Our Blog - 2018 Ryder Cup

This year, we had the opportunity to go to the 2018 Ryder Cup. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, the Ryder Cup is a golf tournament ... but not just ANY golf tournament. It is a biennial competition between teams from Europe and the US. The event alternates between a course in the US and one in Europe. It was created in 1927 and is named for an English businessman (Samuel Ryder) who donated the trophy. Originally it was just between the US and Great Britain, then expanded to include continental Europe in 1979 due to the dominance of the American team.

It also has an interesting format. Instead of individual players that play 1 or more rounds of normal stroke-play golf and the lowest-score wins, it is a 3-day team match-play event with 12 players on each team. The first and second days, there are 4 "fourball" matches in the morning followed by 4 "foursome" matches in the afternoon. Then the final day consists of 12 singles matches. Let me also explain what these are for my non-golfing friends.

• Match Play - this is another way to score a competition in golf. Here, each hole is worth a point and the winner is who has the most points at the end. A hole can be won, lost, or halved by a given player or team.
• Fourball - each team has 2 players, each of them playing their own ball on a given hole. So, there are 4 balls in play (1 from each player) on a hole. Let's say Joe and John are playing against Bill and Brian. Each of the 4 players plays the hole just like they normally would, hitting a tee shot, then playing until they finish the hole. At the end of each hole, each team (Joe & John) takes their "best score" for their team score. So Joe made 5, John made 4, their team score on that hole would be 4 (the better score). Bill and Brian do the same. Then they compare. If both teams had the same score, then the hole is halved. If not, then the team with the better score gets a point.
• Foursome - also called "alternate shot" because while there are 4 players (2 from each team, hence the name foursome), there are only 2 balls being played, one by each team. The players alternate who hits, so if Joe hits the tee shot, John hits the next shot (same ball) from where Joe hit it to. Then Joe hits, then John, until the hole is completed. It is a harder format because if someone hits a bad shot (out of bounds, or into the lake), they don't have a partner to play safe to try to get a good score on the hole.

This year, the Ryder Cup was played in Europe, just south of Paris near the city of Versailles (yes, the one with the Palace/Chateau). We signed up to be volunteers about 2 years ago and were notified a year ago that we had been selected as hole marshals. We found a little B&B in Versailles, booked it for the week, and blocked off the time on the calendar. We drove up and spent the entire week here. Sunday we picked up our uniforms, then we had Monday and Tuesday off (we did a little sightseeing and shopping), then worked the practice rounds on Wednesday and Thursday, then the tournament rounds Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We were on the 17th hole in the afternoon. One thing about match play is that you may or may not play all 18 holes. You only play until there is no way mathematically that can win. For example, if someone had 3 points more than the other person, and there are only 2 more holes to play, even if the other person won both of the last holes, they still can't win the match. Therefore, they stop at that point. On Friday, as an example, we saw 0 teams play on our hole.

So, now the pictures ....

A look at the course on Sunday when we went to pick up our uniforms

Wednesday Practice Round

Thursday Practice Round

Friday - First round matches

Saturday - Second round matches

Sunday Final Round Singles