For those of us into watch golf on the box one competition stands out, the Ryder Cup. Every two years the best from the US take on Europe’s finest in a three day competition that leaves us glued to our screens. It has it all, excitement, nerves and the highest form of competition.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of watching the Ryder Cup before, here’s a quick run down….

There are 12 players on each team. The European team has the top 10 players along with two wildcard chooses picked by the captain (who does not play), the US team has the top 8 players, their captain has 4 wildcards. On each of the three days the captains have to put together a list of who will play and in what order but they don’t know what order the other captain will put his players out in so both are trying to out think the other – exciting isn’t it. Nick Faldo is the European captain this time around and Paul Azinger is taking the reins for the US.

There are three types of games. Foursomes, fourball and singles.

Foursomes: In this event two player from the US will play against two from Europe. Each pair will play with one ball and alternate shots. The team with the lowest score on each hole wins that hole. Play continues until one team wins so many holes they can not be beaten, so for example, if you’re 3 holes ahead after the 16^th you can’t be beaten and your team wins a point on the overall scoreboard. If after 18 holes the teams are tied then each team wins ½ point on the overall score.

Fourball: This is my personal favourite. This is exactly like foresomes except each player has his own ball and the best f the four wins that hole. The reason I find this so entertaining is that if, let’s say, Padraig Harrington, is playing with someone who is nicely on the green then he can really pull out all the stops and go for it as if he has a disaster it doesn’t matter, his team mate is in a good position. This gives the best players in the world room to really go for the big shots – it’s great. The match is won as in foursomes.

On Thursday and Friday forsomes are played in the morning and fourball in the afternoon. Eight players take part from each team i.e. four pairs. The captain doesn’t have to pick the same eight in the afternoon that he picked in the morning, he can move people around. He also doesn’t know in what order the other captain is putting out his players and in what pairs, this is where the captain earns his crust, trying to place his players in the best groupings and trying to second guess his counterpart.

On Sunday the captains put their 12 players in one long list, again trying to outsmart each other. The two lists are put together and that gives us our order of play for the singles, everyman has to play on Sunday. Does the captain put his big guns out first or wait – what order will the other captain go for? Should the captains make sure everyone plays on the Thursday and Friday so they are match fit or does he play his best those days and give the lower ranked players their shot on Sunday only. These are all massive decisions and we all wait with baited breath to see the list as it is made public.

If that didn’t make any sense have a look here

Europe is traditionally strong in the group events and will need to go into the singles on Sunday well in the lead as that is where the US is strongest. It is genuinely exciting as you get into it, you know who is where on the course and the score in the various matches and you are constantly looking at the scoreboard in the corner of the screen trying to calculate a victory for Europe. Inevitably someone will win a match they were doomed to loose but just as that happens one of our best players hits a dud and the pressure is on. You literally can’t take your eyes off it. I’ve taken a half day from work on Friday so as not to miss anything!

We have won the last three Ryder Cups despite the fact that the US have had a stronger group of players, what we have always had is a stronger team. We’ll need that if we are to be successful come Sunday evening in Kentucky.

Who could forget the last Ryder Cup. Darren Clarke was playing on home soil in the K Club here in Ireland. His wife had sadly lost her battle with cancer and Darren had been away from the game for a while but he returned to a standing ovation as he teed off. After several days of great golf who else but Darren was left with a massivly important putt to get an important point for the team. He made it and then broke into tears – and so did everyone else. A truly wonderful moment in sport, I’m welling up now even thinking about it. We won 18.5 to 9.5, perhaps it looked like we couldn’t do it when you looked at the names on the sheet but Europe, as ever, pulled together and it was that team spirit which won out. There was no ridiculous pay cheque at the end, just pride in winning for your team, a felling golfers don’t get to share to often.

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The Ryder Cup is taking place in Valhalla, Kentucky this year so there is the issue of the time difference. Coverage is on Sky Sports and starts on Friday at noon.

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Well done to the US team who ran out worthy winners last night after a wonderful weekend of golf.  I was glued to my TV as Europe tried to come back from a deficit that turned out to be just that bit much for them.

The US started the singles 9-7 in front but when the listing was announced I thought we might have a good chance at making a run for it.  Unfortunately Kim beat Garcia in the first match at a canter and I’m afraid that put the US on the front foot and they never looked back.  I was happy for the likes of Perry who was playing in front of his home crowd in what he called his “swan song”, he was amazing and I wish him well.

The European team have many positives to look back on, players like Poulter and Rose did themselves proud and it was clear how much it meant to everyone but in the end they came up against a team that was just too strong. Paul Azinger did a fine job of building a team spirit in his men and that was what they had lacked in previous years.

Let’s hope that we do a little better in Wales in two years, I’m already looking forward to it.

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