1997 Ryder Cup

32nd Ryder Cup Matches
Dates		26–28 September
Venue		Valderrama Golf Club
Location		Sotogrande, Spain
Captains		Seve Ballesteros (Europe) Tom Kite (USA)
14½   13½
Europe retains the Ryder Cup
«1995		1999»

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 Cup.

The Europeans held a 10½–5½ lead heading into the final day, and 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 par putt on the final hole) to seal the outright victory for the Europeans.

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

Friday's matches

Morning four-ball

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

Afternoon foursomes

	Results
Rocca/Olazábal	1 hole	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	2 holes	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	2 holes	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
Costantino Rocca	4 & 2	Tiger Woods
Thomas Bjorn	halved	Justin Leonard
Darren Clarke	2 & 1	Phil Mickelson
Jesper Parnevik	5 & 4	Mark O'Meara
José María Olazábal	1 Hole	Lee Janzen
Bernhard Langer	2 & 1	Brad Faxon
Lee Westwood	3 & 2	Jeff Maggert
Colin Montgomerie	halved	Scott Hoch
Nick Faldo	3 & 2	Jim Furyk
Ignacio Garrido	7 & 6	Tom Lehman
4	Singles	8
14 ½	Overall	13 ½

References