The 37th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19–21,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Valhalla Golf Club Valhalla Golf Club, located in Louisville, Kentucky, is a private golf club designed by Jack Nicklaus, opened in 1986. In 1992, Valhalla was selected to host the PGA Championship in the year 1996 PGA Championship, 1996, one of golf's four Men's ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Team USA won 16 - 11 to end the streak of three successive victories for Europe. This was USA's largest margin of victory since

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and the first time since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

that the Americans had held the lead after every session of play. The team captains were

Paul Azinger Paul William Azinger (born January 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer and TV golf He won twelve times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official ...

for the US and

Nick Faldo Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. A top player of his era, renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking fo ...

for Europe. The U.S. team had been in the lead since the contest began on the Friday. Europe was two points behind going into the Sunday singles matches. They had only previously overturned a deficit once before, in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. USA won the majority of the first matches out and subsequently

Jim Furyk James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. In 2010, he was the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 200 ...

defeated

Miguel Ángel Jiménez Miguel Ángel Jiménez Rodríguez (born 5 January 1964) 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. Early years Born in Málaga in southern Spain, Jiménez ...

2 & 1 to win his match and win the Ryder Cup for the USA. Other matches still out on the course would see this margin of victory increase further. Following the defeat

was heavily criticised for his decision to "bottom load" his best players in the singles when the Americans only needed 5 points to win which they got before they could have any effect on the overall outcome.

Television

All matches were covered live in the United States.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

handled Friday coverage.

Mike Tirico Mike Tirico (; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the NFL play-by-play announcer on NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'', having replaced Al Michaels in 2022. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play anno ...

and

Andy North Andrew Stewart North (born March 9, 1950) is an American professional golfer who had three wins on the PGA Tour, including the U.S. Open twice. Since 1992, he has served as a golf analyst for ESPN. Early years North was born in Thorp, Wisconsin ...

hosted from the 18th tower, with

Curtis Strange Curtis Northrup Strange (born January 30, 1955) is an American professional golfer and TV color commentator. He is the winner of consecutive U.S. Open titles and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He spent ...

calling holes, and on-course reporters

Billy Kratzert William August Kratzert III (born June 29, 1952) is an American professional golfer and sportscaster, who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Early life Kratzert was born in Quantico, Virginia when his father was in the serv ...

and Judy Rankin. With Azinger, ESPN's lead analyst, captaining the U.S. team, North was moved to the booth to fill Azinger's seat.

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

covered the weekend action, with Dan Hicks and

Johnny Miller John Laurence Miller (born April 29, 1947) is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ran ...

hosting from the 18th tower, Gary Koch and

Bob Murphy Robert, Rob, Bob or Bobby Murphy may refer to: Sports Ice hockey * Robert Ronald Murphy or Ron Murphy (1933–2014), Canadian ice hockey player * Bob Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1951), Canadian retired professional ice hockey player * Rob Murphy (ic ...

calling holes, and on-course reporters Mark Rolfing, Roger Maltbie, and Dottie Pepper.

Format

The

Ryder Cup 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 af ...

is a

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used in 2008 was: * Day 1 (Friday)—four

foursomes Foursomes, also known as alternate shot, is a pairs playing format in the sport of golf. Golfers compete in teams of two, using only one ball per team, and taking alternate shots until the hole is completed. Team members take turns in teeing off o ...

(alternate shot) matches in the morning session and four fourball (better ball) matches in the afternoon * Day 2 (Saturday)—four foursome matches in the morning and four fourball matches in the afternoon * Day 3 (Sunday)—12 singles matches With a total of 28 points available, 14 points were required to win the cup, and 14 points for the defending champion to retain it. All matches were played over a maximum 18 holes. For the first time since 1995, the opening matches featured foursomes. US captain Paul Azinger chose the format, hoping to give his team an early advantage in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. Foursomes was used in the first sessions of every event since 1981 until European captain

Seve Ballesteros Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) 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 inte ...

opened with better ball (fourball) in 1997 at Valderrama.

