. The score was 4 ½ to 3 ½ in favour of GB after day one, then tied at 8-all after day two. The first round of the final day singles (in 1969 there were eight singles matches in the morning then a further eight in the afternoon) saw GB move out into a lead of 13-11, but a US recovery in the afternoon saw the scores tied at 15-15 with two matches still on the course.
The first of these saw Welshman Brian Huggett against American Billy Casper, while the final match pitted Nicklaus against the young star of the GB team, Tony Jacklin. Jacklin had two months earlier become the first Briton in 18 years to win the Open Championship (at nearby Royal Lytham) and was brim-full of confidence after a 4&3 victory over Nicklaus in the morning singles. He was though trailing Nicklaus until a huge eagle putt on the 17th saw him draw level. Huggett, on the 18th green, heard the cheer and assumed that Jacklin had won. When he sank his own putt he thought he had won the Cup for Europe and was overcome with emotion, only to find out that the match was still very much alive.
The Ryder Cup in fact came down to the final pair on the final hole. Nicklaus and Jacklin both hit good drives, then found the green with their approaches. Both had long putts for birdie with Jacklin first to go. His putt finished 2-3 feet short so Nicklaus had his putt to win. Always fearless, he putted aggressively but missed and rolled the ball an uncomfortable 6-7 feet past the hole. Nervelessly, though, he sank the return putt, then to almost everybody’s surprise, the American picked up Jacklin’s marker to concede the Briton’s putt. The hole was halved, their match was halved and the Ryder Cup was halved.
Nicklaus told Jacklin “I don’t think you would have missed it, but I wasn’t going to give you the chance either.” US team captain, Sam Snead, was apparently furious that Nicklaus’ concession had thrown away the chance of outright victory. But, most observers considered his act to be one of the great acts of sportsmanship.
3. The greatest shot – Christy O’Connor Jr’s 2 iron, The Belfry 1989
Irish golfer Christy O’Connor Jr was perhaps a tad unlucky to share the name of his uncle, Christy O’Connor Sr. O’Connor senior was an all-time legend of Irish golf, winning over 20 tournaments on the British PGA tour and being selected for a then-record 10 consecutive Ryder Cup teams. O’Connor junior, whilst a very fine golfer, never hit the heights of his uncle and probably suffered by comparison. He is, though, remembered for one shot of genius in the Ryder Cup, a shot that was critical to Europe’s famous 1989 victory.
O’Connor had first competed in the Ryder Cup as a 27-year-old. His debut appearance, though, at Laurel Valley, Pennsylvania in 1975 was not auspicious. Heavily beaten twice in the fourballs, he was not called upon for either of the two rounds of singles, so left America with a record of played two, lost two. He failed to qualify for the next few teams, and when he was controversially not selected for the 1985 Ryder Cup (he missed automatic qualification by only £115.89 of prize winnings), it looked as though this would be his lasting record.
He was, though, to get a chance to set the record straight. In 1989 he put together a strong run of form, and again very narrowly missed out on automatic qualification. To many people’s surprise he was awarded a captain’s pick by Tony Jacklin. Now aged 41, O’Connor was considered to be past his best, a best that had not been considered good enough four years earlier. Perhaps Jacklin having selected the Irishman, then had second thoughts, as he did not select him for either the foursomes or the fourballs on day one. When O’Connor finally did appear, alongside Ronan Rafferty in the second day’s foursomes, he fell to another defeat. His only and final chance of breaking his cup points duck would come in the singles. Drawn against world number 15, Fred Couples, (O’Connor was the lowest-ranked player on either side at 71) it seemed inevitable that he would suffer yet another defeat.
The reality was different. Europe had entered the final day leading by 9-7. After much drama in the first six matches, they still led by two points at 12-10. This meant that only two points were required to retain the trophy. O’Connor and Couples were the seventh game out. O’Connor was behind but levelled with Couples on the 16th, then halved the 17th to go down the last all square. The 18th, with both the drive and the approach over water, had caused problems for the US team all day. O’Connor played safe from the tee, leaving himself a very testing 230 yards to the flag. Couples hit a beaut, leaving only a nine iron to the green. O’Connor was definitely behind on points, but had the advantage, if you can call it that, of playing his approach shot before the American.
