1997 Ryder Cup

The 32nd Ryder Cup Matches were held at the Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain, marking the first time the event was contested in continental Europe. The European team won the competition by a margin of 14½ to 13½ and retained the Ryder Cup.

32nd Ryder Cup Matches
Dates26–28 September 1997
VenueValderrama Golf Club
LocationSotogrande, Spain
Captains
14½ 13½
Europe wins the Ryder Cup
Valderrama
Golf Club
Location in Spain

The Europeans held a 10½–5½ lead heading into the final day, but the Americans mounted a comeback by winning the singles matches 8–4 but fell just short. Colin Montgomerie halved the final match with Scott Hoch (conceding a 15-foot (4.6 m) par putt on the final hole) to seal the outright victory for the Europeans.

This was the first of six consecutive victories at home by Europe, a streak that remains intact through 2018.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used in 1997 was as follows:

  • Day 1 (Friday) — 4 fourball (better ball) matches in a morning session and 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in an afternoon session
  • Day 2 (Saturday) — 4 fourball matches in a morning session and 4 foursome matches in an afternoon session
  • Day 3 (Sunday) — 12 singles matches

With a total of 28 points, 14½ points were required to win the Cup, and 14 points were required for the defending champion to retain the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

The selection process for the European team remained largely unchanged from that used in 1995 with two captain's picks. If captain Ballesteros qualified automatically, he had the choice of standing down and selecting a third player.[1] The qualifying period remained the same, starting with the Canon European Masters in Switzerland at the beginning of September 1996 and ending with the BMW International Open on 31 August, the remaining two team members being chosen soon afterwards by the team captain. Prior to the final event Miguel Ángel Martín was in 10th place in the points list. He had, however, not played since The Open Championship because of a wrist injury. In the final event both José María Olazábal and Pádraig Harrington had chances to overtake Martin but neither succeeded. Olazábal finished 11th in the final points list with Harrington 12th. Because of uncertainty about Martin's fitness, the announcement of the two captain's picks, which was to have been immediately after the BMW International Open, was cancelled.[2] On the Tuesday Martin was given an ultimatum that he was required to play 18 holes the following day to demonstrate that he would be fit to play in the Ryder Cup. Martin refused and was replaced by Olazábal, who had finished in the next qualifying place.[3] Ballesteros announced his wildcards on the Thursday, choosing Nick Faldo and Jesper Parnevik.[4] Miguel Ángel Martín had a world ranking of 79 at the time of the Ryder Cup.

 Team Europe
Name Age Points
rank		 World
ranking		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Seve Ballesteros 40Non-playing captain
Colin Montgomerie 34153136–5–253.85
Darren Clarke 292330Rookie
Bernhard Langer 4032083415–14–551.47
Ian Woosnam 3942572913–11–553.45
Per-Ulrik Johansson 30542131–2–033.33
Lee Westwood 246320Rookie
Ignacio Garrido 257780Rookie
Thomas Bjørn 268730Rookie
Costantino Rocca 40943273–4–042.86
José María Olazábal 31115742012–6–265.00
Nick Faldo 402715104121–16–456.10
Jesper Parnevik 32–180Rookie

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 1997 Ryder Cup.

 Team USA
Name Age Points
rank		 World
ranking		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Tom Kite 47Non-playing captain
Tiger Woods 21120Rookie
Justin Leonard 252110Rookie
Tom Lehman 3836132–1–066.67
Davis Love III 33410295–4–055.56
Jim Furyk 275210Rookie
Phil Mickelson 2768133–0–0100.00
Jeff Maggert 33728142–2–050.00
Mark O'Meara 4089382–5–131.25
Scott Hoch 419130Rookie
Brad Faxon 361016131–2–033.33
Lee Janzen 331539120–2–00.00
Fred Couples 3717124165–7–443.75

Captains picks are shown in yellow;[5] the world rankings and records are at the start of the 1997 Ryder Cup.

