Ryder Cup Format Explained

The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from the United States and Europe.  Golf Monthly's Dan Parker explains how it works.

Transcript

00:00Team Europe and Team USA is one of golf's most entertaining and hotly contested events.

00:06It's also an event that differs significantly from the events you would have watched week in,

00:10week out on the various tours, so let's find out all about how it works.

00:17In total, 28 matches are contested with each match being worth one point.

00:22For the outright win, the magic number is 14.5. Should both sides accumulate 14 points,

00:28the defending champions will retain the Ryder Cup. So, if a 14-4 draw happens this year,

00:34Team USA will retain the trophy after winning at Whistling Straits in 2021.

00:39Winning a match gets a team one point, while halving a match gets each team half a point.

00:44So, there are 12 players on each team, with 8 taking part in each foursomes and four balls

00:49session, while all 12 will battle it out on the final day in singles matches.

00:54The event takes place over three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the first two days

01:00being split up into two sessions. Right, let's take a deeper look at how each day works during

01:05the Ryder Cup. So, Friday's action consists of four foursomes and four four ball matches.

01:11We'll come on to how these formats work shortly, and the home captain gets to decide in which order

01:16these matches are played. For example, in 2021, Team USA captain Steve Stricker decides to have

01:22the foursomes in the morning and the four balls in the afternoon. So, then Saturday's action is

01:27exactly the same as Friday, with four foursomes matches and four four ball matches played across

01:32two sessions. Finally, Sunday sees all 12 players from each team play singles matches against one

01:38another, with 12 points up for grabs on the final day. So, let's take a look at those formats.

01:44Foursomes is an alternate shot format where teams in pairs take turns on each hole. So,

01:50one player hits the tee shot, the other will play the next shot from where that ball finishes,

01:54and so on. This continues until the ball is holed out. It's a match play competition against the

02:00other team, so whichever duo takes the fewest shots wins the hole. Players on each team will

02:05take turns to tee off, so one will always tee off from the even numbered holes, and the other will

02:10always tee off from the odd numbered holes, and this is regardless of whoever hit the shot on the

02:14last hole. In four ball matches, both players from each team play their own ball. So, there are four

02:20balls in play on every hole. The best score from each team counts in the match, with the lowest

02:25score resulting on a win of the hole. And then finally, Sunday's singles matches are a straight

02:30shootout between two players, with the best score winning the hole. It's worth noting that there are

02:35no playoffs in Ryder Cup Golf, and if a match is still all square or tied on the 18th hole,

02:41both teams receive half a point.