O’Connor picked his two-iron from his bag. Amateur golfers throughout Europe looked away. O’Connor, however, brought up on the links of Ireland, struck the ball low and true. It cleared the water, landed on the front of the green then ran up the slope to finish no more than four feet from the pin. Couples, unsettled by the unexpected brilliance of the shot, played a poor approach then failed to get down in par. He conceded O’Connor’s putt meaning not only that O’Connor had gained his first point in the Ryder Cup, but also he had also laid the foundation for a 14-14 draw that was enough to see the cup remain in European hands. He had also, arguably, created a more memorable moment than anything his uncle ever had.
4. The biggest controversy – Brookline 1999
Not for nothing is the 1999 Ryder Cup known as the ‘Battle of Brookline’. Played in front of a rowdy home crowd, whipped up into a partisan frenzy, the event was marked by some of the worst behaviour ever seen at a golf tournament, both on and off the course. European players and in some cases their family members were jeered, insulted, and jostled by over-boisterous US spectators. More egregiously, the American team got in on the act, committing a violation of golfing etiquette that has gone down in the annals of the sport as one of the worst ever.
The Ryder Cup in the decade from 1987 to 1997 was an extraordinarily close affair. Four wins for Europe and two to the USA but none with a margin greater than 15-13. (There was also one tie). The 1995 event had been won by Europe on American soil by a single point, then retained in 1997 at Valderrama by the same score. In 1999 the US team were desperate for revenge and confident they could achieve it. 10 of their players were ranked in the world’s top 16, while only three Europeans could claim likewise. Seven of the European team were Ryder Cup rookies against only one of the Americans. With home field advantage only one result seemed possible.
Day one chucked all predictions into the air. Europe won the foursomes 2 ½ to 1 ½ then romped to a 3 ½ to ½ win in the afternoon fourballs. 6-2 on the day. Day two was closer, but Europe still finished with a 10-6 lead. No team had ever come back this sort of deficit.
American captain, Ben Crenshaw, felt that a fast start was needed if the USA team was to have any sort of a chance, so he loaded his stronger players up front in the playing order. Europe captain, Mark James took the opposite approach, instead putting out most of his rookies, including three (Coltart, Van de Velde ad Sandelin) who had not played at all on the first two days. Crenshaw’s strategy looked vindicated as the scorecard flashed red, red the red again. The first seven results went USA’s way, shooting them into a 13-10 lead. Europe, though, were not finished. Wins for Padraig Harrington and Paul Lawrie partially rebalanced the score, before a loss for 19-year-old Sergio Garcia took the score to 12-14. The Americans needed only half a point from the two remaining games on the course to recapture the trophy.
Europe, though, was ahead in both. In the final game, top-ranked European Colin Montgomerie narrowly led Payne Stewart, while in the other, Spaniard Jose-Maria Olazabal went 4-up on Jason Leonard. Leonard, with the unenviable record of no wins from six previous Ryder Cup matches, chose this moment to go on a charge. He won 12, 13, 14 and 15 to square the match. The pair came down the 17th all square with Leonard knowing that if he could avoid defeat, the Ryder Cup would be back in US hands. Both players made the 17th green in two and were faced with long distance putts for birdie. Leonard putted first, from 40-feet. His putt never looked like missing, zeroing in on the hole before finding the middle of the cup. Leonard celebrated wildly before being joined on the green by most members of the US team plus a bevy of wives, vice-captains and caddies.
There was one critical detail that they had all either missed or had chosen to ignore. The hole was not yet over, Leonard had not yet won it, the US team were not yet assured of the half point they needed for the overall win. Their storming of the green was completely out of order with Olazabal still facing a 25-foot putt to keep the match and Europe’s Ryder Cup alive. By the time Leonard belatedly called for the green to be cleared, the damage had been done. A clearly rattled Olazabal was unable to make his birdie and with that the US team had actually secured the trophy.
In the aftermath, there was outrage and not just from this side of the Atlantic. European Ryder cup veteran Sam Torrance was particularly affronted: “It was the most disgraceful and disgusting day in the history of professional golf … The spectators behaved like animals and some of the American players acted like madmen”. He was not alone in his condemnation. In the US, the LA Times wrote “The entire US team violated every principle of proper golf decorum and decent manners” and the Washington Post was similarly critical: “It seems an American team can’t get through an international competition without acting like jackasses at some point”.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/sep/17/rydercup2004.rydercup3
5. The best individual performance – Francesco Molinari, Le Golf National 2018
All professional golfers are capable of moments or periods when they perform at a world-class level. The purple patch might last for a run of holes, a couple of rounds, a tournament or two or even for a whole season or more. The purple patch of Francesco Molinari, which lasted throughout 2018 was one of the more sustained and spectacular.
