2002 Ryder Cup

34th Ryder Cup Matches
Dates		27–29 September
Venue		The Belfry
Location		Wishaw, Warwickshire, England
Captains		Sam Torrance (Europe) Curtis Strange (USA)
15½   12½
Europe wins the Ryder Cup
«1999		2004»

The 34th Ryder Cup Matches were held between 27–29 September 2002, on the Brabazon Course at The Belfry in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England (near Sutton Coldfield).

The European team won the competition by a margin of 15½ to 12½, the largest margin of victory since the European team won 16½ to 11½ in 1985, also played at The Belfry. The victory prompted Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister to joke in his speech at the following week's Labour Party conference: "What about the Ryder Cup, eh? Britain in Europe at its best. Me and George Bush on opposite sides".^[1]

The event was originally scheduled for 28–30 September 2001, but was postponed one year due to the September 11 attacks. It was also decided to thereafter play matches in even-numbered years instead of odd-numbered, pushing the already-scheduled 2003 and 2005 editions to 2004 and 2006 respectively. This in turn caused a corresponding change in schedules for the Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup (both of which are played in years the Ryder Cup is not played). The Presidents Cup was also delayed by a year, while the Solheim Cup played their 2002 match as scheduled but then started playing in odd-numbered years in 2003. The first official Junior Ryder Cup, which was also scheduled for 2001, was also postponed.^[2]

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used from 1991 to 2002 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 foursome matches in a morning session and 4 fourball 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
Clarke/Bjørn	1 hole	Woods/Azinger
García/Westwood	4 & 3	Duval/Love III
Montgomerie/Langer	4 & 3	Hoch/Furyk
Harrington/Fasth	1 hole	Mickelson/Toms
3	Session	1
3	Overall	1

Afternoon foursomes

	Results
Clarke/Bjørn	2 & 1	Sutton/Verplank
García/Westwood	2 & 1	Woods/Calcavecchia
Montgomerie/Langer	halved	Mickelson/Toms
Harrington/McGinley	3 & 2	Cink/Furyk
1½	Session	2½
4½	Overall	3½

Saturday's matches

Morning foursomes

	Results
Fulke/Price	2 & 1	Mickelson/Toms
Westwood/García	2 & 1	Furyk/Cink
Montgomerie/Langer	1 hole	Verplank/Hoch
Clarke/Bjørn	4 & 3	Woods/Love III
2	Session	2
6½	Overall	5½

Afternoon four-ball

	Results
Fasth/Parnevik	1 hole	Calcavecchia/Duval
Montgomerie/Harrington	2 & 1	Mickelson/Toms
García/Westwood	1 hole	Woods/Love III
Clarke/McGinley	halved	Hoch/Furyk
1½	Session	2½
8	Overall	8

Sunday's singles matches

	Results
Colin Montgomerie	5 & 4	Scott Hoch
Sergio García	1 hole	David Toms
Darren Clarke	halved	David Duval
Bernhard Langer	4 & 3	Hal Sutton
Pádraig Harrington	5 & 4	Mark Calcavecchia
Thomas Bjørn	2 & 1	Stewart Cink
Lee Westwood	2 & 1	Scott Verplank
Niclas Fasth	halved	Paul Azinger
Paul McGinley	halved	Jim Furyk
Pierre Fulke	halved	Davis Love III
Phillip Price	3 & 2	Phil Mickelson
Jesper Parnevik	halved	Tiger Woods
7½	Session	4½
15½	Overall	12½

References