Ryder Cup

[Zorky]

The Ryder Cup (officially the Ryder Cup Matches) is a golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is also the name of the trophy, after the person who donated it, Samuel Ryder.

The competition began following an exhibition match in 1926 between a team comprising American professionals against a similar one drawn from the British PGA on the East Course, Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, UK. The first competition took place in 1927.

Early matches between the two sides were fairly even, but after the Second World War, repeated US dominance[1] led to a decision to extend the representation of the British & Irish[2] team to include continental Europe in 1979. This change was partly prompted by the success of a new generation of Spanish golfers of the time, including Seve Ballesteros. He and Antonio Garrido became the first Spaniards to play in the event in 1979. Since then, Team Europe has included players from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.

Following this change the event has enjoyed more competitive matches, with Europe winning seven times and retaining the Cup once.,with seven American wins over this period.

With the exception of Spain in 1997 and Ireland in 2006 all tournaments have been held in either the US or UK

Format

The Ryder Cup Matches involve various match play competitions between players selected from two teams of twelve. Currently, the matches consist of eight foursomes matches, eight fourball matches and 12 singles matches. The winner of each match scores a point for their team, with ½ a point each for any match that is tied after 18 holes.

A foursomes match is a competition between two teams of two golfers. The golfers on the same team take alternate shots throughout the match, with the same ball. Each hole is won by the team that completes the hole in the fewest shots. A fourball match is also a competition between two teams of two golfers, but all four golfers play their own ball throughout the round rather than alternating shots, and each hole is won by the team whose individual golfer has the lowest score. A singles match is a standard match play competition between two golfers.

The matches take place over three days, Friday through Sunday, a total of 28 matches. On Friday, there are four fourball matches in the morning (or afternoon) and four foursomes matches in the morning (or afternoon). On Saturday, the same schedule repeats. On Sunday, there are 12 singles matches, when all team members play. Not all players must play on Friday and Saturday; the captain can select any eight players for each of the four rounds of play over these two days. The winning team is determined by cumulative total points. Under Ryder Cup rules, the defending champion team from the previous matches only needs to halve the cumulative point totals (14) to retain the Cup, while the opposing team must win it outright (14½ or more).

The format has changed over the years. From the inaugural event through 1959, the Ryder Cup was a two-day competition, with four 36-hole foursomes matches on the first day and eight 36-hole singles matches on the second day, for a total of 12 points. In 1961, the matches were changed to 18 holes each, but the number of matches was doubled, resulting in a total of 24 points. In 1963, the event was expanded to three days, with eight fourball matches being added on the middle day to make a total of 32 points. This format remained until 1977, when the number of matches was reduced to 20: five foursomes matches on the first day, five fourball matches on the second day, and ten singles matches on the final day. In 1979, the first year continental European players participated, the format was changed to the 28-match version in use today, with eight foursomes/four-ball matches on the first two days and 12 singles matches on the last day.[3]

In 2008, the format for the event changed versus the previous two Ryder Cup Matches. For the first time since 1999, the opening matches of a Ryder Cup featured the foursome (alternate-shot) format. U.S. captain Paul Azinger, hoping to give his team an early advantage in Kentucky, announced the change on January 30, 2008 at the PGA Tour's FBR Open in Phoenix.

Alternate shot, or foursomes, had been used in the first sessions every year since 1981 until European captain Seve Ballesteros opened with better ball (fourballs) in 1997 at Valderrama. U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw switched back to alternate shot in 1999 at Brookline, but the next three Ryder Cup matches started with better ball.[4] The latest competition of 2008 however returned to the foursomes format.

Team selections

Team Europe

There are two qualifying sections used for the European selection: The European Tour list and the Official World Golf Rankings points list.

Team USA

The way in which the United States team is selected was revamped for the 2008 competition.

