Ryder Cup Formats

I don’t know about you but every time the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup are played, I get confused about the formats. The Ryder Cup, which starts on Friday, will open with four matches of fourball in the morning followed by four matches of foursomes in the afternoon. On Saturday, the order is reversed with four matches of foursomes in the morning and four matches of fourball in the afternoon. Here’s the difference between the two.

Fourball play is a match in which each member of the two-man team plays his own ball so four balls are in play per hole. Each team counts its best ball against the other team’s best ball. The team with the lowest score wins the hole. If the teams tie their best ball score, the hole is halved.

In foursomes, each two man team play against the other two man team, but each team plays only one ball and they alternate hitting shots with that ball until the hole is completed. Team members alternate hitting tee shots with one player teeing off on the odd numbered holes and the other playing hitting tee shots on the even numbered holes. The team with the better score wins the hole and if the two teams tie, the hole is halved.

The third format is singles in which all 12 members of each team play an 18-hole match against an opponent from the other team. The singles matches will be contested on Sunday.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Brian Barnes.