 | |||||
| Dates | September 30 – October 2,2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Hazeltine National Golf Club | ||||
| Location | Chaska, Minnesota | ||||
| Captains |
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| United States wins theRyder Cup | |||||
The41stRyder Cup was hosted in theUnited States from September 30 to October 2, 2016, at theHazeltine National Golf Club inChaska, Minnesota. Europe entered as defending champions after winning the2014 Ryder Cup, its third consecutive Ryder Cup win.
Team USA won the 41st Ryder Cup, having never trailed during the tournament.Ryan Moore defeatedLee Westwood by one hole to claim the cup with three matches still in progress. U.S. captainDavis Love III dedicated the win toArnold Palmer, who died at age 87 five days before the competition. A bag from Palmer's captaincy in the1975 Ryder Cup atLaurel Valley was placed on the first tee during Friday's opening foursomes to honor Palmer. Team USA swept the opening foursomes on Friday morning for the first time since 1975. Two days after the matches, most of Team USA attended Palmer's public memorial atSaint Vincent College in his hometown ofLatrobe, Pennsylvania, and brought the trophy at the request of Palmer's daughter, Amy.[1] A video tribute to Palmer was played at the opening ceremony and tributes to Palmer were included in remarks from Love and European captainDarren Clarke, and honorary captainsJack Nicklaus andTony Jacklin.
The Ryder Cup is amatch play event, with each match worth one point. The home captain chooses which matches are played in the morning and which are played in the afternoon.
With a total of 28 points available, 141⁄2 points are required to win the cup, and 14 points are required for the defending champion, Europe, to retain the cup. All matches are played to a maximum of 18 holes.
On April 22, 2002, thePGA of America announced that Hazeltine National Golf Club would be the venue for the 2016 Ryder Cup.[2] The PGA of America changed the regular sequence of the Hazeltine course for the 2016 Ryder Cup. Holes one through four and 14–18 constituted the front nine, while the back nine consisted of holes 10–13 and five through nine.[3]
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yards | 442 | 429 | 633 | 210 | 352 | 642 | 402 | 186 | 475 | 3,771 | 452 | 606 | 518 | 248 | 448 | 405 | 572 | 176 | 432 | 3,857 | 7,628 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
The 2016 Ryder Cup was televised in the U.S. byGolf Channel andNBC, providing 170 hours of coverage. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the event was broadcast bySky Sports. The broadcaster re-branded its Sky Sports 4 channel as Sky Sports Ryder Cup for the week of the event, and broadcast 240 hours of coverage.[4]
Following the European victory in the2014 Ryder Cup, thePGA of America created a Ryder Cup Task Force consisting of three PGA officials and eight players with Ryder Cup experience. Included in the task force were previous Ryder Cup captainsRaymond Floyd,Tom Lehman and Love, and playersRickie Fowler,Jim Furyk,Phil Mickelson,Steve Stricker andTiger Woods. The task force selected the 2016 Ryder Cup captain and vice-captains, and determined the team selection process.[5]
On February 24, 2015, the task force released its decisions. Love was selected as captain and new criteria was determined for the selection of vice-captains. The 11-person task force was disbanded after the announcement and replaced with a six-person Ryder Cup Committee which included Love, Mickelson and Woods.[6]
The United States qualification rules were announced by the Task Force on February 24, 2015. The majority of the team was selected from the Ryder Cup points list which was based on prize money won in important tournaments. Generally one point was awarded for every $1,000 earned. The team consisted of:[6]
There were a number of changes from 2014. The number of captain's picks was increased from three to four with the selections being made later than previously, especially moving the fourth and last pick to less than a week before the Ryder Cup, right after the completion of the Tour Championship. The qualifying events included both the 2015 World Golf Championships events and The Players Championship, on top of the four 2015 major championships as in previous years, but only included2016 PGA Tour events actually played in 2016, thus excluded any other event played in 2015. The qualifying period was also extended because theOlympic Games had moved the timeslot for the2016 PGA Championship which took place already at the end of July.
The leading 15 players (and including the last captain's pick who was in 20th place) in the final points list[7] were:
| Position | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dustin Johnson | 11975.111 |
| 2 | Jordan Spieth | 11400.143 |
| 3 | Phil Mickelson | 5919.636 |
| 4 | Patrick Reed | 5710.371 |
| 5 | Jimmy Walker | 5337.662 |
| 6 | Brooks Koepka | 4890.375 |
| 7 | Brandt Snedeker | 4432.539 |
| 8 | Zach Johnson | 4359.597 |
| 9 | Bubba Watson | 4210.011 |
| 10 | J. B. Holmes | 4179.466 |
| 11 | Rickie Fowler | 4079.528 |
| 12 | Matt Kuchar | 4035.220 |
| 13 | Scott Piercy | 3356.841 |
| 14 | Bill Haas | 3239.755 |
| 15 | Jim Furyk | 3032.852 |
| ... | ||
| 20 | Ryan Moore | 2877.193 |
Players in qualifying places are shown in green. Captain's picks are shown in yellow.
