Ryder Cup
by Matthew Siemer
The Ryder Cup is a worldwide golf competition between the United States and Europe. This event happens every other year alternating between Europe and United States, and creates a competitive scene between the two countries. Each team consists of twelve players; eight players are granted a spot on the team based on points, but the captain of each team picks the remaining four players himself.
The United States team consisted of Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickleson, J.B Holmes, Brooks Koepka, Ryan Moore, Jimmy Walker, Matt Kuchar. Against the strong European team of Rafa Cabrera Bello, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Rory Mcilroy, Thomas Pieters, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Andy Sullivan, Lee Westwood, Danny Willett, and Chris Wood.
The format of the competition in 2016 for the first two days is was two players from each team play alternate shot and the team with the lowest score wins the hole, and whoever is up after the eighteen holes wins the match and gains the point for there team. A classic format usually knows as a four-ball. If it results in a tie each team receives half of a point. They have four matches in the morning and four matches in the afternoon.
This year the Ryder cup took place at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. The United States team had the advantage in this Ryder Cup because they crowd consisted of most U.S people and fans supporting their country, After the morning of the first day the United States had won all the matches obtaining four points the the Europeans zero. But in the afternoon the Europeans won three of the four matches and the U.S only won one point, the results of the first day were 5-3 in favor of the U.S.
The second day resulted in the United States leading 9.5-6.5. In the morning Europe won two matches while the United States won one match, and the match between Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed versus Sergio Garcia/Rafa Cabrera Bello resulted in a tie, each team gaining half of a point. The afternoon was resulted in three big points for the U.S and only one point for the Europeans.
On the last day every player from both teams plays in a singles match meaning a team could possibly obtain twelve points, but that wasn’t the story. The first match was between U.S powerhouse Patrick Reed against Europeans go to guy Rory Mcilroy. Reed ended up winning the match and giving momentum to the U.S. The day ended in the United States winning the trophy and being named champions with the final score 17-11. The Ryder cup is always a very competitive event and Europe hopes to come back strong in 2018.