Qualification for the United States team began with the four major championships contested in 2007, and continued from January 1, 2008 until August 11, 2008. The top eight players will automatically qualify for the 2008 United States Ryder Cup Team, with the remaining four places reserved for captain’s picks. The captain made those picks on September 2, 2008.

The selection process is determined by the following criteria:[5]

1. Prize money earned in the 2007 Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, Open Championship, and PGA Championship – one point for every US$1,000 earned.
2. Prize money earned in official events in 2008 from January 1 until August 11 – one point for every $1,000 earned, excluding major championships and events played in the same weeks as major championships and World Golf Championships.
3. Prize money earned in the 2008 major championships – two points for every $1,000 earned.
4. Prize money earned in 2008 events played in the same weeks as major championships and opposite World Golf Championships between January 1 until August 11 - one-half point for every $1,000 earned.

Founding of the Cup
The Ryder Cup on display in 2008.

There is some debate over who suggested the idea for the Ryder Cup. James Harnett, a journalist with Golf Illustrated magazine, appears to have proposed a similar idea to the USPGA on December 15, 1920 and, having failed to attract support, the idea was refloated by Sylvanus P. "SP" Jermain, president of the Inverness Club, the next year. This resulted in an unofficial match in 1921, won 9–3 by the British, and another in 1926, won 13½–1½ by Britain. Present at the second 1926 match, held on the East Course at Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, was Samuel Ryder, a seed merchant who traded from St Albans, Hertfordshire. Having watched the play, Ryder thought it would be a good idea to make the match official and thus the Ryder Cup was founded, with Ryder donating the trophy.[6]

Few people who took up golf after their 50th birthday have left as many positive impressions on the game during the history of golf. To get started, Ryder recruited the services of a golf professional called Hill from a local golf course to introduce him to the fundamentals of golf. Afterwards, Ryder hired Abe Mitchell as his private tutor for a fee of £1,000 per year. Ryder received most of his lessons at his home, Marlborough House, and he was relentless. He practised his driving, pitching and putting six days each week.

At the age of 51, he had achieved a handicap of six and was accepted as a member of the Verulam Golf Club in St Albans in 1910. A year later, he became captain of the golf club. He was also club captain in 1926 and 1927. In 1923, he sponsored the Heath and Heather Tournament, which was only open to professionals. One of the golf professionals who took part was ex-gardener Abe Mitchell, considered one of the best British golfers of his era.

Among the British at the 1926 landmark match were golfing giants Abe Mitchell, George Duncan, Archie Compston, Ted Ray (portrayed by Stephen Marcus in the 2005 film The Greatest Game Ever Played), and Arthur Havers. From America came Walter Hagen, Tommy Armour, Jim Barnes and Al Watrous.

This first official match was held in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Worcester Country Club, in 1927. Ryder, who donated a gold cup and had agreed to pay £5 to each member of the winning team, attached his name to the new competition. Since 1927, it has been held on a two-year cycle, apart from 1939 to 1945, when it was cancelled due to World War II.

Until 1971, the matches featured teams from the United States and Great Britain. From 1973 to 1977, players from the Republic of Ireland were eligible to join the British team, and since 1979 inclusive, players from the continent of Europe have been eligible to join what is now known as Team Europe. The change to include Europeans arose from discussion in 1977 between Jack Nicklaus and the Earl of Derby, who was serving as the President of the Professional Golfers' Association; it was suggested by Nicklaus as a means to make the matches more competitive, since the Americans almost always won, often by lopsided margins.[7] The change worked, as the team matches immediately became much more competitive, with talented young Europeans such as Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer bolstering the European side. The present-day popularity of the Ryder Cup, which now generates enormous media attention, can be said to date from that change in eligibility.

The 2001 match was delayed for a year, as it was due to take place shortly after the September 11 attacks. It was subsequently decided to hold the Ryder Cup in even-numbered years instead of odd-numbered years. The boards at The Brabazon Course at The Belfry, which hosted the 2002 Ryder Cup (which should have been hosted in 2001) still read "The 2001 Ryder Cup", and U.S. captain Curtis Strange deliberately referred to his team as "The 2001 Ryder Cup Team" in his speech at the closing ceremony.