The European team qualification rules were announced on May 26, 2015. The basic qualification rules were unchanged from those for the 2014 event. The team consisted of:[8][9]
Only European members of the European Tour were eligible for the team and players could only earn points in the above two lists while they were a member of the European Tour.Paul Casey was not a member of the European Tour and was ineligible to earn points or be selected to the team.[10]Russell Knox was not yet a member of the European Tour when he won the2015 WGC-HSBC Champions. Two weeks after that win, he took up membership in order to try to qualify for the Ryder Cup,[11] but the money and the approximately 90 OWGR points he had earned since the start of the qualification period[12] did not count toward his Ryder Cup point totals. If these OWGR points had counted, he would have qualified easily by finishing fourth on the world ranking list; instead, he finished in tenth place, 12.36 OWGR points from automatic qualification, and was not selected as a captain's pick.[13]
The leading players in the European Ryder Cup points lists were:[14]
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Sergio García andJustin Rose, who qualified through the World points list, finished in 17th and 26th place respectively on the European points list.[14]
Darren Clarke was named as the European captain on February 18, 2015.[15] He was selected by a five-man selection panel consisting of the last three Ryder Cup captains:Paul McGinley,José María Olazábal,Colin Montgomerie, another ex-Ryder Cup playerDavid Howell and theEuropean Tour chief executive George O'Grady.[16]
Davis Love III was named the United States captain on February 24, 2015.[17] He had previously captained the2012 team.
Each captain selects a number of vice-captains to assist him during the tournament.
Clarke selectedThomas Bjørn,Pádraig Harrington, andPaul Lawrie as European team vice-captains in May 2016.[18] He addedIan Poulter in June[19] andSam Torrance in July.[20]
Tom Lehman was named as a United States vice-captain at the same press conference that Love was named as captain.[17] In November 2015 three more vice-captains were named:Jim Furyk,Steve Stricker andTiger Woods. All three had been members of the American Task Force.[21] On September 27, 2016, Love selectedBubba Watson as the fifth vice-captain.[22]
 Team USA | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Age | Points rank | World ranking | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Dustin Johnson | 32 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4–3–0 | 57.14 |
| Jordan Spieth | 23 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2–1–1 | 62.50 |
| Phil Mickelson | 46 | 3 | 15 | 10 | 41 | 16–19–6 | 46.34 |
| Patrick Reed | 26 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3–0–1 | 87.50 |
| Jimmy Walker | 37 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 1–1–3 | 50.00 |
| Brooks Koepka | 26 | 6 | 22 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Brandt Snedeker | 35 | 7 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 1–2–0 | 33.33 |
| Zach Johnson | 40 | 8 | 28 | 4 | 14 | 6–6–2 | 50.00 |
| J. B. Holmes | 34 | 10 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 2–0–1 | 83.33 |
| Rickie Fowler | 27 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 0–3–5 | 31.25 |
| Matt Kuchar | 38 | 12 | 17 | 3 | 11 | 4–5–2 | 45.45 |
| Ryan Moore | 33 | 20 | 31 | 0 | Rookie | ||
Captain's picks are shown in yellow.Davis Love III announced three captain's picks at 11:00EDT on September 12.Ryan Moore was announced as the final captain's pick during halftime of the Sunday night NFL game on September 25. The world rankings and records are at the start of the 2016 Ryder Cup.[23]
 Team Europe | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Country | Age | Points rank (European) | Points rank (World) | World ranking | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Rory McIlroy |  Northern Ireland | 27 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 6–4–4 | 57.14 |
| Danny Willett |  England | 28 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Henrik Stenson |  Sweden | 40 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 5–4–2 | 54.55 |
| Chris Wood | England | 28 | 4 | 7 | 32 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Sergio García |  Spain | 36 | 17 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 32 | 18–9–5 | 64.06 |
| Rafa Cabrera-Bello | Spain | 32 | 7 | 5 | 30 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Justin Rose | England | 36 | 26 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 9–3–2 | 71.43 |
| Andy Sullivan | England | 29 | 5 | 8 | 50 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Matt Fitzpatrick | England | 22 | 6 | 9 | 44 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Lee Westwood | England | 43 | 15 | 14 | 46 | 9 | 41 | 20–15–6 | 56.10 |
| Martin Kaymer |  Germany | 31 | 11 | 13 | 48 | 3 | 10 | 4–3–3 | 55.00 |
| Thomas Pieters |  Belgium | 24 | 9 | 11 | 42 | 0 | Rookie | ||
Darren Clarke announced the three captain's picks at 12.30BST on August 30. Captain's picks are shown in yellow. The world rankings and records are at the start of the 2016 Ryder Cup.[24]
