Columnist Peter Benton: Ryder Cup has a rich history

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 9:36 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The 2001 Ryder Cup matches are scheduled to be played Sept. 28-30 at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England. Curtis Strange will captain the U.S. team and Sam Torrance the European squad.

The Ryder Cup developed from a match between representatives of the American and British Professional Golfers' Associations in England in 1926. That unofficial match was won by the Brits, 13 1/2 to 1 1/2.

It was following that successful inaugural exhibition that Samuel A. Ryder, a wealthy British seed merchant, offered to donate a solid gold trophy bearing his name to be competed for in a series of matches between professionals from the two nations.

From the start of the series through to the 1959 matches, the competition was comprised of four foursome matches one day and eight singles matches the other, each of 36 holes.

In 1961, the format was changed to provide for four 18-hole foursomes the morning of the first day and four more that afternoon. Then the following day, eight 18-hole single matches were played in the morning and eight more in the afternoon. As in the past, one point was at stake for each match.

In 1963, for the first time, a day of four-ball matches augmented the program to add new interest to the overall competition. This brought the number of total points to 32.

The format was altered again in 1977. This time there were five foursomes on the opening day, five four-ball matches on the second and 10 singles matches on the final day. This reduced the total points to 20.

In 1979, eligibility for the Great Britain-Ireland side was expanded to include all PGA European Tour members who were residents of European nations. The format changed to four-ball matches on the opening morning of play and four foursome matches in the afternoon. The schedule is repeated the second day, while the third and final day of competition consists of 10 singles matches, for points totaling 28.

The 2001 U.S. Ryder Cup team of Tiger Woods, David Duval, Davis Love III, Mark Calcavecchia, David Toms, Jim Furyk, Hal Sutton, Phil Mickelson, Scott Hoch and Stewart Cink was selected by Ryder Cup points earned from the beginning of the 2000 season through to this year's PGA Championship. The top-10 point winners automatically qualified for the 12-man team. U.S. captain Strange selected Paul Azinger and Scott Verplank to complete the squad.

Likewise, the first 10 players for the European side will be selected on the basis of points accumulated, with captain Torrance choosing two players to fill out the team within a couple of weeks.

The 1999 match results were U.S. 14 1/2 points, Europe 13 1/2. The United States leads the series 24-7-2.