THE RYDER CUP is one of golf’s great spectacles and should provide lots of entertainment for golf fans this weekend when the US team takes on Europe in Minnesota.
The raucous hometown American crowds will no doubt be at their noisy “best” at the Hazeltine National Golf Club, with lots of pre-event sparring ensuring everyone is focussing on the task ahead.
For some totally unbiased opinion you only need go to US Captain Davis Love III who reckons he has “the best US team ever” (to many snickers from people pointing out the number of majors his charges have won compared to some past teams) and the always helpful Johnny Miller who says opposing captain Darren Clarke has the worst European team in many years.
Danny Willett’s brother Pete helped things along admirably with an article calling the US Ryder Cup fans “fat, stupid, greedy and classless” and “a braying mob of imbeciles”.
The Europeans don’t have the home town advantage but have won eight of the last ten Ryder Cups, including at Celtic Manor in 2010, the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012 when they fought back from a seemingly hopeless position, and at Gleneagles in 2014.
Europe
Captain: Darren Clarke
Assistants: Thomas Bjorn, Padriag Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Ian Poulter, Sam Torrence
Team
Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Rafa Cabrero Bello, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Andy Sullivan, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Thomas Pieters, Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Chris Wood, Lee Westwood
USA
Captain: Davis Love III
Assistants: Jim Furyk, Tom Lehman, Steve Stricker, Bubba Watson, Tiger Woods
Team
Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Rickie Fowler, JB Holmes, Ryan Moore
Format
The Ryder Cup takes places over three days, Friday and Saturday consisting of 4x fourball matches in the morning, followed by 4x foursome matches in the afternoon.
On Sunday all players face off in 12 singles matches. With 28 points up for grabs, 14.5 points are required to win.
2016 RYDER CUP Australian TV schedule: Fox Sports 3 (AEST)
Day 1 Fri Sept 30 – 10:30pm – 8:00am
Day 2 Sat Oct 1– 10:30pm – 12:00pm
Day 3 Mon Oct 3 – 3:00am – 12:00pm
(Daylight Saving begins Sunday at 2am in usual zones)
Other Resources
- The Ryder CUP official social media streams: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- The Ryder Cup Android and iOS apps
- Official Ryder Cup website