Molinari was no journeyman. A pro since 2004 he had four European tour victories under his belt and had been a consistent presence around the top of the European Order of Merit. There was, though, a sense that he had underachieved, his excellent ball-striking let down by his relatively poor putting and what seemed at times to be a lack of nerve. In 2018 things seemed to click into place for the Italian. He gained some length off the tee, his putting stats improved and, most of all, his mental attitude seemed markedly more positive.
He picked up the prestigious BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth holding off Rory McIlroy, then convincingly won his first US PGA victory in the Quicken Loans National. The piece de resistance was his capture of the Open Championship at Carnoustie, the first major victory ever for an Italian, where he coolly came through the field on the final day. He was a shoo-in for the Ryder Cup team, but there were some reservations – Molinari had played in both the 2010 and 2012 teams, but despite being part of two winning teams he himself had yet to win a match. In six matches he had only two half points to his name.
2018 in Paris was to be different. He found his perfect partner in Englishman Tommy Fleetwood. The pair were Europe’s only winners in the first morning’s fourballs, then they won again in the afternoon foursomes. They were at it again on day two, sending back Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods in the fourballs, then Woods and Bryson Dechambeau in the foursomes. It was not often that Woods was made to look ordinary (although his record in the Ryder Cup was not great) but Molinari had bested him three times out of three. While his partner, Fleetwood, ran out of puff in the singles, there was no such issue for Molinari. He took on and beat (a somewhat subdued) Phil Mickelson and finished his third Ryder Cup with a record of played five, won five, the only European ever to achieve this.
Molinari’s form continued into 2019 before he, too, ran out of momentum. He won a second tournament in the US, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and looked a likely winner of the Masters before falling away, but that was largely that for him. His purple patch was over, but boy oh boy, what a purple patch it was.
6. The worst capitulation – Mark Calcavecchia, Kiawah Island 1991
Withstanding the intense pressure of the Ryder Cup is a challenge for any golfer. You’re playing not only for yourself, but for your country, your fans and for your teammates. Listen to Jose Maria Olazabal “Anybody who doesn’t feel his legs trembling must be a dead man”; American David Toms “I expected to be nervous, but not that nervous. You don’t know what the pressure of a Ryder Cup is like unless you’ve been in one”; and Tom Lehman “I was way more nervous on the opening day of the Ryder Cup than the first round of any Major. Every Ryder Cup match is like being in the last group on Sunday in a Major”.
It’s forgivable, therefore, that from time to time your performance might slip a little as you realise the magnitude of what you’re involved in. Many have fallen off, but perhaps none as dramatically as Mark Calcavecchia in 1991.
Calcavecchia was a multiple winner on the US tour and had one Major, the 1989 Open, to his name. He was also a seasoned Ryder Cup campaigner having played in 1987 and 1989, with three wins balancing his four losses. He played well at Kiawah on the first two days winning two and losing one as the two days finished with the teams all square at 8-8. He was sent out third on singles day, where he was drawn against Colin Montgomerie, making his first appearance in the event.
The American played extremely well … for fourteen holes. He led Montgomerie by four with four to play, a position from which he could not lose. It seemed another point for the US was in the bag. On the 15th, though, he hit a terrible drive and lost the hole. On 16 he got a little unlucky with his approach shot, then narrowly missed a long putt that would have clinched the win. On the par-3 17th he fell apart. Monty, playing first, put his tee shot into the water protecting the green. All Calcavecchia needed to do was keep his ball in play. Instead, he hit a smother shank and followed the Scotsman into the water. When both found the green with their second shots, a simple two putt would have done it. Calcavecchia put his approach putt to two feet, a tiddler that in other any circumstances Montgomerie would have conceded. He didn’t and the American missed it … badly. By the 18th his brain was fried. A tentative chip was followed by a dreadful putt and Calcavecchia had thrown away certain victory.
He was so distraught he took himself off to the beach where he tried to contain his emotions. His consolation was that the US team won when Bernhard Langer missed a six-foot putt on the last that would have tied the match. A European had also succumbed to nerves.
