The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy. The event is jointly administered by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe, the latter a joint venture of the PGA European Tour (60%), the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (20%), and the PGAs of Europe (20%).
Lee John Westwood is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, Westwood is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. Westwood has also won tournaments in four decades, the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Westwood was named European Tour Golfer of the Year for the 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2020 seasons. He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 and 2020 Race to Dubai. Westwood has frequently been mentioned as one of the best golfers without a major championship victory, with several near misses including three runner-up finishes.
Severiano Ballesteros Sota was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 international tournaments in his career, including five major championships between 1979 and 1988; The Open Championship three times and the Masters Tournament twice. He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19, he finished second at The Open. He played a leading role in the re-emergence of European golf, helping the European Ryder Cup team to five wins both as a player and captain.
The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour; the second tier of men’s professional golf in Europe. The tour's headquarters are at the Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. The European Tour was established by the British-based Professional Golfers' Association through the 1970s, and responsibility was transferred to an independent PGA European Tour organisation in 1984.
David Alexander Howell is an English professional golfer. His career peaked in 2006, when he won the BMW Championship and was ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for a short time. He played in the Ryder Cup in 2004 and 2006.
The Seve Trophy was a biennial golf tournament between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representing Continental Europe. The tournament was played in years when there is no Ryder Cup. The competition was held eight times from 2000 to 2013.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez Rodríguez is a Spanish professional golfer. He has won 21 times on the European Tour and has been a member of two victorious Ryder Cup teams.
Luke Campbell Donald MBE is an English professional golfer and former world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour.
Ian James Poulter is an English professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League. He has previously been ranked as high as number 5 in the world rankings. The highlights of Poulter's career to date have been his two World Golf Championship wins at the 2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions. He is the touring professional for Woburn Golf and Country Club.
Antonio Garrido is a Spanish professional golfer. He won five times on the European Tour and twice on the European Senior Tour. He played in the 1979 Ryder Cup, the first Ryder Cup in which Continental European golfers were eligible to play.
Francesco Molinari is an Italian professional golfer. He won the 2018 Open Championship, his first and only major victory, and the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. The Open Championship win capped a successful season in which he won the 2018 BMW PGA Championship, his fifth win on the European Tour, and the Quicken Loans National, his first PGA Tour win. At the end of the season, Molinari won 5 out of 5 points as Europe won the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Edoardo Molinari is an Italian professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he is a three-time winner. He was also the 2005 U.S. Amateur champion; 2009 Challenge Tour Rankings leader; winner, with his brother Francesco, of the 2009 World Cup; and a member of the 2010 European Ryder Cup winning team. He has won professional tournaments on four of six continents on which golf is played: Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. He is a Vice-Captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Marco Simone, Italy.
The 24th Ryder Cup Matches were held 18–20 September 1981 at the Walton Heath Golf Club in Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England, southwest of London. The United States team won the competition by a score of 181⁄2 to 91⁄2 points. It was the largest margin of defeat for a European team at the Ryder Cup until 2021. It is also the largest margin of defeat for the host team on European soil.
Thomas Paul Fleetwood is an English professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and European Tour. He has won six times on the European Tour.
The 39th Ryder Cup was held September 28–30, 2012, in the United States at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. This was the first time that the Ryder Cup was held in Illinois. Europe went into the competition as the cup holders, having won in 2010 to regain it. The team captains were Davis Love III for the U.S. and José María Olazábal for Europe.
The 2013 Seve Trophy by Golf+, the eighth edition of the Seve Trophy, was played 3–6 October at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche in France. The team captain for Great Britain and Ireland was Sam Torrance, while the captain for Continental Europe was José María Olazábal. The contest took place at the same time as the 2013 Presidents Cup, unlike 2009 and 2011 when it was scheduled during the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs. Continental Europe won the tournament by 15 to 13, their first victory since 2000.
Milton Pouha "Tony" Finau is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour.
The 42nd Ryder Cup Matches were held in France from 28 to 30 September 2018 on the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Guyancourt, a suburb southwest of Paris. It was the second Ryder Cup to be held in Continental Europe, after the 1997 contest, which was held in Spain. The United States were the defending champions, but had lost the last five matches in Europe, having last won there in 1993. Europe regained the Ryder Cup, winning by 171⁄2 points to 101⁄2.
The 43rd Ryder Cup Matches were held in the United States from September 24–26, 2021, on the Straits course at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin. Europe was the holder of the Ryder Cup after its win over the United States in 2018 at Le Golf National.
The 44th Ryder Cup Matches will be held in Italy in autumn 2023 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio near Rome. The biennial event was originally scheduled from 30 September to 2 October 2022, before the 43rd matches were postponed into 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States is the holder of the Ryder Cup after its 19–9 victory over Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits.
Continental Europe
