2014 Ryder Cup

The 40th Ryder Cup matches were held 26–28 September 2014 in Scotland on the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel near Auchterarder in Perthshire. This was the second Ryder Cup held in Scotland; it was previously at Muirfield in 1973. The team captains in 2014 were Paul McGinley for Europe and Tom Watson for the USA.

40th Ryder Cup Matches
Dates26–28 September 2014
VenueGleneagles Hotel
PGA Centenary Course
LocationAuchterarder, Perthshire,
Scotland
Captains
16½ 11½
Europe wins the Ryder Cup
Gleneagles
Location of the Gleneagles Hotel
in Scotland

Europe were the defending cup holders, having won in 2012 at Medinah Country Club near Chicago.

Europe won the 2014 competition to retain the Ryder Cup, defeating the US by 16½ points to 11½, for their third consecutive win.

Format
Main article: Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was as follows:

  • Day 1 (Friday) – 4 fourball (better ball) matches in the morning, followed by 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in the afternoon
  • Day 2 (Saturday) – 4 fourball matches in the morning, followed by 4 foursome matches in the afternoon
  • Day 3 (Sunday) – 12 singles matches

On the Monday before the competition, European captain Paul McGinley announced that he had chosen to play fourball matches in the mornings, as had been the case for every European home captain since 1997 (while American home captains have chosen to play foursomes in the mornings every year except for 2004).

With a total of 28 points available, 14½ points were required for the US to win the Ryder Cup, and 14 points were required for Europe to retain it. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes. If a match was level after 18 holes each side was awarded half a point.

Course
Main article: Gleneagles Hotel
Gleneagles Hotel and grounds in 2004

The Gleneagles Hotel, located one hour outside of Edinburgh and set in grounds of 850 acres (340 ha; 1.33 sq mi), had undergone a major redevelopment programme, partly in preparation for the 2014 Ryder Cup.

The PGA Centenary Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and one of three at Gleneagles, currently measures 7,262 yards (6,640 m) off the championship tees.[1] The course was awarded the Ryder Cup in 2001, and it was originally scheduled to host the matches in 2013, however this was delayed a year due to the alteration of the Ryder Cup schedule after the September 11 attacks in 2001. This was the final Ryder Cup to be affected by the rescheduling, as it was the furthest scheduled match at the time of the attacks. Just as the 2012 matches had been, all future matches are regularly scheduled for even-numbered years.

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4265164312394612014684195643,7252083504454813204635431945333,5377,262
Par454343445363444445353672

Television

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sky Sports provided live coverage, with the BBC showing highlights each evening on free-to-air television.

Coverage in South Africa was provided on the Supersport channels.

In the US, corporate siblings Golf Channel and NBC televised the event live, after NBC had traded for complete rights (that it was contractually given the rights to in 2005) back from ESPN, who had televised the previous three Ryder Cups on Friday. Golf Channel televised action on Friday and a half-hour on Saturday, from where NBC took over for the rest of the weekend. In the early-morning sessions, Terry Gannon hosted from the 18th tower alongside Frank Nobilo. Curt Byrum and Tom Abbott served as hole announcers and Jerry Foltz was an on-course commentator. Nick Faldo appeared as a guest commentator on Friday, and sparked controversy after critical comments about Sergio García. For the afternoon sessions and the singles matches on Sunday, the regular NBC golf crew provided coverage. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller hosted from the 18th tower, with Gary Koch and Peter Jacobsen as hole announcers. On course commentators were Mark Rolfing, Roger Maltbie and Notah Begay III. On the weekend, Colin Montgomerie appeared as a guest commentator to lend a European perspective, a role he previously filled for NBC in 2012.

