- 2008 Ryder Cup
Infobox Ryder Cup
year = 2008
dates = September 19–21
venue =Valhalla Golf Club
location =Louisville, Kentucky
home = US
away = EU
homecaptain =Paul Azinger
awaycaptain =Nick Faldo
homescore = 16½
awayscore = 11½
result = United States winsThe 37th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19-21, 2008 atValhalla Golf Club inLouisville, 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 wereNick Faldo for Team Europe andPaul Azinger for Team USA. Faldo's assistant wasJosé María Olazábal , whileRaymond Floyd ,Dave Stockton andOlin Browne assisted Azinger.Format
The
Ryder Cup is amatch play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used in 2008 was:
*Day 1 (Friday)—fourfoursomes (alternate shot) matches in the morning session and fourfourball (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 [cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article4797322.ece |title=How the Ryder Cup was won |publisher=Times Online |date=21 September 2008] 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. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/7618409.stm]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. [cite news
url=http://www.rydercup.com/2008/usa/news/azinger_format_013008.html
title=Azinger changes format; alternate shot first
publisher=The 2008 Ryder Cup Official Site
accessdate=2008-01-30]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.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. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/7626531.stm |title=US surge clear as Europe struggle |publisher=BBC Sport |date=19 September 2008]
unday's singles matches
References
External links
* [http://www.rydercup.com/2008/ Official site]
* [http://www.nicklaus.com/design/valhalla/ Valhalla course site]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/7623386.stm Full results]
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