2008 Ryder Cup

The 37th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19–21, 2008, in the United States at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Team USA won 16½ - 11½ to end the streak of three successive victories for Europe. This was USA's largest margin of victory since 1981 and the first time since 1979 that the Americans had held the lead after every session of play. The team captains were Paul Azinger for the US and Nick Faldo for Europe.

37th Ryder Cup Matches
DatesSeptember 19–21, 2008
VenueValhalla Golf Club
LocationLouisville, Kentucky
Captains
16½ 11½
United States wins the Ryder Cup
Valhalla 
Golf Club
Location in the United States
Valhalla 
Golf Club
Location in Kentucky

The U.S. team had been in the lead since the contest began on the Friday. Europe was two points behind going into the Sunday singles matches. They had only previously overturned a deficit once before, in 1995. USA won the majority of the first matches out and subsequently Jim Furyk defeated Miguel Ángel Jiménez 2 & 1 to win his match and win the Ryder Cup for the USA.[1] Other matches still out on the course would see this margin of victory increase further. Following the defeat Nick Faldo was heavily criticised for his decision to "bottom load" his best players in the singles when the Americans only needed 5½ points to win which they got before they could have any effect on the overall outcome.

Television

All matches were covered live in the United States. ESPN handled Friday coverage. Mike Tirico and Andy North hosted from the 18th tower, with Curtis Strange calling holes, and on-course reporters Bill Kratzert and Judy Rankin. With Azinger, ESPN's lead analyst, captaining the U.S. team, North was moved to the booth to fill Azinger's seat. NBC Sports covered the weekend action, with Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller hosting from the 18th tower, Gary Koch and Bob Murphy calling holes, and on-course reporters Mark Rolfing, Roger Maltbie, and Dottie Pepper.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used in 2008 was:

  • Day 1 (Friday)—four foursomes (alternate shot) matches in the morning session and four fourball (better ball) matches in the afternoon
  • Day 2 (Saturday)—four foursome matches in the morning and four fourball matches in the afternoon
  • Day 3 (Sunday)—12 singles matches[2]

With a total of 28 points available, 14½ points were required to win the cup, and 14 points for the defending champion to retain it. All matches were played over a maximum 18 holes.[3]

For the first time since 1995, the opening matches featured foursomes. US captain Paul Azinger chose the format, hoping to give his team an early advantage in Kentucky. Foursomes was used in the first sessions of every event since 1981 until European captain Seve Ballesteros opened with better ball (fourball) in 1997 at Valderrama.[4]

Team qualification and selection

United States

The selection process was radically changed for 2008. The United States team consisted of:

  • The top eight players on the Ryder Cup Points List
    • Points gained from money earned in majors in 2007 and official PGA tour events in 2008 up to August 10 (i.e. up to and including money earned at the 2008 PGA Championship). Money earned in 2008 majors counted double and money earned in 2008 events played opposite the majors or World Golf Championships counted half. The new points system was only announced in November 2006 after the previous system had started. Under the previous system players earned points from August 27, 2006 when they finished in the top 10 in official events. Because of the late change to the qualification rules, players who had finished in the top 10 during the period from August 27 to November 5, 2006 were awarded a quarter of a point for every $1,000 earned.
  • Four captain's picks

Europe

The qualification process was the same as in 2006. The European team consisted of:

  • The top five players on the Ryder Cup World Points List
  • The five players, not qualified above, on the Ryder Cup European Points List
    • Money earned in official European Tour events from 6 September 2007 to 31 August 2008
  • Two captain's picks

The final line-up for the European team was announced after the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on August 31, 2008. Søren Hansen, Oliver Wilson and Justin Rose were the last three automatic qualifiers after successful tournaments. Nick Faldo handed wildcards to Paul Casey and Ian Poulter.[5]

Teams

Captains

The team captains were Paul Azinger for the US and Nick Faldo for Europe.

Vice-captains

The USA vice-captains were Olin Browne, Raymond Floyd and Dave Stockton.

The only European vice-captain was José María Olazábal. Paul McGinley had been announced as a vice-captain in May 2007 but resigned in September 2007.

Players
 Team USA
Name Age Residence Points
rank		 World
ranking		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Paul Azinger 48Bradenton, FloridaNon-playing captain
Phil Mickelson 38Rancho Santa Fe, California226259–12–444.00
Stewart Cink 35Duluth, Georgia3113123–5–441.67
Kenny Perry 48Franklin, Kentucky420120–2–00.00
Jim Furyk 38Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida595206–12–235.00
Anthony Kim 23Dallas, Texas6100Rookie
Justin Leonard 36Dallas, Texas723280–3–531.25
Ben Curtis 31Stow, Ohio8300Rookie
Boo Weekley 35Jay, Florida9350Rookie
Steve Stricker 41Madison, Wisconsin1080Rookie
Hunter Mahan 26Plano, Texas13360Rookie
J. B. Holmes 26Campbellsville, Kentucky18560Rookie
Chad Campbell 34Colleyville, Texas2157261–3–233.33

Tiger Woods was the leading player on the points list but was recovering from knee surgery and unable to compete. Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2008 Ryder Cup.