Team qualification and selection

United States

The selection process was radically changed for 2008. The United States team consisted of: * The top eight players on the Ryder Cup Points List **Points gained from money earned in majors in 2007 and official PGA tour events in 2008 up to (i.e. up to and including money earned at the

2008 PGA Championship The 2008 PGA Championship was the 90th PGA Championship, played from August 7–10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive major and third overall ...

). Money earned in 2008 majors counted double and money earned in 2008 events played opposite the majors or

World Golf Championships The World Golf Championships (WGC) are a group of annual professional golf tournaments created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four ...

counted half. The new points system was only announced in November 2006 after the previous system had started. Under the previous system players earned points from August 27, 2006 when they finished in the top 10 in official events. Because of the late change to the qualification rules, players who had finished in the top 10 during the period from August 27 to November 5, 2006 were awarded a quarter of a point for every $1,000 earned. * Four captain's picks

Europe

The qualification process was the same as in 2006. The European team consisted of: * The top five players on the Ryder Cup World Points List **Total points earned in

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

events from 2007 to 2008 and then only in the

Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles The Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles was a European Tour golf tournament which was played at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. The tournament was founded in 1999 as the Scottish PGA Championship, and despite maintaining the same sponsor, ...

, which ended on August 31. * The five players, not qualified above, on the Ryder Cup European Points List **Money earned in official

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

events from 2007 to 2008 * Two captain's picks The final line-up for the European team was announced after the

on August 31, 2008.

Søren Hansen Søren Hansen (born 21 March 1974) is a Danish professional golfer. Hansen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He won the 1997 Danish Amateur Stroke Play Championship and turned professional later that year. Hansen collected his first professio ...

Oliver Wilson Oliver John Wilson (born 14 September 1980) is an English professional golfer. Wilson was a member of the 2008 Ryder Cup, but had to wait another six years for his first European Tour win, the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Amateur car ...

and

Justin Rose Justin Peter Rose, (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He won his first major championship at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf C ...

were the last three automatic qualifiers after successful tournaments.

handed wildcards to

Paul Casey Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Ranking. ...

and

Ian Poulter Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) 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 ...

Teams

Captains

The team captains were Paul Azinger for the US and Nick Faldo for Europe.

Vice-captains

The USA vice-captains were

Olin Browne Olin Douglas Browne (born May 22, 1959) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and now plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Browne was born in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H. in 1977. H ...

Raymond Floyd Raymond Loran Floyd (born September 4, 1942) is an American retired golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour, including four majors and four Senior major golf championships, senior majors. He was inducted ...

and Dave Stockton. The only European vice-captain was José María Olazábal.

Paul McGinley Paul Noel McGinley (born 16 December 1966) is an Irish professional golfer who has won four events on the European Tour. At the 2002 Ryder Cup, he famously holed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole in his match against Jim Furyk at The Belfry whi ...

had been announced as a vice-captain in May 2007 but resigned in September 2007.

Players

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

was the leading player on the points list but was recovering from knee surgery and unable to compete. Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2008 Ryder Cup. Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2008 Ryder Cup.

Friday's matches

Morning foursomes

The morning foursomes began well for Team Europe, as they took the lead in all four matches within the first hour. However, things changed by the end of the morning, with Team USA ending the session up 3–1, marking the first time since the last American win in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

that Team USA held the lead at the end of any Ryder Cup session.

Afternoon four-ball

The afternoon session was almost a replay of the morning session. Team Europe led after the front nine in three of the four matches, but only won one. Team USA ended up with its largest lead after the first day since Europe was first included in the Ryder Cup in

Saturday's matches

Morning foursomes

Afternoon four-ball

Sunday's singles matches

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player. Source:

United States

Europe

References

External links

Official site

Valhalla course site

Full results
{{coord, 38.242, -85.472, type:event, display=title Ryder Cup Golf in Kentucky Sports competitions in Louisville, Kentucky