Ryder Cup 2025 - Explained!

The last time I wrote about the Ryder Cup was back in 2018 so I thought it may be useful to write a new post to explain how the Ryder Cup works for anyone new to watching or a refresher for those who have watched before.

The Ryder Cup takes place every two years with the best golfers from Europe and the United States facing off in a team competition that blends skill with national pride! The 2025 Ryder Cup is being held at Bethpage Black in New York.

Unlike most other golf events, the Ryder Cup is a match play team event.

How are teams picked?

Each team consists of 12 players who are selected through a combination of automatic qualifications and captain's picks.

European Team:

• 6 automatic qualifiers:

  • Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Højgaard, Tyrrell Hatton

• 6 captain's picks (this year's captain is Luke Donald):

  • Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg, Matt Fitzpatrick

United States Team:

• 6 automatic qualifiers:

  • Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau

• 6 captain's picks (this year's captain is Keegan Bradley):

  • Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns

The Format

Unlike most other golf competitions, the Ryder Cup is three days of match play. There are 28 matches in total with each match being worth 1 point.

Day 1 - Friday

• 4 Fourball matches

• 4 Foursomes matches

Day 2 - Saturday

• 4 Fourball matches

• 4 Foursomes matches

Day 3 - Sunday

• 12 Singles matches

Fourball - there are four balls in play on each hole (as the name suggests). Two players from the European team pair up against two players from the US team. Each golfer plays their own ball and the lowest score on each hole is used to determine which pair wins the hole. If the lowest scores are tied then the hole is halved. At the end of the round, whichever team wins the most holes gets 1 point. If a match is tied after 18 holes then each side earns half a point.

Foursome - each pair plays with one ball per hole and the players take alternate shots. One player in the pair will hit the tee shots on even-numbered holes and the other will hit the tee shots on the odd-numbered holes. The pair with the lowest score on each hole wins the hole and if their scores are tied then, again, the hole is halved. At the end of the round, whichever team wins the most holes gets 1 point. If a match is tied after 18 holes then each side earns half a point.

Single - the typical one-on-one match play between a player from each team. Each match is worth 1 point. If a match is tied after 18 holes then each side earns half a point.

How the Winner is Determined

There are a total of 28 points to be won over the three day tournament (8 for the fourballs, 8 for the foursomes and 12 for the singles matches). The first team to get to 14.5 points wins the Ryder Cup.

There are no extra holes and playoffs in the Ryder Cup. If the tournament ends in a 14-14 draw, the team that previously won retains the Ryder Cup. The European team is currently the defending champion.

It always makes for a fun watch with lots of competitive tension - I hope this blog post helps you follow along and you enjoy!