Team qualification and selection

Europe

The European team qualification rules were announced on 21 May 2013. The number of captain's picks was increased from 2 to 3 with the number of players qualifying from the European Points being reduced from 5 to 4. The team consists of:[2][3][4]

  • The leading four players on the Ryder Cup European Points List
    • Points (1 Point = 1 Euro) earned in all Race to Dubai tournaments starting with the 2013 ISPS Handa Wales Open and ending following the conclusion of the 2014 Italian Open
  • The leading five players, not qualified above, on the Ryder Cup World Points List
    • Total World Rankings Points earned in Official World Golf Ranking events starting on 26 August 2013 (the start date of the ISPS Handa Wales Open) and ending on 24 August 2014 and thereafter only from the Italian Open scheduled to conclude on 31 August 2014.
  • Three captain's picks

The leading players in the Ryder Cup European points were:

Position Name Points
1 Rory McIlroy 5,537,075.35
2 Henrik Stenson 2,893,568.55
3 Victor Dubuisson 2,880,182.84
4 Jamie Donaldson 2,676,347.42
5 Sergio García 2,539,593.00
6 Thomas Bjørn 2,489,768.80

Players in qualifying places are shown in green. Donaldson had overtaken García by winning the penultimate qualifying event (the D+D Real Czech Masters) and since neither García nor Bjørn played in the final event (the Italian Open) and since no other player could pass Donaldson, he was assured of his place before the Italian Open.

The leading players in the Ryder Cup World points were:

Position Name Points
1 Rory McIlroy 538.18
2 Henrik Stenson 389.60
3 Sergio García 368.05
4 Justin Rose 287.38
5 Martin Kaymer 247.27
6 Thomas Bjørn 206.34
7 Victor Dubuisson 204.79
8 Jamie Donaldson 194.51
9 Graeme McDowell 171.82
10 Stephen Gallacher 170.21
11 Luke Donald 167.55
12 Ian Poulter 150.62
13 Miguel Ángel Jiménez 142.85
14 Francesco Molinari 141.45
15 Joost Luiten 136.58
16 Lee Westwood 120.48

Players in qualifying places are shown in green. Captain's picks are shown in yellow. The leading four players (García, Rose, Kaymer and Bjørn) had qualified before the final event (the Italian Open). Stephen Gallacher was then 11.21 points behind Graeme McDowell. The winner of the Italian Open would score 24 points with second place scoring 14.4 and third 9.6. Gallacher therefore needed to either win the Italian Open, finish second alone or finish second jointly with just one other player (scoring 12 points) to overtake McDowell and move into the final automatic qualification spot. In the final round he scored 65 but David Howell (playing in the group before) had scored 63 to take second place by a single shot, pushing Gallacher down to third place.

United States

The United States qualification rules were announced on 20 March 2013. They remained the same as for 2012 except that the number of captain's picks was reduced from four to three. The team consists of:[8]

  • The leading nine players on the Ryder Cup points list
    • Points are gained from money earned in majors in 2013 and official 2014 PGA Tour events beginning with the Frys.com Open on 10 October 2013 through the PGA Championship on 10 August 2014. One point is awarded for every $1,000 earned. Money earned in 2014 majors count double and money earned in 2014 alternate events (those played opposite the majors or World Golf Championships) count half.
  • Three captain's picks

Players in the qualifying places are shown in green, and captain's picks are shown in yellow. In late July Dustin Johnson announced that he was taking a leave of absence from golf and would miss the Ryder Cup. The qualifying places were therefore extended to the player finishing in 10th place in the points list. Mickelson's second-place finish in the 2014 PGA Championship lifted him from 11th to 5th place in the standings. Zach Johnson made the cut in the PGA Championship and this was sufficient to lift him above Jason Dufner and give him the last automatic place despite a last round of 77 which left him in a tie for 70th place and 35.8 points. Dufner withdrew from the event because of a neck injury.

