2010 Ryder Cup facts for kids
 |
|||||
| Dates | 1–4 October 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Celtic Manor Resort Twenty Ten Course |
||||
| Location | Newport, Wales | ||||
| Captains |
|
||||
|
|||||
| Europe wins the Ryder Cup | |||||
The 38th Ryder Cup was a big golf competition held from October 1st to 4th, 2010. It took place at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. This was the 17th time the Ryder Cup was played in Britain, but the very first time it happened in Wales! The games were played on a special course called Twenty Ten, which was built just for this event.
The teams were led by captains: Colin Montgomerie for Europe and Corey Pavin for the United States. The U.S. team had won the previous Ryder Cup, so they were the defending champions. But Europe played great and won this time with a score of 14½ to 13½ points. This meant Europe got the Cup back! It was Europe's sixth win in the last eight competitions, and their fourth win in a row when playing at home.
The event faced a lot of bad weather, and play had to stop twice because of heavy rain. Europe had a good lead going into the final day's matches. But the U.S. team fought back hard! The competition came down to the very last match between Graeme McDowell from Europe and Hunter Mahan from the U.S. In the end, McDowell won his match, securing the Cup for Europe.
The event was officially opened by Carwyn Jones, who was the First Minister for Wales at the time.
Contents
What is the Ryder Cup?
The Ryder Cup is a famous team golf competition. It happens every two years between teams from Europe and the United States. Each match is worth one point. The goal is to score more points than the other team to win the Cup!
How the Games Were Played
The Ryder Cup uses a special type of golf called match play. In match play, golfers compete hole by hole, and the player or team who wins more holes wins the match.
The competition usually has three types of matches:
- Four-ball: In this game, two players from each team play together. Each player plays their own ball. The team counts the best score from their two players on each hole.
- Foursome: Here, two players from each team also play together. But they share one ball and take turns hitting it. So, one player hits the first shot, the other hits the second, and so on.
- Singles: This is a one-on-one match where one player from Europe plays against one player from the U.S.
To win the Ryder Cup, a team needs to get 14½ points out of a total of 28 points. If the defending champion team gets 14 points, they keep the Cup. All matches are played for a maximum of 18 holes.
Changes Due to Weather
The 2010 Ryder Cup had a lot of rain, especially on the first day. This meant the schedule had to be changed to finish all the games. Because of the weather, some new things happened for the first time in Ryder Cup history:
- All 24 players played at the same time in six groups, instead of the usual four.
- Both foursome and four-ball matches were played in the same session at the same time.
- The competition went into a fourth day (Monday) to finish all the matches.
The Teams
Each team had a captain and several vice-captains. The vice-captains help the captain and give advice to the players during the games.
Captains
- Europe: Colin Montgomerie
- USA: Corey Pavin
Vice-Captains
- Europe: Thomas Bjørn, Darren Clarke, Sergio García, Paul McGinley, and José María Olazábal. Olazábal joined later to help with the changed schedule.
- USA: Paul Goydos, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, and Jeff Sluman.
Players
Players earned points over time to qualify for their teams. Some players were also chosen by their captains.
 Team Europe |
|||||||||
| Name | Age | Residence | World ranking |
Previous Ryder Cups |
Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Colin Montgomerie |
47 | Dunning, Scotland | Non-playing captain | ||||||
 Lee Westwood |
37 | Worksop, England | 3 | 6 | 29 | 14–10–5 | 56.90 | ||
 Rory McIlroy |
21 | Holywood, Northern Ireland | 9 | 0 | Rookie | ||||
 Martin Kaymer |
25 | Mettmann, Germany | 6 | 0 | Rookie | ||||
| Graeme McDowell |
31 | Portrush, Northern Ireland | 13 | 1 | 4 | 2–1–1 | 62.50 | ||
| Ian Poulter |
34 | Milton Keynes, England | 16 | 2 | 7 | 5–2–0 | 71.43 | ||
| Ross Fisher |
29 | Cheam, England | 27 | 0 | Rookie | ||||
 Francesco Molinari |
27 | Turin, Italy | 32 | 0 | Rookie | ||||
 Miguel Ángel Jiménez |
46 | Málaga, Spain | 26 | 3 | 12 | 2–7–3 | 29.17 | ||
 Peter Hanson |
32 | Trelleborg, Sweden | 42 | 0 | Rookie | ||||
| Edoardo Molinari |
29 | Turin, Italy | 15 | 0 | Rookie | ||||
| Luke Donald |
32 | High Wycombe, England | 8 | 2 | 7 | 5–1–1 | 78.57 | ||
 Pádraig Harrington |
39 | Dublin, Ireland | 22 | 5 | 21 | 7–11–3 | 40.48 | ||
Players chosen by the captain are shown in yellow.
