Ryder Cup, Arnold Palmer and the greatest game ever

In 1926, some professional golfers from Great Britain and the United States got together at Wentworth and played a match. This match was the precursor to the Ryder Cup as we know it today.

The first official match of the Ryder Cup was played the following year when Samuel Ryder, a seed merchant from St Albans, England, offered a gold cup for a biennial match between teams representing Great Britain and the United States.

In that first match, the United States, captained by Walter Hagen, beat the Great Britain team, captained by Ted Ray 9 ½ - 2 ½.

Out of the 22 Ryder Cup matches played between 1927 and 1977, Great Britain won only three times. The matches had become so one-sided that in 1977, it was decided to include other European players in the Great Britain team.

Since then the European team has won nine and drawn once out of the seventeen matches played.

On Friday, the teams will tee up their golf balls for the start of the tournament. This year’s Ryder Cup teams are as follows:

European Team
Captain – Darren Clarke from Northern Ireland

Assistant captains – Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Paul Lawrie (Scotland), Ian Poulter (England) and Sam Torrance (Scotland).

Players – Rafael Cabrera Bello (he played in the Kenya Open 10 years ago and finished tied 58th), Mathew Fitzpatrick, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Thomas Pieters, Justin Rose (the winner of the first Olympic golf medal since 1904 at Rio last month), Henrik Stenson (winner of The Open this year and Olympic silver medallist), Andy Sullivan, Lee Westwood (the most experienced Ryder Cup player on the European team), Danny Willet and Chris Wood.

United States Team

Captain – Davis Love III
Assistant captains– Jim Furyk, Tom Lehman, Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson

Players – Rickie Fowler, J. B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson (winner of this year’s US Open), Zach Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson (the most experienced Ryder Cup player on the US team), Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth, Jimmy Walker and Ryan Moore.
With these many assistant captains, it will be golf by committees.

FORMAT OF PLAY

The format of play for Friday and Saturday will be foursomes match play in the mornings and four-ball match play in the afternoons.

In foursomes format, two players play against two other players and each side plays one ball. The partners must play alternately and if a player plays when his partner should have played, they lose the hole. I don’t think that this will happen. With this format the partners have to gel well and teamwork is most important.

In four-ball match play, two players play their better ball against the better ball of two other players. There will be four balls in play for each flight and each player plays his own ball. This is usually easier than the foursomes since each player gets to play their game and can afford to be aggressive when they think that their partner is safe.

On the last day, all the players will be out playing in the singles match play. Each match won gets the team (USA or Europe) a point. A halved match earns half a point.

There are twenty-eight matches in total and the winning team must get at least 14 ½ points. May the best team win.

DARK SHADOW

There will be a dark shadow hanging over this year’s Ryder Cup that will be played shortly after the death of “The King” of golf, Arnold Palmer. The popularity of the game of golf today, both as a spectator and a participant sport, owes a lot to the influence of Arnold Palmer.

The entrance of Palmer to the game coincided with growth of airing of the sport on TV and being the champion of the time; he was a darling of the golfers of the 1960’s and 70’s.

His influence continued long after his ability to win titles had waned. He had an uncanny way of getting out of trouble that made him the most exciting player in the game’s history until perhaps the arrival of Tiger Woods.

Once, while playing as a young amateur, Arnold Palmer, furious after hitting a bad shot, threw his club over a tree in a fit of temper. His father sat him down after the game and told him that golf is a gentleman’s game and that he (Arnold’s Father) was ashamed of him.

This undoubtedly shaped his attitude towards the game. Arnold Palmer’s most famous quote is “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented”.

Rest in peace King.

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The author is a KGU Executive