Europe claimed their first hat-trick of victories in 2002, 2004 and 2006: this was particularly surprising as no European player won a major championship in that time period (Americans won fifteen).

[Zorky]

On October 1 - on the 1st tee - it will be a first for Wales
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Holly Jones is a girl with a lot to look forward to as she approaches her first birthday later this month. Meanwhile, her father, Gareth Rees Jones, Marketing Director at The Celtic Manor Resort, joins many others in Wales, considering another first and reflecting where we'll all be exactly a year from now - on 1st October 2010 - when The Ryder Cup is played in Wales for the very first time.

Father and daughter were joined on the first tee - where else? - of the purpose-built Twenty Ten Course by many more of the key participants in The 2010 Ryder Cup to celebrate the countdown to next year's event.

For Holly, obviously, next year will be her first Ryder Cup, although she's hardly in a position to appreciate the importance of the occasion! For everyone else in Wales, however, the magnitude of welcoming the world's biggest team golf event to our shores is well understood and it will be a first for all of us: From the residents of host city, Newport, to the green keepers at The Celtic Manor Resort, from the hoteliers across Wales who are preparing to provide a warm Welsh welcome for the tens of thousands of visitors attending the tournament, to the volunteers, guides and marshals who will help out on and around the course, October 2010 will be a monumental milestone and will put Wales very firmly in the global spotlight.

It will be the first time Wales has hosted an event of with this level of global profile and the excitement is mounting.

Celtic Manor's Director of Golf Courses, Jim McKenzie, said: "I've had the privilege of working on some large European Tour events here at Celtic Manor and at Wentworth Club but The Ryder Cup is going to be the highlight of my professional career.

"I've been to all of the Ryder Cups over the last decade or so and had a good look behind the scenes as a fact-finding exercise at the last few, but this will be very much a first for me in terms of preparing a golf course for a tournament of this stature.

"It's only once every four years that a venue on this side of the Atlantic gets to host The Ryder Cup so it’s a rare privilege and an honour. The eyes of the world will be upon us and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit nervous about the whole thing, but I’d be in the wrong job if I wasn’t looking forward to the challenge.

"Next year is the culmination of a lot of hard work put in by a lot of people over the 16 years I've been working at The Celtic Manor Resort. And, of course, the drive and determination of our owner, Sir Terry Matthews, whose vision made the whole thing possible in the first place."

While McKenzie is still working with Colin Montgomerie on the course set-up and some minor tweaks the European Captain has recommended for the tournament, The Celtic Manor Resort puts the last major piece of construction into place this autumn with the completion of a £2m bridge over the River Usk to transport players and spectators to the new Ryder Cup practice ground.

Remarking on the importance to Wales of this event, Andrew Davies AM, Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery, said: "The Ryder Cup is one of the world's largest sporting events, and hosting it will give Wales a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to promote itself on the word stage. As well as the economic activity surrounding the event itself, it will raise Wales' profile globally and help attract investment in the future.

Elaborating on the notion of "Our First Ryder Cup" Mr Davies explained: "The extent to which this is an important first for Wales cannot be overstated. We are to be host nation for one of the world’s most exciting sporting occasions and association with the event gives us the opportunity to develop some new marketing material that will help us raise the profile of Wales – both as a place to do business and as a place to visit.

"Through our marketing and brand activity, we need to use the opportunity to enhance Wales' external reputation and to build a sense of occasion within Wales. "Our First Ryder Cup" is one way of showing how the event will touch lots of people throughout Wales and will help to build a sense of anticipation. The personal stories we develop will form part of website content and wider communication over the coming months."

The nation won the right to host the event back in 2001 and since then both the private and public sector have been working to ensure that the whole of Wales benefits from hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world. The arrival in Wales of The 2010 Ryder Cup in a year's time represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put Wales on the map.