 Team USA |
||||||||
| Name | Age | Residence | World ranking |
Previous Ryder Cups |
Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corey Pavin | 50 | Dallas, Texas | Non-playing captain | |||||
| Phil Mickelson | 40 | Rancho Santa Fe, California | 2 | 7 | 30 | 10–14–6 | 43.33 | |
| Hunter Mahan | 28 | Plano, Texas | 14 | 1 | 5 | 2–0–3 | 70.00 | |
| Bubba Watson | 31 | Bagdad, Florida | 24 | 0 | Rookie | |||
| Jim Furyk | 40 | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida | 5 | 6 | 24 | 8–13–3 | 39.58 | |
| Steve Stricker | 43 | Madison, Wisconsin | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0–2–1 | 16.67 | |
| Dustin Johnson | 26 | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina | 12 | 0 | Rookie | |||
| Jeff Overton | 27 | Bloomington, Indiana | 48 | 0 | Rookie | |||
| Matt Kuchar | 32 | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida | 11 | 0 | Rookie | |||
| Zach Johnson | 34 | Lake Mary, Florida | 19 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 | |
| Tiger Woods | 34 | Windermere, Florida | 1 | 5 | 25 | 10–13–2 | 44.00 | |
| Stewart Cink | 37 | Duluth, Georgia | 35 | 4 | 15 | 4–7–4 | 40.00 | |
| Rickie Fowler | 21 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 33 | 0 | Rookie | |||
Players chosen by the captain are shown in yellow.
Match Results
The matches were played over four sessions. The weather caused delays and changes to the original plan.
Session 1: Four-ball (Friday and Saturday)
Play started on Friday but stopped because of heavy rain. It finished on Saturday morning.
|
Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Westwood/Kaymer |  3 & 2 |
Mickelson/D. Johnson |
| McIlroy/McDowell | halved | Cink/Kuchar |
| Poulter/Fisher |  2 up |
Stricker/Woods |
| Donald/Harrington | 3 & 2 |
Watson/Overton |
| 1½ | Session | 2½ |
| 1½ | Overall | 2½ |
Session 2: Foursomes (Saturday)
All 24 players took part in this session because of the changed schedule.
|
Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Jiménez/Hanson | 4 & 3 |
Woods/Stricker |
| Molinari/Molinari | 2 up |
Z. Johnson/Mahan |
| Westwood/Kaymer | halved | Furyk/Fowler |
| Harrington/Fisher | 3 & 2 |
Mickelson/D. Johnson |
| Poulter/Donald | 2 & 1 |
Watson/Overton |
| McDowell/McIlroy | 1 up |
Cink/Kuchar |
| 2½ | Session | 3½ |
| 4 | Overall | 6 |
Session 3: Foursomes and Four-ball (Saturday and Sunday)
This session started on Saturday and finished on Sunday because of more rain delays. Europe was leading all matches when play stopped on Saturday.
|
Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Donald/Westwood | 6 & 5 |
Stricker/Woods |
| McDowell/McIlroy | 3 & 1 |
Z. Johnson/Mahan |
|
Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Harrington/Fisher | 2 & 1 |
Furyk/D. Johnson |
| Hanson/Jiménez | 2 up |
Watson/Overton |
| Molinari/Molinari | halved | Cink/Kuchar |
| Poulter/Kaymer | 2 & 1 |
Mickelson/Fowler |
| 5½ | Session | ½ |
| 9½ | Overall | 6½ |
Session 4: Singles (Monday)
For the first time ever, the final matches were played on a Monday because of all the rain delays.
|
Results | |
Timetable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Westwood | 2 & 1 |
Steve Stricker | 1st: 9½ - 7½ |
| Rory McIlroy | halved | Stewart Cink | 4th: 11 - 9 |
| Luke Donald | 1 up |
Jim Furyk | 5th: 12 - 9 |
| Martin Kaymer | 6 & 4 |
Dustin Johnson | 2nd: 9½ - 8½ |
| Ian Poulter | 5 & 4 |
Matt Kuchar | 3rd: 10½ - 8½ |
| Ross Fisher | 3 & 2 |
Jeff Overton | 7th: 13 - 10 |
| Miguel Ángel Jiménez | 4 & 3 |
Bubba Watson | 6th: 13 - 9 |
| Francesco Molinari | 4 & 3 |
Tiger Woods | 8th: 13 - 11 |
| Edoardo Molinari | halved | Rickie Fowler | 10th: 13½ - 12½ |
| Peter Hanson | 4 & 2 |
Phil Mickelson | 9th: 13 - 12 |
| Pádraig Harrington | 3 & 2 |
Zach Johnson | 11th: 13½ - 13½ |
| Graeme McDowell | 3 & 1 |
Hunter Mahan | 12th: 14½ - 13½ |
| 5 | Session | 7 | |
| 14½ | Overall | 13½ |
Opening Concert
Before the Ryder Cup started, a special concert called 'Welcome to Wales' was held. It took place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on September 29, 2010. This concert replaced the usual fancy dinner.
Famous people and golf stars introduced the event. There were musical performances by international singers and groups. The concert was hosted by Steve Jones.
The main band was Lostprophets. Other performers included Shirley Bassey, Katherine Jenkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Only Men Aloud!. The golfers from both Europe and the U.S. also came on stage to say hello to the audience.
Awards
In December 2010, the Europe team was named "Team of The Year" by BBC Sport. This was a great honor for their victory!
