The Ryder Cup will be staged for the 44th time this week at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy.
The U.S. won the last outing, two years ago at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. The Americans won 19-9, one of the bigger routs in the history of the series.
The U.S. squad has 12 members, as does the European contingent. Zach Johnson, who played in five Ryder Cups, is a first-time captain this year. Luke Donald is heading up the European squad. He assumed the role after the original captain, Henrik Stenson, joined the LIV Golf League forcing him to relinquish his Ryder Cup duties.
Here are some other essentials facts all golfers should know about the Ryder Cup.
Samuel Ryder presents the Ryder Cup to George Duncan, the captain of the British team who beat the U.S., in Leeds, England, in 1929. (Photo: Associated Press)
This will be the 44th Ryder Cup but the biennial duel was first contested 96 years ago.
There have been 1,012 total matches played all-time, with 363 different golfers competing over all those years.
Walter Hagen captained the U.S. to a 9 ½ to 2 ½ victory in 1927 in the very first staging of the event.
U.S. captain Zach Johnson and Europe’s English captain Luke Donald pose with the trophy at the end of a press conference ahead of the 44th Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome on September 25, 2023. (Photo by Paul Ellis/AFP)
The U.S. leads the all-time series 27-14-2 but there’s more to that story.
The Ryder Cup started in 1927 as the U.S. vs. Great Britian. In 1973, Ireland was added to the British squad. Then in 1979, it became a team representing all of Europe. If you run the numbers since that point, the U.S. trails 11-9.
The Americans haven’t won on foreign soil since 1993.
A view of the first hole prior to the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 25, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
The Ryder Cup is a three-day competition with the first two days consisting of morning and afternoon matches. The formats in those are foursomes (alternate shot) and fourballs (best ball). Each side sends out a team of two golfers and there are five matches in each session, with two golfers sitting out each session.
The action reaches its pinnacle on Sunday for the head-to-head singles matches, with all 12 golfers from each team competing.
All formats use match play for scoring. Winning a match earns a team 1…
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