Most non-golfers wouldn’t necessarily associate this sport to be a team sport much like soccer, football and so on and so forth but in understanding how the Ryder Cup plays out every two years, that notion will well and truly be put to rest.
Very simply, it is a team competition between the best golfers from the United States and Europe that is jointly administered between the American PGA and the European PGA Tour. Since this unique golf competition by tradition occurs every two years, the venues at which this competition is held alternate between locations in the United States and Europe.
While each team consists of twelve players, the competition used to last for at least two days but now has extended to three days to accommodate the eight foursome and fourball matches as well as the twelve singles matches that are played in the current format of the Ryder Cup.
From a historical point-of-view, the United States teams have always dominated this unique competition but with the extension of the British and Ireland team to include players from continental Europe, this event has seen some closely-fought battles between these two sides resulting in Europe winning this competition a few times as well.
And while names such as Nick Faldo and Arnold Palmer appears in several of the records related to the Ryder Cup, the competition has by no means resulted in lopsided wins for the United States between the two sides since 1979 as talented golfers from Spain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden have been given a chance to go up against the very best players in golf.