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In the Ryder Cup, when the score is mentioned, say, as 23 1/2 for the U.S. to 8 1/2 for Great Britain and Ireland, does the score in points mean how many matches were won and halved by each side?
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The rules of stroke play say “no concession of putts,” unlike in match play, where putts can be conceded. When the rules of golf say “no concession of putts in stroke play,” are they saying, in essence, that one opponent is as much a field as 100? The reason I ask is because Arnold Palmer tried to concede a putt to Jack Nicklaus in a 1962 U.S. Open playoff, but was forbidden from doing so, even though Jack was very obviously going to win the tournament.
Each Match in the Ryder Cup is worth One point. If a team wins the match, they get one and the other team gets Zero. If the match is halved, each team gets a half point.
In your hypothetical, 23 1/2 (GBI) to 8 1/2 points (USA), GBI could have won 23 matches, lost 8, and halved one. Or there could have been 3 halved matches and GBI win 22 matches and lost 7.
Nitpick…Since 1979 the Ryder Cup competition has been USA vs Europe (not GB&I) and there has been a total of 28 points (and not 32 in your hypothetical).
The 1962 US Open playoff was conducted at stroke play. Palmer was not allowed to concede the putt and Nicklaus had to finish. This can and does happen in PGA tour playoffs too when one of the players has a trainwreck.
That’s a very informative response, especially the part about stroke play! Even Arnold himself, in his book Playing By The Rules, said he was confused about why concessions were forbidden in stroke play.
Another thing: why was the field expanded in 1979 to cover all of Europe, as opposed to GB&I, while reducing the point total being played for?
It was expanded because the US was far too dominant, and the stature of the tournament was being reduced due to non-competitiveness. The rest of Europe, which hadn’t produced many top notch golfers before, then had guys like Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer who really helped their side.
I don’t know why the point total was reduced.
The GB&I team was expanded to Europe for a few reasons.
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The USA team was dominant, and it was hoped that the expansion would make the Ryder Cup more competitive. (it worked!!) Jack Nicklaus takes credit for suggesting and spearheading the change.
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In 1972, the European Tour was founded and organized, so it made sense for the Ryder Cup to be PGA Tour vs European Tour.
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Seve Ballesteros was from Spain (and not GB&I) and he had nearly won the Open Championship in 1976 and looked like he was going to be a future superstar. He won the Open Championship in 1979.
As far as the 28 points go, not really sure on why it happened. The current format is 4 matches on Friday & Sat morning, 4 matches on Friday & Sat afternoon and 12 matches on Sunday.
Speculation:
The current format allows the team to “hide” players on the bench. If a player is out of form, he only has to play one match. Europe sat three players for the first four sessions in 1999.
I think Europe insisted on the current format because they were not as deep as the Americans, and it gave them a chance to ride their horses.
Also, in case of inclement weather on Friday or Saturday, the current format gives an opportunity for the organizers to catch up on Sunday morning and complete the event on Sunday afternoon.
A lot of people have a problem with the whole continent against the USA. Personally I think it is just fine as the US golfing population vs Europe’s golfing population still favors the USA.
I would like to see five matches (instead of 4 matches) in each of the first four sessions.
And I would like to the USA just play better. They sucked last weekend.