The Ryder Cup 334

                        We’ve Been Talking About it for Months

The Ryder Cup

Held at Bethpage State Park – The Black Course

7468 Yards  Par 71

Long Island NY

The European Team are the Defending Champions

There was no Ryder Cup Last Year . . . So a Beagle Puppy

So

Always as much carnival as it is a golf match.  Being held on Long Island in front of New York fans, out of control craziness is not just likely – it is expected.  To that end the PGA of America has brought special signs that speak to those fans in a language they will understand . . . especially after a LOT of beer.

They did say Please

History is Always Being Made

The 1957 Cup was held at the Lindrick Golf Club near Worksop England.  GB&I had not won since 1933 and they were not favored.  The U.S. was on a six match winning streak.  The format back then was ten players per team, four foursome matches on Friday and ten singles matches on Saturday.  Eight of the ten U.S. players had or would win a Major.  On the entire GB&I team there was just a single Major among the ten golfers.  The Friday foursomes went as expected and the U.S. jumped out to a 3 – 1 lead.  The Saturday singles were a lopsided blowout . . . but did not go to script.  In the first two matches, future HoF inductees Tommy Bolt and Captain Jack Burke Jr lost their matches.  The third match went to the U.S.  GB&I won the next four matches – 4/3, 7/6, 6/5 and 7/6.  The final match was halved and GB&I won the Cup 7 ½ to 4 ½.  GB&I would never win another Ryder Cup.  That makes Dai Rees the last winning Captain for a GB&I team.

FUN FACT:  Peter Mills, a 26 year old rookie on the victorious GB&I team, beat U.S. playing Captain Jack Burke Jr in singles 5&3.  At age 94, is the only member of either team that is still with us.

The 1999 match found the U.S. team on the wrong side of history.  Europe had won/retained the Cup in five of the seven previous matches.  However, the U.S. team was strong.  Their only rookie, David Duval, ranked #2 in the world.  10 of the 12 members of the U.S. squad were ranked in the top 20.   Mark James’ European squad had seven rookies and only three golfers ranked in the top 20.  Played at the Country Club in Brookline, it looked to be a mismatch.  Captain James decided on a unique strategy, he would hide three of his weaker players, keeping them on the bench for the first two days . . . and it was working.  Europe jumped to a four point lead after the first day.  The score remained the same with a split in both sessions on Saturday.  This meant a four point lead heading into singles.  Now those three who had yet to swing a club in competition had to play.  Captain James put out stalwarts in the first two matches but otherwise back loaded his strength.  That put Jarmo Sandelin in the third match against Phil Mickelson . . . Jean van de Velde in the fourth match against Davis Love III . . . and Andrew Coltart in the fifth match against Tiger Woods.  Not surprisingly all three lost, handily.  The deficit was all but made up and . . .  Justin Leonard makes the putt . . .  the U.S. wins 14 ½ to 13 ½.

FUN FACT #2:  With victory already decided and the last match still on the course, Payne Stewart conceded Colin Montgomery’s putt on 18 to give him a 1 up victory.  He did it in acknowledgement of the overreaction to the Leonard putt as well the abuse Montgomery had to put up with over the three days.

Less than a month later he was killed in a plane crash

Pick Six – At Least Two From Each Side

3 Points for a win,  1 Point for a half

10 Point Bonus for Predicting the Winning Team and Score

“Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today”

~ Will Rogers