Understanding the Ryder Cup: Key Details about the U.S. versus Europe Golf Competition

The Ryder Cup will be staged for the 44th time this week at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy.

The U.S. won the last outing, two years ago at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. The Americans won 19-9, one of the bigger routs in the history of the series.

The U.S. squad has 12 members, as does the European contingent. Zach Johnson, who played in five Ryder Cups, is a first-time captain this year. Luke Donald is heading up the European squad. He assumed the role after the original captain, Henrik Stenson, joined the LIV Golf League forcing him to relinquish his Ryder Cup duties.

Here are some other essentials facts all golfers should know about the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup started in 1927

This will be the 44th Ryder Cup but the biennial duel was first contested 96 years ago.

There have been 1,012 total matches played all-time, with 363 different golfers competing over all those years.

Walter Hagen captained the U.S. to a 9 ½ to 2 ½ victory in 1927 in the very first staging of the event.

U.S. leads all-time but …

The U.S. leads the all-time series 27-14-2 but there’s more to that story.

The Ryder Cup started in 1927 as the U.S. vs. Great Britian. In 1973, Ireland was added to the British squad. Then in 1979, it became a team representing all of Europe. If you run the numbers since that point, the U.S. trails 11-9.

The Americans haven’t won on foreign soil since 1993.

What is the format?

The Ryder Cup is a three-day competition with the first two days consisting of morning and afternoon matches. The formats in those are foursomes (alternate shot) and fourballs (best ball). Each side sends out a team of two golfers and there are five matches in each session, with two golfers sitting out each session.

The action reaches its pinnacle on Sunday for the head-to-head singles matches, with all 12 golfers from each team competing.

All formats use match play for scoring. Winning a match earns a team 1 point. Tying, or halving, a match is good for ½ point. The first team to 14 ½ points wins the cup. If there is a 14-14 tie, the team that won the cup the previous time retains it.

Who’s playing for the two teams?

Zach Johnson’s American squad of 12 golfers consists of six automatic qualifiers and six captain’s picks. There will be four rookies wearing the Red, White and Blue in 2023.

Luke Donald’s European team is also made up of six auto qualifiers and six captain’s picks. Donald selected two rookies to his 2023 team.

Team rosters

Team USA

Team Europe

How early do I need to wake up (or how late do I need to stay up) to watch?

The NBC Sports family of TV and streaming networks has this thing blanketed with more than 100 hours of live coverage planned. There’s plenty of walk-up content scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The first day of competition is Friday with the final matches set for Sunday.

Rome, Italy, is six hours ahead of the East Coast and the action the first two nights starts at 1:30 a.m. ET (or 10:30 p.m. if you live on the West Coast). Sunday’s live coverage starts at 5:30 a.m. ET.

What’s does it look like in the player walk-up tunnel?

Funny you should ask. Here’s a video to show you.

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Eamon Lynch took that cool video of the main player entrance, which goes through a tunnel and out onto the first tee.

It’s empty now but expect to see a rowdy, rambunctious crowd once the action gets going.

Why hasn’t the U.S. won a road match since 1993?

Why has the U.S. side – despite consistently having the deeper, more talented team on paper – lost the last six matchups on the road?

There is no simple answer.

“That’s a great question,” Hal Sutton, the captain of the U.S. side that lost at home in 2004 at Oakland Hills, said. “If we had the answer, I’m sure we would have already solved it.”

Read more from Adam Schupak analyzing the drought.

Who’s favored to win it in 2023?

Feel like putting your money where your mouth is?

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Story originally appeared on GolfWeek