 Team Europe
Name Age Residence Points rank
(World)		 Points rank
(European)		 World
ranking		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Nick Faldo 51Welwyn Garden City, EnglandNon-playing captain
Pádraig Harrington 37Dublin, Ireland1144177–8–247.06
Sergio García 28Borriol, Spain214542014–4–275.00
Lee Westwood 35Worksop, England321252514–8–362.00
Henrik Stenson 32Gothenburg, Sweden457131–1–150.00
Robert Karlsson 39Monte Carlo, Monaco5317130–1–233.33
Miguel Ángel Jiménez 44Málaga, Spain6419292–5–233.33
Graeme McDowell 29Portrush, Northern Ireland96320Rookie
Justin Rose 28London, England77130Rookie
Søren Hansen 34Copenhagen, Denmark138420Rookie
Oliver Wilson 28Weybridge, England159480Rookie
Ian Poulter 32Milton Keynes, England81229121–1–050.00
Paul Casey 31Esher, England161838263–1–266.67

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2008 Ryder Cup.

Friday's matches

Morning foursomes

The morning foursomes began well for Team Europe, as they took the lead in all four matches within the first hour. However, things changed by the end of the morning, with Team USA ending the session up 3–1, marking the first time since the last American win in 1999 that Team USA held the lead at the end of any Ryder Cup session.[6]

Results
Harrington/Karlsson halved Mickelson/Kim
Stenson/Casey 3 & 2 Leonard/Mahan
Rose/Poulter 1 up Cink/Campbell
Westwood/García halved Perry/Furyk
1 Session 3
1 Overall 3

Afternoon four-ball

The afternoon session was almost a replay of the morning session. Team Europe led after the front nine in three of the four matches, but only won one. Team USA ended up with its largest lead after the first day since Europe was first included in the Ryder Cup in 1979.[6][7]

Results
Harrington/McDowell 2 up Mickelson/Kim
Poulter/Rose 4 & 2 Stricker/Curtis
García/Jiménez 4 & 3 Leonard/Mahan
Westwood/Hansen halved Holmes/Weekley
1½ Session 2½
2½ Overall 5½

Saturday's matches

Morning foursomes
Results
Poulter/Rose 4 & 3 Cink/Campbell
Jiménez/McDowell halved Leonard/Mahan
Stenson/Wilson 2 & 1 Mickelson/Kim
Harrington/Karlsson 3 & 1 Furyk/Perry
2½ Session 1½
5 Overall 7

Afternoon four-ball
Results
Westwood/Hansen 2 & 1 Weekley/Holmes
García/Casey halved Curtis/Stricker
Poulter/McDowell 1 up Perry/Furyk
Stenson/Karlsson halved Mickelson/Mahan
2 Session 2
7 Overall 9

Sunday's singles matches
Results
Sergio García 5 & 4 Anthony Kim
Paul Casey halved Hunter Mahan
Robert Karlsson 5 & 3 Justin Leonard
Justin Rose 3 & 2 Phil Mickelson
Henrik Stenson 3 & 2 Kenny Perry
Oliver Wilson 4 & 2 Boo Weekley
Søren Hansen 2 & 1 J. B. Holmes
Miguel Ángel Jiménez 2 & 1 Jim Furyk
Graeme McDowell 2 & 1 Stewart Cink
Ian Poulter 3 & 2 Steve Stricker
Lee Westwood 2 & 1 Ben Curtis
Pádraig Harrington 2 & 1 Chad Campbell
4½ Session 7½
11½ Overall 16½

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the Win–Loss–Half record of the player.

Source:[8]

United States
PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Chad Campbell22–1–01–0–01–1–00–0–0
Stewart Cink11–2–00–1–01–1–00–0–0
Ben Curtis1.51–1–11–0–00–0–00–1–1
Jim Furyk2.52–1–11–0–01–0–10–1–0
J. B. Holmes2.52–0–11–0–00–0–01–0–1
Anthony Kim2.52–1–11–0–00–1–11–0–0
Justin Leonard2.52–1–10–1–01–0–11–0–0
Hunter Mahan3.52–0–30–0–11–0–11–0–1
Phil Mickelson21–2–20–1–00–1–11–0–1
Kenny Perry2.52–1–11–0–01–0–10–1–0
Steve Stricker0.50–2–10–1–00–0–00–1–1
Boo Weekley2.52–0–11–0–00–0–01–0–1

Europe
PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Paul Casey10–1–20–0–10–1–00–0–1
Sergio García10–2–20–1–00–0–10–1–1
Søren Hansen0.50–2–10–1–00–0–00–1–1
Pádraig Harrington0.50–3–10–1–00–1–10–1–0
Miguel Ángel Jiménez0.50–2–10–1–00–0–10–1–0
Robert Karlsson21–1–21–0–00–1–10–0–1
Graeme McDowell2.52–1–11–0–00–0–11–1–0
Ian Poulter44–1–01–0–01–1–02–0–0
Justin Rose33–1–01–0–01–1–01–0–0
Henrik Stenson1.51–2–10–1–01–1–00–0–1
Lee Westwood10–2–20–1–00–0–10–1–1
Oliver Wilson11–1–00–1–01–0–00–0–0

References
  1. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/sports/golf/22ryder.html
  2. Praverman, Frank (September 21, 2008). "How the Ryder Cup was won". London: Times Online. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  3. Ryder Cup explained
  4. "Azinger changes format; alternate shot first". The 2008 Ryder Cup Official Site. Archived from the original on February 9, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
  5. "Casey and Poulter given wildcards". BBC Sport. August 31, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  6. Ferguson, Doug (September 19, 2008). "Americans charge into lead at Ryder Cup". Yahoo! Sports. Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
  7. Orlovac, Mark (September 19, 2008). "US surge clear as Europe struggle". BBC Sport. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  8. "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.

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