Position Name 2013
Majors		 2014
Majors		 Regular
events		 Alternate
events		 Points
1 Bubba Watson 105.977 3277.400 3546.661 0 6930.038
2 Rickie Fowler 293.697 4994.480 1445.076 0 6733.253
3 Jim Furyk 921.040 2302.118 3484.536 0 6707.694
4 Jimmy Walker 0 1548.130 4563.275 0 6111.405
5 Phil Mickelson 2172.000 2436.928 901.411 0 5510.339
Dustin Johnson 413.662 941.927 3778.217 0 5133.806
6 Matt Kuchar 462.226 1044.939 3607.500 0 5114.665
7 Jordan Spieth 24.641 1913.010 2898.177 0 4835.828
8 Patrick Reed 0 134.440 3515.787 0 3650.227
9 Zach Johnson 496.827 166.024 2905.843 0 3568.694
10 Jason Dufner 1883.199 50.059 1626.462 0 3559.720
11 Ryan Moore 88.151 374.315 2890.405 0 3352.871
12 Brendon Todd 0 344.373 2999.009 0 3343.382
13 Keegan Bradley 206.530 840.555 2277.612 0 3324.697
14 Chris Kirk 16.300 509.431 2762.151 0 3287.882
15 Webb Simpson 125.081 61.656 2968.833 0 3155.570

Source:[9]

In mid-August Tiger Woods announced that he would not be able to play in the 2014 Ryder Cup because of back problems and would therefore not be one of Watson's three captain's picks.[10] Woods had finished 71st in the Ryder Cup points list.

Teams

Captains

Tom Watson was named the USA team captain on 13 December 2012. At 65 he became the oldest Ryder Cup captain; a record previously held by J.H. Taylor who was 62 when he captained the Great Britain team in 1933. Previously the oldest United States captain had been Sam Snead who was 57 when he was captain in 1969.[11]

Paul McGinley was named the Europe team captain on 15 January 2013.[12] He was the first Irishman to captain the Ryder Cup side. McGinley had previously always been on the winning side in the Ryder Cup; as a player in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and as a vice-captain in 2010 and 2012.[13]

Vice-captains

Each captain selected a number of vice-captains to assist him during the tournament.

In July 2013, Watson named Andy North as a vice-captain.[14] In February 2014, he named Raymond Floyd as his second vice-captain[15] and in August he chose Steve Stricker as a third vice-captain.[16]

In March 2014, McGinley named Des Smyth and Sam Torrance as vice-captains.[17][18] In September 2014, McGinley then announced that Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Pádraig Harrington and José María Olazábal would also join his backroom team, making five vice-captains in total.[19]

Players
Team Europe
Name Country Age Points rank
(European)		 Points rank
(World)		 World
ranking		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Paul McGinley Ireland 47Non-playing captain
Rory McIlroy Northern Ireland 25111294–3–255.56
Henrik Stenson Sweden 38225272–3–242.86
Victor Dubuisson France 2437230Rookie
Jamie Donaldson Wales 3848250Rookie
Sergio García Spain 3453362816–8–464.29
Justin Rose England 34746296–3–066.67
Martin Kaymer Germany 298512263–2–158.33
Thomas Bjørn Denmark 436630263–2–158.33
Graeme McDowell Northern Ireland 35129183125–5–250.00
Stephen Gallacher Scotland 391110340Rookie
Ian Poulter England 389123841512–3–080.00
Lee Westwood England 4119164483718–13–656.76

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2014 Ryder Cup.

The players with the highest world rankings not on the team were: Luke Donald (ranked 32), Joost Luiten (36), and Miguel Ángel Jiménez (37).[20]

Team USA
Name Age Points
rank		 World
ranking		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Tom Watson 65Non-playing captain
Bubba Watson 3517283–5–037.50
Rickie Fowler 25210130–1–233.33
Jim Furyk 44348309–17–436.67
Jimmy Walker 354190Rookie
Phil Mickelson 4451193814–18–644.74
Matt Kuchar 3669273–2–257.14
Jordan Spieth 217130Rookie
Patrick Reed 248270Rookie
Zach Johnson 389163116–4–159.09
Keegan Bradley 281326143–1–075.00
Webb Simpson 291533142–2–050.00
Hunter Mahan 322521283–2–356.25

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2014 Ryder Cup.

The players with the highest world rankings not on the team were: Billy Horschel (ranked 14), Chris Kirk (22), and Steve Stricker (28).[20] Their respective rankings on 2 September were 45, 25, and 24.[21] The rankings for 7 September were 23, 24, and 25, respectively.[22] After finishing tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship on 1 September, Horschel had won the next two events, the BMW Championship and The Tour Championship, to secure the FedEx Cup.

