The 34th Ryder Cup was held 27–29 September 2002 in England, on the Brabazon Course at The Belfry in Wishaw, Warwickshire (near Sutton Coldfield).

34th Ryder Cup Matches
Logo
Dates27–29 September 2002
VenueThe Belfry, Brabazon Course
LocationWishaw, Warwickshire, England
Captains
Europe 1512 1212 United States
Europe wins the Ryder Cup
← 1999
2004 →
The Belfry is located in England
The Belfry
The Belfry

The European team won the competition by a margin of 1512 to 1212, the largest margin of victory in the Ryder Cup since the European team won 1612 to 1112 in 1985, also played at The Belfry. Both teams were tied at 8 points going into the Sunday singles matches. Sam Torrance had put most of his best players out early while Curtis Strange had opted to do the opposite. Momentum swung for Europe and after Phillip Price defeated Phil Mickelson 3 & 2, Europe needed 12 point for victory. The decisive 12 point was secured by Paul McGinley in his match against Jim Furyk after he holed a 10-foot par putt on the 18th hole.[1]

The victory prompted Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister to joke in his speech at the following week's Labour Party conference: "What about the Ryder Cup, eh? Britain in Europe at its best. Me and George Bush on opposite sides".[2]

The event was originally scheduled for 28–30 September 2001 but was postponed for a year on 16 September following the September 11 attacks. "The PGA of America has informed the European Ryder Cup Board that the scope of the last Tuesday's tragedy is so overwhelming that it would not be possible for the United States Ryder Cup team and officials to attend the match this month."[3] The manager of Phil Mickelson and Mark Calcavecchia had earlier announced that the two players would not travel to Europe. Other American players were said to be concerned about attending the event. It was agreed that the same captains and players would participate in the 2002 event.

It was later decided to thereafter play matches in even-numbered years instead of odd-numbered, shifting the already-scheduled 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013 editions to 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014, respectively. This in turn caused a corresponding change in schedules for the Presidents Cup, Solheim Cup, and Seve Trophy (all of which are played in years the Ryder Cup is not played). The Presidents Cup was in turn delayed by a year, while both the Solheim Cup and Seve Trophy played their 2002 matches as scheduled then subsequently started playing in odd-numbered years in 2003. The Junior Ryder Cup, which was also scheduled for 2001, was rescheduled for 2002.[4] In a case of anachronism, the display boards at The Belfry still read "The 2001 Ryder Cup", and U.S. captain Curtis Strange deliberately referred to his team as "The 2001 Ryder Cup Team" in his speech at the closing ceremony. 18 years later, these changes would be reverted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which postponed the 2020 Ryder Cup to 2021.

This was the second of seven consecutive victories at home by Europe, a streak that remains intact through 2023.

Television edit

Domestic television coverage was provided by BBC and Sky Sports.

In the United States, coverage of the first day was presented on tape-delay by USA Network, but was recorded live. Bill Macatee and Peter Kostis hosted from the 18th tower. On the weekend, NBC Sports presented Saturday's coverage on tape, but recorded live. NBC aired the singles live on Sunday. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller hosted from the 18th tower, Bob Murphy called holes, while on-course reporters were Gary Koch, Mark Rolfing, Roger Maltbie, and Ed Sneed. To provide a European perspective, NBC used former European team captain Bernard Gallacher and former European team player Nick Faldo as guest analysts. Gallacher had performed the same role for NBC at the previous Ryder Cup in 1999.

Format edit

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used from 1991 to 2002 was as follows:

  • Day 1 (Friday) — 4 fourball (better ball) matches in a morning session and 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in an afternoon session
  • Day 2 (Saturday) — 4 foursome matches in a morning session and 4 fourball matches in an afternoon session
  • Day 3 (Sunday) — 12 singles matches

With a total of 28 points, 1412 points were required to win the Cup, and 14 points were required for the defending champion to retain the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams edit

  Team Europe
Name Age Points
rank
World
ranking
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
  Sam Torrance 49 Non-playing captain
  Darren Clarke 34 1 19 (8) 2 7 3–4–0 42.86
  Pádraig Harrington 31 2 79 (12) 1 3 1–1–1 50.00
  Thomas Bjørn 31 3 35 (17) 1 2 1–0–1 75.00
  Colin Montgomerie 39 4 17 (11) 5 23 12–7–4 60.87
  Pierre Fulke 31 5 88 (47) 0 Rookie
  Lee Westwood 29 6 148 (20) 2 10 4–6–0 40.00
  Paul McGinley 35 7 71 (39) 0 Rookie
  Niclas Fasth 30 8 32 (33) 0 Rookie
  Bernhard Langer 45 9 27 (21) 9 38 18–15–5 53.95
  Phillip Price 35 10 119 (51) 0 Rookie
  Sergio García 22 18 5 (7) 1 5 3–1–1 70.00
  Jesper Parnevik 37 31 61 (25) 2 9 4–2–3 61.11

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2002 Ryder Cup. The numbers in brackets are the world rankings in 2001 when the Ryder Cup was originally scheduled.

As vice-captains, the European captain Sam Torrance selected Joakim Haeggman, Mark James and Ian Woosnam, to assist him during the tournament.

