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).
The European team won the competition by a margin of 15 to 12, the largest margin of victory in the Ryder Cup since the European team won 16 to 11 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 point for victory. The decisive point was secured by Paul McGinley in his match against Jim Furyk after he holed a 10-foot par putt on the 18th hole.
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".
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.""Officials forced to postpone Ryder Cup for one year". The Times, 17 September 2001; pg. 1[S]. 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. 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. 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 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 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, 14 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
Team EuropeNameAgePointsrankWorldrankingPreviousRyder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinningpercentage 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 USANameAgePointsrankWorldrankingPreviousRyder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinningpercentageCurtis Strange 47 Non-playing captainTiger Woods 26 1 1 (1) 2 10 3–6–1 35.00Phil Mickelson 32 2 2 (2) 3 11 6–3–2 63.64David Duval 30 3 12 (3) 1 4 1–2–1 37.50Mark Calcavecchia 42 4 42 (18) 3 11 5–5–1 50.00David Toms 35 5 6 (9) 0 RookieDavis Love III 38 6 7 (6) 4 17 6–8–3 44.12Scott Hoch 46 7 30 (15) 1 3 2–0–1 83.33Jim Furyk 32 8 10 (10) 2 6 2–4–0 33.33Hal Sutton 44 9 125 (27) 3 14 6–4–4 57.14Stewart Cink 29 10 59 (30) 0 RookieScott Verplank 38 14 28 (14) 0 RookiePaul 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. 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
Morning four-ball Results Clarke/Bjørn 1 upWoods/AzingerGarcía/Westwood 4 & 3Duval/Love IIIMontgomerie/Langer 4 & 3Hoch/FurykHarrington/Fasth 1 upMickelson/Toms 3 Session 1 3 Overall 1
Afternoon foursomes Results Clarke/Bjørn 2 & 1Sutton/VerplankGarcía/Westwood 2 & 1Woods/CalcavecchiaMontgomerie/LangerhalvedMickelson/TomsHarrington/McGinley 3 & 2Cink/Furyk 1 Session 2 4 Overall 3
Saturday's matches
Morning foursomes Results Fulke/Price 2 & 1Mickelson/TomsWestwood/García 2 & 1Cink/FurykMontgomerie/Langer 1 upVerplank/HochClarke/Bjørn 4 & 3Woods/Love III 2 Session 2 6 Overall 5
Afternoon four-ball Results Fasth/Parnevik 1 upCalcavecchia/DuvalMontgomerie/Harrington 2 & 1Mickelson/TomsGarcía/Westwood 1 upWoods/Love IIIClarke/McGinleyhalvedHoch/Furyk 1 Session 2 8 Overall 8
Sunday's singles matches Results Colin Montgomerie 5 & 4Scott HochSergio García 1 upDavid TomsDarren ClarkehalvedDavid DuvalBernhard Langer 4 & 3Hal SuttonPádraig Harrington 5 & 4Mark CalcavecchiaThomas Bjørn 2 & 1Stewart CinkLee Westwood 2 & 1Scott VerplankNiclas FasthhalvedPaul AzingerPaul McGinleyhalvedJim FurykPierre FulkehalvedDavis Love IIIPhillip Price 3 & 2Phil MickelsonJesper ParnevikhalvedTiger Woods 7 Session 4 15 Overall 12
Individual player records Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.
Source:
Europe Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes FourballsThomas Bjørn 2 2–2–0 1–0–0 0–2–0 1–0–0Darren Clarke 2 1–2–2 0–0–1 0–2–0 1–0–1Niclas Fasth 0.5 0–2–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 0–2–0Pierre Fulke 0.5 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–1–0 0–0–0Sergio García 3 3–2–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–1–0Pádraig Harrington 2 2–2–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 1–1–0Bernhard Langer 3.5 3–0–1 1–0–0 1–0–1 1–0–0Paul McGinley 1 0–1–2 0–0–1 0–1–0 0–0–1Colin Montgomerie 4.5 4–0–1 1–0–0 1–0–1 2–0–0Jesper Parnevik 0.5 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 0–1–0Phillip Price 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–0–0Lee Westwood 3 3–2–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–1–0
United States Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes FourballsPaul Azinger 0.5 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 0–1–0Mark Calcavecchia 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0Stewart Cink 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 0–0–0David Duval 1.5 1–1–1 0–0–1 0–0–0 1–1–0Jim Furyk 2 1–2–2 0–0–1 1–1–0 0–1–1Scott Hoch 0.5 0–3–1 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–1–1Davis Love III 2.5 2–1–1 0–0–1 1–0–0 1–1–0Phil Mickelson 2.5 2–2–1 0–1–0 1–0–1 1–1–0Hal Sutton 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 0–0–0David Toms 3.5 3–1–1 1–0–0 1–0–1 1–1–0Scott Verplank 2 2–1–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 0–0–0Tiger Woods 2.5 2–2–1 0–0–1 1–1–0 1–1–0
References