Happily, neither Calcavecchia nor Langer were permanently scarred by their tribulations. Both went on to further tournament victories, indeed Langer became the most successful seniors golfer ever. I suspect though that neither ever watch their DVDs of the 1991 Ryder Cup.
7. The worst performance – Scheffler and Koepka, Marco Simone 2023
There are many dismal defeats in Ryder Cup history but none were more surprising that the abject capitulation of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in the Saturday morning foursomes in Italy in 2023.
Scheffler came to the event as the recently crowned number one ranked golfer in the world. Aged only 27 he had won six tournaments on the PGA tour, and had already managed nine top 10 finishes in majors including a win in the 2022 Masters. Koepka arrived as the reigning PGA Champion, his fifth Major victory. Although there was some controversy over his selection as a member of the LiV tour, he was considered to be a reliable and dangerous member of the US team.
Up against them was the Scandinavian duo of Norwegian, Viktor Hovland and Swede, Ludwig Aberg. Hovland was on a hot streak having recently captured the season-defining Fedex Championship. Aberg was super inexperienced, having only recently turned professional, but was rated the best newcomer to the tour since Tiger Woods.
The first day had very much gone Europe’s way with no wins for the USA in a thumping 6 ½ to 1 ½ score. A fightback was expected. It did not come from Scheffler and Koepka. They started double bogey, double bogey, bogey to lose the first three then lost again to a tap in birdie for the Europeans on the par-3 4th . The 5th saw a rare half, but another birdie for the Scandinavian pair on the 6th took them to five-up. The 8th was conceded and the 9th saw another tap-in birdie. Seven down after nine and things did not get any better. A bogey on the 10th followed by another concession on the 11th and the match was all over.
The score of 9&7 was the most crushing defeat in a Ryder Cup foursomes match ever, and was inflicted on two of the world’s best players. Scheffler was inconsolable, Koepka seemingly less bothered but possibly just been shell-shocked. Both recovered soon enough, with Koepka actually beating Aberg in the following day’s singles, but I suspect neither will be putting their hands up to play with each other again in foursomes.
8. The worst teamwork – USA team, Gleneagles 2014
A Ryder Cup player lavishing praise on their captain is something that you often see at the end of competition. Captains and their support team play a critical role in building the teamwork and creating the conditions in which the players can perform to their best. Tony Jacklin, Paul McGinley and American Billy Casper are amongst those who have been praised to the heavens for their leadership.
So, when Phil Mickelson, in the immediate aftermath of the unsuccessful US campaign of 2014, extolled the virtues of his captain it might have been expected. Or it would have been had he been talking about his current captain, Tom Watson, and not his previous (successful) captain from six years before, Paul Azinger. And had Watson, not been sitting right alongside him in the press conference. Mickelson, whilst not mentioning Watson by name, was, with every word, aiming barbs and taking pot-shots at him.
On Paul Azinger “He got everybody invested in the process… We were all invested in each other’s play… We had a real game plan”. On Tom Watson, nothing. When asked whether he was taking shots at Watson or his leadership style he denied it, but it was obvious to everybody that he was. His clincher was the line “Nobody here was (involved) in any decision”.
Watson had been, of course, a brilliant golfer and had successfully captained the US team to a famous away victory at The Belfry in 1993 (their most recent win on European soil). His captaincy then had been praised for lowering the temperature after a feisty contest two years previously at Kiawah Island. He was nevertheless a surprise choice for 2014, considered a little out-of-touch with the current top players, and with a management style that was a little autocratic in an era of consultation and collaboration.
Watson’s captaincy style was certainly not to Mickelson’s tastes. Mickelson, in the absence of the injured Tiger Woods, was the senior player and unofficial team leader on the US team. Despite a modest record in the competition, he was respected and well-liked by his teammates. As a veteran of nine Ryder Cups, he clearly felt he should be involved in key decisions about pairings and players. Watson felt otherwise. His selections on day one were questionable, particularly not playing Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed in the afternoon after they had completed a thumping win in the morning. On day two, he lit the blue touch paper by not picking his senior player for either the morning or afternoon sessions. It was the first time in 10 events that Mickelson had sat out an entire day. The US team ended day two 6-10 behind, and were unable to make up any ground in the final day singles.