Mickelson extended his own U.S. team record with his 10th appearance. Nick Faldo holds the European record with 11.[23]

Friday's matches

Morning fourballs

The United States won two matches and halved another to take the lead in the Ryder Cup. Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, the youngest American pairing in the history of the competition, defeated Ian Poulter and Stephen Gallacher 5 & 4. This was Poulter's first loss in his last eight Ryder Cup matches.[24][25][26]

The Spieth/Reed pairing had a combined age of 45 compared to the previous youngest American pairing which had been the Justin Leonard/Tiger Woods pairing in 1997 which had a combined age of 46. The youngest in Ryder Cup history are the Mark James/Ken Brown pairing in 1977 with a combined age of 43 and Bernard Gallacher/Maurice Bembridge in 1969 with a combined age of 44.

Results
Rose/Stenson 5 & 4 B. Watson/Simpson
Bjørn/Kaymer halved Fowler/Walker
Gallacher/Poulter 5 & 4 Spieth/Reed
García/McIlroy 1 up Bradley/Mickelson
1½ Session 2½
1½ Overall 2½

Afternoon foursomes

Europe won three matches and halved the fourth to take a 5–3 lead in the Ryder Cup. It was the first time since 2006 that Europe led after the first day of the competition.[24] Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, who won 5 & 4 in their morning match, played again and won; they never trailed at any point during the day. Gene Wojciechowski, a columnist for ESPN, criticized American captain Tom Watson for not playing Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed in the afternoon after they had won their morning match 5 & 4.[27]

Results
Donaldson/Westwood 2 up Furyk/Kuchar
Rose/Stenson 2 & 1 Mahan/Johnson
McIlroy/García halved Walker/Fowler
Dubuisson/McDowell 3 & 2 Mickelson/Bradley
3½ Session ½
5 Overall 3

Saturday's matches

Morning fourballs

The European pairing of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson led off and won their third straight match in two days. Their score of 12-under set a Ryder Cup record in fourballs.[28]

Results
Rose/Stenson 3 & 2 B. Watson/Kuchar
Donaldson/Westwood 4 & 3 Furyk/Mahan
Bjørn/Kaymer 5 & 3 Reed/Spieth
McIlroy/Poulter halved Walker/Fowler
1½ Session 2½
6½ Overall 5½

Afternoon foursomes

For the second straight day, Europe earned 3½ points in the afternoon foursomes, increasing their lead to 4 going into the singles matches.[28]

Because of a late finish by Rory McIlroy in the morning session Match 2 (Furyk/Mahan v. García/McIlroy) started after Match 3 (Spieth/Reed v. Kaymer/Rose). The table below reflects the official order.[29]

Results
Donaldson/Westwood 2 & 1 Johnson/Kuchar
García/McIlroy 3 & 2 Furyk/Mahan
Kaymer/Rose halved Spieth/Reed
Dubuisson/McDowell 5 & 4 Walker/Fowler
3½ Session ½
10 Overall 6

Sunday's singles matches

Europe won the Ryder Cup for third consecutive time.[30] Welshman Jamie Donaldson played the winning shot when his second to the 15th hole landed less than 2 feet from the hole and Keegan Bradley conceded the hole.[31] Donaldson had halved the 14th hole with Bradley to find himself in a dormie position, where a minimum half-point is guaranteed.[32] This meant that Europe were guaranteed a minimum 14–14 score (enough to retain the cup) but the scores are not official until the match is actually won, or halved after 18 holes.[33]

Results Order of finishing
& score after match[34]
Graeme McDowell 2 & 1 Jordan Spieth 2nd: 12–6
Henrik Stenson 1 up Patrick Reed 3rd: 12–7
Rory McIlroy 5 & 4 Rickie Fowler 1st: 11–6
Justin Rose halved Hunter Mahan 7th: 13½–9½
Stephen Gallacher 3 & 1 Phil Mickelson 6th: 13–9
Martin Kaymer 4 & 2 Bubba Watson 4th: 13–7
Thomas Bjørn 4 & 3 Matt Kuchar 5th: 13–8
Sergio García 1 up Jim Furyk 9th: 15½–9½
Ian Poulter halved Webb Simpson 10th: 16–10
Jamie Donaldson 5 & 3 Keegan Bradley 8th: 14½–9½
Lee Westwood 3 & 2 Jimmy Walker 11th: 16–11
Victor Dubuisson halved Zach Johnson 12th: 16½–11½
6½ Session 5½
16½ Overall 11½

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the Win–Loss–Half record of the player.