Anticipating the next 12 months, Chairman of Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Ltd. John Jermine said: "Since winning the bid Wales has become a recognised international golfing destination and these next 12 months will help us build our reputation for great golf and hospitality attracting new visitors to Wales for years to come. We look forward to showing all of our guests "Golf as it Should be" that will guarantee them golfing memories to be treasured."

Explaining the on-going work to stage the event, Ryder Cup Director, Richard Hills, said: "We continue to be extremely impressed by the huge commitment being made by everyone at The Celtic Manor Resort. Sir Terry’s vision gave birth to a dream and seeing that dream move towards reality is a joy for all involved. There is only one year to go now and we know that all of Wales will have good reason to feel very proud when The 2010 Ryder Cup begins on October 1 next year."

Councillor Matthew Evans, Leader of Newport City Council, added: "The next 12 months promise to be among the most memorable in Newport's modern history and a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise our profile on a global stage and get people feeling good about the city.

"Hosting an event on the scale of the Ryder Cup is something many people thought could never happen in a town or city like Newport. The fact that we are now just a year away from hosting one of the world's most prestigious sporting events is something that should give everyone connected with Newport, a huge amount of pride in our city."

[Zorky]

Main Site For More Info http://www.rydercup.com/2010/

[Zorky]

The 2010 Ryder Cup will be the first event to be shown on Sky 3D, Europe's first residential 3D TV channel

Roddy Williams, European Tour Editorial Staff

Sky Sports will screen The 2010 Ryder Cup live in 3D. The broadcast will be the first event to be shown on Sky 3D, Europe’s first residential 3D TV channel, which will launch on 1st October 2010.

The Ryder Cup will form the cornerstone of Sky 3D’s launch weekend’s schedule, with key holes from Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor broadcast in 3D, providing a unique and never-before-seen perspective of golf’s biggest team event.

Today’s announcement builds on the successful launch in April of the world’s first commercially available 3D channel. Sky 3D is now available in more than 1500 pubs and clubs across the UK and Ireland and over a million sports fans have already marvelled at a range of sports broadcast live in 3D since the channel’s launch. Sports covered to date include football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and darts.

The residential launch of Sky 3D will mean that any Sky+HD customer with a 3D Ready TV will be able to enjoy the spectacle of live sport in 3D in the comfort of their living room. Viewers who have yet to buy a 3D TV, they can still enjoy the action by visiting www.sky.com/3dpubs to find their nearest Sky 3D pub.

Sky Sports will also show live coverage of The 2010 Ryder Cup in High Definition (HD), and this will be the third Ryder Cup to be shown by Sky Sports in HD. The commentary team for The 2010 Ryder Cup will include presenter David Livingstone and commentators Ewen Murray and Butch Harmon.

Speaking about the announcement Sky Sports golf commentator Ewen Murray said: “Watching golf in 3D gives you the sense that you’re standing right beside the golfer as he takes his shot. 3D highlights every change of elevation on the golf course making it possible for the viewer to get an accurate read of each slope on the fairways and greens.”

Richard Hills, Ryder Cup Director, said: “Following the success of Sky’s High Definition coverage we have followed the evolution of Sky’s 3D broadcasts with keen interest. We have been very impressed with Sky’s efforts to further enhance its coverage and are delighted that the Ryder Cup will be a part of TV history with the launch of Europe’s first 3DTV channel.”

Sky started testing 3D technology two years ago and created history on 31 January 2010 with the world’s first live sports 3D TV broadcast - Arsenal v Manchester United. Following this Sky has shown 3D live coverage of Test and One Day International cricket, a semi-final and final from rugby union’s Guinness Premiership, Wigan v Warrington from rugby league’s engage Super League XV, and the semi-finals and final from Stan James World Matchplay darts championship. The new residential channel Sky 3D will also offer a range of must-see movies, sport, documentaries, entertainment and arts content.

This is history in the making first live 3d sport event in Europe.