Watson was gracious in defeat, certainly more so than Mickelson. “As for Phil’s comments, I completely understand his reaction in the moment… The bottom line is this: I was their captain. In hindsight, whatever mistakes that were made were mine. And I take complete and full responsibility for them.” Following a review, changes were made to team structure and captaincy for 2016 at Hazeltine. Perhaps Mickelson was right. The USA won that one 17-11.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/ryder-cup-meltdown
9. The worst pairing – Woods and Mickelson, Oakland Hills 2004
Few things have been as pleasurable for European fans in the past 30 years as seeing the Ryder Cup struggles of both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The indisputable world number one during much of that period, Woods, played in eight Ryder Cups finishing on the winning side only once (in Brookline 1999), with a win-loss ratio of 13 wins to 21 losses (or 39% of points available). The almost-indisputable number two, Mickelson, has a slightly better record, winning 46% of possible points, but that’s still well below-par (or above-par depending on how you look at it) for a player with his ability.
The two were never the best of buddies, with two very different and strong personalities, and in Ryder Cups they had always been kept apart from each other in any of the pairings. Being charitable, one could say that team captains wanted to distribute their genius amongst the ‘lesser’ team members. That was until 2004 when US team captain, Hal Sutton, went against history and decided that his two top players should be paired together.
If the pair went out first it should guarantee a strong start for his team. They were drawn against the top-ranked European Padraig Harrington and Ryder Cup veteran, Colin Montgomerie in the fourballs. To be fair to Woods and Mickelson, their performance was not terrible, it was simply that the Europeans were better. The ‘dream team’ lost 2&1 as part of a 3 ½ to ½ morning romp by the visitors. Sutton had very much not got the start he had wished for.
Their foursomes performance in the afternoon was also not awful, until the 18th hole that is. Playing another strong European pair of Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, the match was all square coming down the last. In the unforgiving format that is foursomes, Mickelson sprayed his drive to the left, causing Woods to take a penalty drop. A double bogey followed and another defeat was incurred.
Unsurprisingly the experiment was not repeated on day two, in fact it was never tried again. Either way, it did not help the US team – they subsided to a massive 18 ½ to 9 ½ defeat, the largest ever meted out by Europe on American soil.
10. The best pairing – Seve and Jose-Maria, 1987 to 1993
To many people, it is Severiano Ballesteros who is the single most significant figure in the revival of the Ryder Cup as a contest since the early 1980s. After a somewhat inauspicious debut in 1979 (and refusing to play in 1981) he became the face of the European team and was its spiritual leader and most successful points winner for over a decade. His super strength came when he was one half of a pair – in both foursomes and four-balls – and his partnership with fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal became the most successful in Ryder Cup history.
Olazabal was nine years Ballesteros’s junior and like his fellow Spaniard was something of a prodigy. He turned pro aged only 19, and in his rookie season finished second in the European Order of Merit. Seve came first. He was selected for his first Ryder Cup the following year, still only 21, to be played at Muirfield Village in Ohio. Captain Tony Jacklin obviously saw something he liked in Olazabal and picked him for the opening foursomes. He partnered him with Ballesteros and there was immediately a strong chemistry.
In 1987 the pair kicked off with first day wins in both the foursomes and the four-ball before capturing another point in the next day’s foursomes. 1989 they achieved three wins and a half. In Brookline 1991 they repeated the feat. In total they played 15 matches together winning 11 and tying two. Olazabal was always fulsome in his praise for his partner. “I was mesmerised. Seve had a will to win and determination that I don’t think has ever been matched. There were times you just had to wonder what he was made of. He took all the pressure off me, telling me not to worry if I hit into the rough or the trees or whatever.’’
When Seve died at the tragically young age of 54 Olazabal was distraught. “He has been a real inspiration for me, the best friend I’ve had in my career. He was really the master.” He was able, though, to create a fitting tribute to Ballesteros as captain of the 2012 European Ryder Cup team. Decked out in navy blue and white clothing – Seve’s traditional colours – on the final day, and with the silhouette of the Spaniard on their kit, the team completed their unbelieveable comeback – the Miracle of Medinah. Even in death, Seve had been the perfect teammate.
https://www.rydercup.com/news-media/who-is-europes-most-successful-partnership-at-the-ryder-cup
11. The greatest exception to the rule – Lindrick 1959
Between 1935 and 1983 there was really only one team in the Ryder Cup. In 20 outings the US team won 18 times and halved once. The exception to the rule was at Lindrick Golf Club in South Yorkshire in 1957.