Friday's matches

Morning four-ball
Results
Olazábal/Rocca 1 up Love III/Mickelson
Faldo/Westwood 1 up Couples/Faxon
Parnevik/Johansson 1 up Lehman/Furyk
Montgomerie/Langer 3 & 2 Woods/O'Meara
2 Session 2
2 Overall 2

Afternoon foursomes
Results
Rocca/Olazábal 1 up Hoch/Janzen
Langer/Montgomerie 5 & 3 O'Meara/Woods
Faldo/Westwood 3 & 2 Leonard/Maggert
Parnevik/Garrido halved Lehman/Mickelson
2½ Session 1½
4½ Overall 3½

Saturday's matches

Morning four-ball
Results
Montgomerie/Clarke 1 up Couples/Love III
Woosnam/Bjørn 2 & 1 Leonard/Faxon
Faldo/Westwood 2 & 1 Woods/O'Meara
Olazábal/Garrido halved Mickelson/Lehman
3½ Session ½
8 Overall 4

Afternoon foursomes
Results
Montgomerie/Langer 1 up Janzen/Furyk
Faldo/Westwood 2 & 1 Hoch/Maggert
Parnevik/Garrido halved Leonard/Woods
Olazábal/Rocca 5 & 4 Love III/Couples
2½ Session 1½
10½ Overall 5½

Sunday's singles matches
Results
Ian Woosnam 8 & 7 Fred Couples
Per-Ulrik Johansson 3 & 2 Davis Love III
Jesper Parnevik 5 & 4 Mark O'Meara
Darren Clarke 2 & 1 Phil Mickelson
Costantino Rocca 4 & 2 Tiger Woods
Thomas Bjørn halved Justin Leonard
Ignacio Garrido 7 & 6 Tom Lehman
Bernhard Langer 2 & 1 Brad Faxon
Lee Westwood 3 & 2 Jeff Maggert
José María Olazábal 1 up Lee Janzen
Nick Faldo 3 & 2 Jim Furyk
Colin Montgomerie halved Scott Hoch
4 Session 8
14½ Overall 13½

Individual player records

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

Source: [6]

Europe
PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Thomas Bjørn1.51–0–10–0–10–0–01–0–0
Darren Clarke11–1–00–1–00–0–01–0–0
Nick Faldo22–3–00–1–01–1–01–1–0
Ignacio Garrido1.50–1–30–1–00–0–20–0–1
Per-Ulrik Johansson22–0–01–0–00–0–01–0–0
Bernhard Langer33–1–01–0–02–0–00–1–0
Colin Montgomerie3.53–1–10–0–12–0–01–1–0
José María Olazábal2.52–2–10–1–01–1–01–0–1
Jesper Parnevik21–1–20–1–00–0–21–0–0
Costantino Rocca33–1–01–0–01–1–01–0–0
Lee Westwood22–3–00–1–01–1–01–1–0
Ian Woosnam11–1–00–1–00–0–01–0–0

United States
PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Fred Couples22–2–01–0–00–1–01–1–0
Brad Faxon11–2–00–1–00–0–01–1–0
Jim Furyk11–2–01–0–00–1–00–1–0
Scott Hoch2.52–0–10–0–12–0–00–0–0
Lee Janzen22–1–01–0–01–1–00–0–0
Tom Lehman21–1–21–0–00–0–10–1–1
Justin Leonard10–2–20–0–10–1–10–1–0
Davis Love III00–4–00–1–00–1–00–2–0
Jeff Maggert22–1–01–0–01–1–00–0–0
Phil Mickelson21–1–21–0–00–0–10–1–1
Mark O'Meara22–2–01–0–00–1–01–1–0
Tiger Woods1.51–3–10–1–00–1–11–1–0

[7]

References
  1. "Ballesteros at home in captain's role". The Times, 23 February 1996; p. 40; Issue 65510.
  2. "Ballesteros is forced to play waiting game". The Times, 1 September 1997; p. 56; Issue 65983.
  3. "Europe rule out Martin". The Times, 3 September 1997; p. 48; Issue 65985.
  4. "Ryder Cup call goes to Faldo and Parnevik". The Times, 5 September 1997; p. 44; Issue 65987.
  5. Sirak, Ron (20 August 1997). "Kite should have picked himself for Ryder Cup". Lodi News-Sentinel. Associated Press. p. 19.
  6. "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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