Europe

Source:[35]

PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Thomas Bjørn0.50–2–10–1–00–0–00–1–1
Jamie Donaldson33–1–01–0–02–0–00–1–0
Victor Dubuisson2.52–0–10–0–12–0–00–0–0
Stephen Gallacher00–2–00–1–00–0–00–1–0
Sergio García2.52–1–11–0–01–0–10–1–0
Martin Kaymer21–1–21–0–00–0–10–1–1
Graeme McDowell33–0–01–0–02–0–00–0–0
Rory McIlroy32–1–21–0–01–0–10–1–1
Ian Poulter10–1–20–0–10–0–00–1–1
Justin Rose43–0–20–0–11–0–12–0–0
Henrik Stenson33–1–00–1–01–0–02–0–0
Lee Westwood22–2–00–1–02–0–00–1–0

United States

Source:[36]

PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Keegan Bradley11–2–00–1–00–1–01–0–0
Rickie Fowler1.50–2–30–1–00–1–10–0–2
Jim Furyk11–3–00–1–00–2–01–0–0
Zach Johnson0.50–2–10–0–10–2–00–0–0
Matt Kuchar11–3–01–0–00–2–00–1–0
Hunter Mahan1.51–2–10–0–10–2–01–0–0
Phil Mickelson22–1–01–0–00–1–01–0–0
Patrick Reed3.53–0–11–0–00–0–12–0–0
Webb Simpson0.50–1–10–0–10–0–00–1–0
Jordan Spieth2.52–1–10–1–00–0–12–0–0
Jimmy Walker2.51–1–31–0–00–1–10–0–2
Bubba Watson00–3–00–1–00–0–00–2–0

References
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  10. DiMeglio, Steve (13 August 2014). "Tiger Woods pulls out of Ryder Cup consideration". USA Today.
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  13. Corrigan, James (15 January 2013). "The vote for Paul McGinley as Ryder Cup captain was not just one for Rory McIlroy and Co ... but one for sense". The Daily Telegraph.
  14. "Tom Watson picks Andy North as vice-captain". Ryder Cup. 3 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
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  17. "Smyth and Torrance named as Ryder Cup vice-captains". European Tour. 6 March 2014.
  18. "Sam Torrance and Des Smyth named as Europe's 2014 Ryder Cup vice-captains". The Guardian. Press Association. 6 March 2014.
  19. "Olazabal, Harrington, Jimenez added". ESPN. Associated Press. 3 September 2014.
  20. "Week 38" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  21. "Week 35" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  22. "Week 36" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
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  27. Wojciechowski, Gene (26 September 2014). "Go with your gut, captain Watson". ESPN.
  28. "Europe seizes Ryder Cup command". ESPN. Associated Press. 27 September 2014.
  29. "Ryder Cup 2014: Europe beat USA – day two, as it happened". The Guardian. 27 September 2014.
  30. "Europe retains Ryder Cup". ESPN. Associated Press. 29 September 2014.
  31. "Ryder Cup day three as it happened". BBC Sport. 28 September 2014.
  32. "Ryder Cup 2014 USA press reaction after Tom Watson's team lose to Europe at Gleneagles". The Daily Telegraph. 29 September 2014.
  33. "Ryder Cup 2014: Europe beat USA – final day, as it happened". The Guardian. 28 September 2014.
  34. "Ryder Cup 2014: how Europe clinched victory at Gleneagles". BBC Sport. 28 September 2014.
  35. "European Ryder Cup player records". ESPN. 28 September 2014.
  36. "U.S. Ryder Cup player records". ESPN. 28 September 2014.

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