  Team USA
Name Age Points
rank
World
ranking
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Curtis Strange 47 Non-playing captain
Tiger Woods 26 1 1 (1) 2 10 3–6–1 35.00
Phil Mickelson 32 2 2 (2) 3 11 6–3–2 63.64
David Duval 30 3 12 (3) 1 4 1–2–1 37.50
Mark Calcavecchia 42 4 42 (18) 3 11 5–5–1 50.00
David Toms 35 5 6 (9) 0 Rookie
Davis Love III 38 6 7 (6) 4 17 6–8–3 44.12
Scott Hoch 46 7 30 (15) 1 3 2–0–1 83.33
Jim Furyk 32 8 10 (10) 2 6 2–4–0 33.33
Hal Sutton 44 9 125 (27) 3 14 6–4–4 57.14
Stewart Cink 29 10 59 (30) 0 Rookie
Scott Verplank 38 14 28 (14) 0 Rookie
Paul Azinger 42 22 51 (19) 3 14 5–7–2 42.86

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2002 Ryder Cup. The numbers in brackets are the world rankings in 2001 when the Ryder Cup was originally scheduled.

As vice-captain, the United States captain Curtis Strange selected Mike Hulbert, to assist him during the tournament

This was the first Ryder Cup in which U.S. citizens born outside the country were eligible for selection on Team USA.[5] More specifically, two categories of U.S. citizens became eligible:

  • Individuals born outside the country who received U.S. citizenship at birth.
  • Naturalized U.S. citizens, if they acquired citizenship before turning 18. Although not explicitly in the rules, this presumably includes those who obtain citizenship by operation of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, who do not undergo a naturalization process.

However, this change has yet to have any effect; all Team USA players through the 2018 Ryder Cup have been born in the country.

Friday's matches edit

Morning four-ball edit

  Results  
Clarke/Bjørn   1 up Woods/Azinger
García/Westwood   4 & 3 Duval/Love III
Montgomerie/Langer   4 & 3 Hoch/Furyk
Harrington/Fasth   1 up Mickelson/Toms
3 Session 1
3 Overall 1

Afternoon foursomes edit

  Results  
Clarke/Bjørn   2 & 1 Sutton/Verplank
García/Westwood   2 & 1 Woods/Calcavecchia
Montgomerie/Langer halved Mickelson/Toms
Harrington/McGinley   3 & 2 Cink/Furyk
112 Session 212
412 Overall 312

Saturday's matches edit

Morning foursomes edit

  Results  
Fulke/Price   2 & 1 Mickelson/Toms
Westwood/García   2 & 1 Cink/Furyk
Montgomerie/Langer   1 up Verplank/Hoch
Clarke/Bjørn   4 & 3 Woods/Love III
2 Session 2
612 Overall 512

Afternoon four-ball edit

  Results  
Fasth/Parnevik   1 up Calcavecchia/Duval
Montgomerie/Harrington   2 & 1 Mickelson/Toms
García/Westwood   1 up Woods/Love III
Clarke/McGinley halved Hoch/Furyk
112 Session 212
8 Overall 8

Sunday's singles matches edit

  Results  
Colin Montgomerie   5 & 4 Scott Hoch
Sergio García   1 up David Toms
Darren Clarke halved David Duval
Bernhard Langer   4 & 3 Hal Sutton
Pádraig Harrington   5 & 4 Mark Calcavecchia
Thomas Bjørn   2 & 1 Stewart Cink
Lee Westwood   2 & 1 Scott Verplank
Niclas Fasth halved Paul Azinger
Paul McGinley halved Jim Furyk
Pierre Fulke halved Davis Love III
Phillip Price   3 & 2 Phil Mickelson
Jesper Parnevik halved Tiger Woods
712 Session 412
1512 Overall 1212

Individual player records edit

Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.

Source:[6]

Europe edit

Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes Fourballs
Thomas Bjørn 2 2–2–0 1–0–0 0–2–0 1–0–0
Darren Clarke 2 1–2–2 0–0–1 0–2–0 1–0–1
Niclas Fasth 0.5 0–2–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 0–2–0
Pierre Fulke 0.5 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–1–0 0–0–0
Sergio García 3 3–2–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–1–0
Pádraig Harrington 2 2–2–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 1–1–0
Bernhard Langer 3.5 3–0–1 1–0–0 1–0–1 1–0–0
Paul McGinley 1 0–1–2 0–0–1 0–1–0 0–0–1
Colin Montgomerie 4.5 4–0–1 1–0–0 1–0–1 2–0–0
Jesper Parnevik 0.5 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 0–1–0
Phillip Price 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–0–0
Lee Westwood 3 3–2–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–1–0

United States edit

Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes Fourballs
Paul Azinger 0.5 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 0–1–0
Mark Calcavecchia 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0
Stewart Cink 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 0–0–0
David Duval 1.5 1–1–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 1–1–0
Jim Furyk 2 1–2–2 0–0–1 1–1–0 0–1–1
Scott Hoch 0.5 0–3–1 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–1–1
Davis Love III 2.5 2–1–1 0–0–1 1–0–0 1–1–0
Phil Mickelson 2.5 2–2–1 0–1–0 1–0–1 1–1–0
Hal Sutton 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 0–0–0
David Toms 3.5 3–1–1 1–0–0 1–0–1 1–1–0
Scott Verplank 2 2–1–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 0–0–0
Tiger Woods 2.5 2–2–1 0–0–1 1–1–0 1–1–0

References edit

  1. ^ "McGinley the hero for Europe". BBC News. 29 September 2002. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Blair: Resume Mideast talks soon". CNN. 1 October 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Officials forced to postpone Ryder Cup for one year". The Times, 17 September 2001; pg. 1[S].
  4. ^ Holmes, John (19 September 2001). "Ryder Cup moves to even years". Archived from the original on 15 October 2002.
  5. ^ Dimond, Alex (18 April 2012). "Rules ravage Pettersson's Ryder bid – for both teams". Out of Bounds. ESPN. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  6. ^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.

52°33′18″N 1°44′02″W / 52.555°N 1.734°W / 52.555; -1.734