history

1973
It is for the first time that foursomes and fourballs were intermingled. Previously all foursomes were played on one day,and all the fourballs on the next. In 1973, four foursomes and four fourballs matches were played each of the first two days.

1977
The Ryder Cup competition was reduced in size in 1977. There were now 20 points at stake, rather than having 32 points and this is for the first time in the history.

This was the result of playing only four foursomes and four fourballs total, rather than four each per day over the first two days. Day 1 featured the foursomes matches, Day 2 the fourballs and Day 3 the singles.

Singles matches were also reduced. Previously there had been 16 singles matches, eight played in the morning, eight in the afternoon, with a player being eligible to play in both morning and afternoon singles.

The new format called for 10 singles matches total, played consecutively so that a player could play only one singles match.

1979
Once again the competition format changed again this year. The second round of foursomes and fourballs was added back to the Ryder Cup (so eight foursomes and eight fourballs were played, total, divided over two days).

The points at stake rose from 20 to 28. Singles matches went back to a morning/afternoon format, but players were limited to playing just one singles match. A total of 12 singles matches were played.

1981
The point total remained the same (28), with just a slight change to singles. Rather than a morning/afternoon format, all singles matches were played consecutively.

And that is the format still in use today: A 3-day event with four foursomes and four fourballs on both Days 1 and 2, and 12 singles matches on Day 3.

Europe's win for the first time in 1985, and Europe would win again in 1987, and retain the Cup with a tie in 1989. Europe won five times from 1985 to 2002, , the U.S. three times, with the one tie in '89.

European success not only rekindled interest in the Ryder Cup in Great Britain and Europe, but also in the U.S., where American golf fans had come to take the Ryder Cup for granted.

Emotional, hard-fought and closely contested competitions have been the result, with golf fans around the world the ultimate winners.

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