One of the most famous of all Golf tournaments the Ryder Cup draws in an audience from all over the world. The tournament is the golf tournament that takes place between a team selected from the best American golfers and a team made up of the best golfers from Europe. This battle between America and Europe happens every two years and there is a long history of the competition. The competition of these two continents has captured the imagination and it is currently one of the most widely watched and eagerly anticipated of all golfing tournaments.
The tournament began in 1926 as a exhibition match between a team from America and a team that represented the British Professional Golf Association. It took place at the Wentworth club in Surrey. The first competitive competition took place the following year in 1927 and the British team became a British and European team in 1979. This change took place due to a dip in form of the British team after the Second World War. Before the Second World War the American and British teams had shared the honours fairly evenly but after the War the American side the US side began to show dominance. As a result the British took on the support of a new breed of talented Spanish golfers. The Spanish golfers were later joined by golfers from across a number of countries in Europe. The change has made the competition far more competitive and as a result the European team has won seven tournaments in comparison to six American wins.
The tournament utilises a number of various match play matches that are competed between players that have been selected from the two teams of twelve that represent America and Europe. There are eight foursome matches that take place, a further eight four-ball matches and a total of twelve singles games. As with all golf each hole is won by the team with the golfer that achieves the lowest score. The matches all take place over a three day period between a Friday and a Sunday. Not all players are expected to play every day. The captains of each team select their players strategically to make the most of their respective talents.
There have been a number of controversial Ryder Cup tournaments. The tournament seems to attract a greater amount of controversy than any other event. The vicious rivalry between the two continents is at the core of most of these controversial moments. In 1991 Spanish Golfer Seve Ballesteros accused the US team of cheating. In 1999 the tournament came down to the final pair in a match between American Justin Leonard and Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal.
The two reached the green where Leonard was left with an enormous putt to put him ahead of Olazabel which if he holed it would mean that Olazabal would have to sink a difficult putt to achieve a draw. Leonard made the putt and the American crowd went wild and ran on to the green. This behaviour was a disgrace and it really put off the Spaniard who subsequently failed to make his putt and the Americans subsequently won.
