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2008 Ryder Cup

The 37th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19-21, 2008 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Team USA won 16½ - 11½ to end the streak of three successive victories for Team Europe. This was Team USA's largest margin of victory since 1981, and the first time since 1979 the Americans had the lead after every session of play. Team captains were Nick Faldo for Team Europe and Paul Azinger for Team USA. Faldo's assistant was José María Olazábal, while Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton and Olin Browne assisted Azinger.

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

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.

The format differed from the last two Ryder Cup events. For the first time since 1999, the opening matches featured foursomes, chosen by US captain Paul Azinger who hoped 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. US captain Ben Crenshaw switched back to alternate shot in 1999 at Brookline, but the previous three Ryder Cup matches had started with better ball.

Teams

The top players for the USA (8) and Europe (10) as determined by their points performance (described below) received automatic selection. The remaining players on each team were selected at the discretion of the team captains. Team USA was finalized on September 2, while qualification for Team Europe ended on August 31. The Official World Golf Rankings shown are as of September 14, 2008, the last assessment issued before the Ryder Cup. The average ranking of the American team was 24.8 and that of the European team was 22.2.

Name	Age	Residence	Points rank	World ranking	Notes
Team USA
Paul Azinger	48	Bradenton, Florida			non-playing captain
Phil Mickelson	38	Rancho Santa Fe, California	2	2
Stewart Cink	35	Duluth, Georgia	3	11
Kenny Perry	48	Franklin, Kentucky	4	20
Jim Furyk	38	Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida	5	9
Anthony Kim	23	Dallas, Texas	6	10	Ryder Cup rookie
Justin Leonard	36	Dallas, Texas	7	23
Ben Curtis	31	Stow, Ohio	8	30	Ryder Cup rookie
Boo Weekley	35	Jay, Florida	9	35	Ryder Cup rookie
Steve Stricker	41	Madison, Wisconsin	10	8	captain's pick, Ryder Cup rookie
Hunter Mahan	26	Plano, Texas	13	36	captain's pick, Ryder Cup rookie
J. B. Holmes	26	Campbellsville, Kentucky	18	56	captain's pick, Ryder Cup rookie
Chad Campbell	34	Colleyville, Texas	21	57	captain's pick

Note: The leading player on the points list, Tiger Woods, was recovering from knee surgery and unable to compete.

Name	Age	Residence	Points rank*	World ranking	Notes
Team Europe
Nick Faldo	51	Welwyn Garden City, England			non-playing captain
Pádraig Harrington	37	Dublin, Ireland	1/1	4
Sergio García	28	Borriol, Spain	2/14	5
Lee Westwood	35	Worksop, England	3/2	12
Henrik Stenson	32	Gothenburg, Sweden	4/5	7
Robert Karlsson	39	Monte Carlo, Monaco	5/3	17
Miguel Ángel Jiménez	44	Málaga, Spain	6/4	19
Graeme McDowell	29	Portrush, Northern Ireland	9/6	32	Ryder Cup rookie
Justin Rose	28	London, England	7/7	13	Ryder Cup rookie
Søren Hansen	34	Copenhagen, Denmark	13/8	42	Ryder Cup rookie
Oliver Wilson	27	Weybridge, England	15/9	48	Ryder Cup rookie
Ian Poulter	32	Milton Keynes, England	8/12	29	captain's pick
Paul Casey	31	Esher, England	16/18	38	captain's pick

* World Points/European Points rank

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.

Qualification

Europe

The qualification process is the same as in 2006. Five players will qualify from the world point list, five players will qualify from the European points list, and the captain will have two picks. The world points list is simply the total world ranking points won during the qualifying period September 6, 2007 to August 31, 2008. The leading five players, not otherwise qualified from World Points List, on the European Points List will qualify for the team. The Ryder Cup European Points List is comprised of points (1 point = 1 Euro) earned by a European Tour Member during the qualifying period.

USA

The selection process was changed for 2008. The qualification process started at the four majors in 2007 and resumed on January 1, 2008. Paul Azinger has four captain's picks, up from two in 2006. Criteria: Prize money earned in the 2007 major championships (Masters, U.S. Open, The Open Championship and PGA Championship -- one point for every $1,000 earned). Prize money earned in "official events" in 2008 from January 1 to August 11 (one point for every $1,000 earned, excluding the major championships and events played opposite major championships and opposite World Golf Championships). Prize money earned in the 2008 major championships (Masters, U.S. Open, The Open Championship, PGA Championship (two points for every $1,000 earned). Prize money earned in 2008 events played opposite the major championships and opposite World Golf Championship events between January 1 and August 11 (one-half point for every $1,000 earned). With the 2006 points system having been in effect prior to the 2008 points system being announced, it has been determined that all American players who finished in the top 10 in all official events from August 27 to November 5, 2006, will be awarded one-quarter point for every $1,000 earned.

The qualifying period began on September 6, 2007.

Friday matches

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.

Morning foursomes

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

Afternoon fourball

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.

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

Saturday's matches

Morning foursomes

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

Afternoon fourball

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

Sunday's singles matches

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