The tournament began with the alternate shot foursomes in the morning followed by four fourball matches in the afternoon.[25] The pairings for the foursomes were announced on Thursday September 29.[26]
Team USA swept the morning foursomes. It was the first time since1975 that they had swept the opening session and the first time since1981 that they had swept any session.[27][28][29]
| Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Stenson/Rose |  3 & 2 | Spieth/Reed |
| McIlroy/Sullivan | 1 up | Mickelson/Fowler |
| García/Kaymer | 4 & 2 | Walker/Z. Johnson |
| Westwood/Pieters | 5 & 4 | D. Johnson/Kuchar |
| 0 | Session | 4 |
| 0 | Overall | 4 |
| Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Rose/Stenson |  5 & 4 | Spieth/Reed |
| García/Cabrera-Bello | 3 & 2 | Holmes/Moore |
| Kaymer/Willett | 5 & 4 | Snedeker/Koepka |
| McIlroy/Pieters | 3 & 2 | D. Johnson/Kuchar |
| 3 | Session | 1 |
| 3 | Overall | 5 |
| Results | |
|---|---|---|
| McIlroy/Pieters | 4 & 2 | Fowler/Mickelson |
| Stenson/Fitzpatrick | 3 & 2 | Snedeker/Koepka |
| Rose/Wood | 1 up | Walker/Z. Johnson |
| García/Cabrera-Bello | halved | Reed/Spieth |
| 21⁄2 | Session | 11⁄2 |
| 51⁄2 | Overall | 61⁄2 |
Patrick Reed andJordan Spieth played together for the fourth time in the 2016 Ryder Cup and, having been paired together three times in 2014, became the first American pairing to play seven matches. By winning their match they also equaled the American record of 5 points set byGardner Dickinson andArnold Palmer in 1967 and 1971.[30][31]
| Results | |
|---|---|---|
| McIlroy/Pieters | 3 & 1 | Koepka/D. Johnson |
| Willett/Westwood | 1 up | Holmes/Moore |
| Kaymer/García | 2 & 1 | Mickelson/Kuchar |
| Rose/Stenson | 2 & 1 | Reed/Spieth |
| 1 | Session | 3 |
| 61⁄2 | Overall | 91⁄2 |
The deciding moment for the USA with reaching 141⁄2 points to clinch victory belonged toRyan Moore who defeatedLee Westwood on the 18th green.[32]Thomas Pieters became the first European rookie to score 4 points, beating the previous record of 31⁄2 set byPaul Way in 1983 and bySergio García andPaul Lawrie in 1999.[33][34]
| Results | | Timetable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rory McIlroy | 1 up | Patrick Reed | 2nd: 71⁄2–101⁄2 |
| Henrik Stenson | 3 & 2 | Jordan Spieth | 1st:71⁄2–91⁄2 |
| Thomas Pieters | 3 & 2 | J. B. Holmes | 3rd:81⁄2–101⁄2 |
| Justin Rose | 1 up | Rickie Fowler | 5th: 91⁄2–111⁄2 |
| Rafa Cabrera-Bello | 3 & 2 | Jimmy Walker | 4th:91⁄2–101⁄2 |
| Sergio García | halved | Phil Mickelson | 7th: 10–13 |
| Lee Westwood | 1 up | Ryan Moore | 9th: 10–15 |
| Andy Sullivan | 3 & 1 | Brandt Snedeker | 8th: 10–14 |
| Chris Wood | 1 up | Dustin Johnson | 11th: 10–17 |
| Danny Willett | 5 & 4 | Brooks Koepka | 6th: 91⁄2–121⁄2 |
| Martin Kaymer | 1 up | Matt Kuchar | 12th:11–17 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | 4 & 3 | Zach Johnson | 10th: 10–16 |
| 41⁄2 | Session | 71⁄2 | |
| 11 | Overall | 17 |
Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.
| Player | Points | Matches | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rickie Fowler | 2 | 3 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| J. B. Holmes | 1 | 3 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Dustin Johnson | 2 | 4 | 2–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Zach Johnson | 2 | 3 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Brooks Koepka | 3 | 4 | 3–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Matt Kuchar | 2 | 4 | 2–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Phil Mickelson | 2.5 | 4 | 2–1–1 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Ryan Moore | 2 | 3 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Patrick Reed | 3.5 | 5 | 3–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Brandt Snedeker | 3 | 3 | 3–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Jordan Spieth | 2.5 | 5 | 2–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Jimmy Walker | 1 | 3 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Player | Points | Matches | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafa Cabrera-Bello | 2.5 | 3 | 2–0–1 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–1 | 1–0–0 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | 0 | 2 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Sergio García | 2 | 5 | 1–2–2 | 0–0–1 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Martin Kaymer | 1 | 4 | 1–3–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Rory McIlroy | 3 | 5 | 3–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Thomas Pieters | 4 | 5 | 4–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Justin Rose | 2 | 5 | 2–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Henrik Stenson | 2 | 5 | 2–3–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Andy Sullivan | 0 | 2 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Lee Westwood | 0 | 3 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Danny Willett | 0 | 3 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Chris Wood | 1 | 2 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
44°50′02″N93°35′28″W / 44.834°N 93.591°W /44.834; -93.591