The US team was arguably one of the weakest they ever put out. Two of their two all-time greats, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, elected to sit out the competition, and Major-winners Julius Boros and Cary Middlecoff were excluded having not played in the most recent PGA Championships. Notwithstanding these omissions, the team still included seven players who had already or would go on to win Major tournaments.
The Great Britain team boasted no such riches – only one player, Max Faulkner had a Major to his name – but did have a new selection process based entirely on results. They also had a team with experience (there was only one rookie), albeit most players’ experience had been in losing!
The format in 1957 was four games of foursomes on day one, followed on day two by eight singles matches. All were played to a maximum of 36 holes. As was customary in these times, the US team got off to a good start in the foursomes and led after day one by 3-1. The singles were a different matter. The GB team were inspired. At the half way point, they had comfortable leads in four of the eight matches; by the end, six of the head-to-heads had been won against one solitary loss and a half. GB had won a (very) rare victory by the convincing margin of 7 ½ to 4 ½.
The only sour note was sounded by Englishman Harry Weetman who was one of the two GB players left out of the singles by captain Dai Rees (not all the team played in the singles in the earlier years). Weetman was so upset that he stated publicly that he would not play for another team captained by Rees. Such dissent was frowned upon, and Weetman was suspended by the PGA before representations from Rees saw him reinstated. He may have wished his suspension had never been lifted. He played in a further three Ryder Cups only to finish with a dismal playing record of 2-11-2.
12. The most surprising statistic – Ian Woosnam in singles, 1983 to 1997
Ian Woosnam began his career as a golf professional at a time when European golf was in the doldrums. The Ryder Cup had not been captured since Lindrick in 1957, and only Seve Ballesteros was really flying the flag for Europe in the Major tournaments. By the time his career at the top began to wind down, he could say with confidence that he had been part of a great European revival. Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal and Bernhard Langer had all joined Seve as Major champions, and Woosnam himself had a Masters title to his name as well as a spell ranked as number one in the world.
He was an ever-present in the Ryder Cup from 1983 to 1997 and, overall, has a record to be proud of. In fourballs he reigned supreme with 10 wins to go against only 3 defeats and a tie. He also had a positive record in foursomes, gaining 56% of the points on offer. Mystifyingly, though, in eight attempts he never won a single singles match, losing six and tying two.
His six losses were occasionally close, twice losing on the last and twice on the 17th, but not always. He also lost in the most embarrassing manner, 8&7 to Fred Couples in 1997, the worst defeat ever in an 18-hole singles match. He lost to higher ranked and to lower ranked players. He lost when he was sent out first and when he was sent out last. Apart from his two ties – also with Fred Couples in 1993 and 1995 – he simply lost.
Woosnam, though, for all of his singles losses, was part of four wins for Europe, added to which he led the team to victory as captain in 2006. Ultimately, the Ryder Cup is all about the team, and Woosie proved himself to be the ultimate team man.
“ Bernhard Langer missed a six-foot putt on the last that would have tied the match. A European had also succumbed to nerves.”
This is the common telling of the story but my memory is of Langer nailing clutch putt after clutch putt to take this match down the 18th, only not to be able to repeat this to close it out. History has not been kind!
To call Langer’s miss a ‘choke’ was always unfair. Few top golfers would have been guaranteed to sink a putt of that length in those circumstances. It was uncanny that 31 years later at Medinah it was his countryman Martin Kaymer (still the only other German to represent Europe) who was faced with an almost identical length putt, having also pushed his first putt past the hole, to win the Cup for Europe. Kaymer, famously, holed his for some sort of German redemption.
Little known Welsh golfer, Phil Price (with whom I played often when he was younger) beating Phil Mickelson in his prime was another epic moment. Great blog piece, I’m so looking forward to Bethpage Black.
Price was the lowest ranked golfer at 119 in the world, whilst Mickelson was ranked second with only Tiger Woods ahead of him. It’s fair to say that his win was unexpected, but it was thoroughly deserved and a keystone of the victory in 2002. I recently saw Price in the seniors at Sunningdale and he still hits a very nice ball!