The 35th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 17–19, 2004, in the United States at the South Course of Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit.

35th Ryder Cup Matches
Logo
DatesSeptember 17–19, 2004
VenueOakland Hills Country Club
South Course
LocationBloomfield Township, Michigan
Captains
United States 912 1812 Europe
Europe wins the Ryder Cup
← 2002
2006 →
Oakland Hills Country Club is located in Michigan
Oakland Hills Country Club
Oakland Hills Country Club
Location in Michigan and the United States
Oakland Hills Country Club is located in the United States
Oakland Hills Country Club
Oakland Hills Country Club
Oakland Hills Country Club (the United States)

The European team won the competition by a margin of 1812 to 912 points,[1] The victory margin was the largest by a European team in the history of the event, and the largest by either side since 1981, when Team USA defeated Team Europe by the same score. It was also the largest margin of defeat for the USA since the competition started in 1927.

Television edit

In the United States, live Friday coverage was provided by USA Network. Bill Macatee and Peter Kostis hosted from the 18th tower. NBC Sports presented live coverage of the Saturday and Sunday matches. 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.

Format edit

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format changed slightly from used from that used from 1991 to 2002, with the order of play swapped on the second day:

  • 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 fourball matches in a morning session and 4 foursome 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 USA
Name Age Residence Points
rank
World
ranking
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Hal Sutton 47 Shreveport, Louisiana Non-playing captain
Tiger Woods 28 Windermere, Florida 1 2 3 15 5–8–2 40.00
Phil Mickelson 34 Rancho Santa Fe, California 2 4 4 16 8–5–3 59.38
Davis Love III 40 Sea Island, Georgia 3 6 5 21 8–9–4 47.62
Jim Furyk 34 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 4 11 3 11 3–6–2 36.36
Kenny Perry 44 Franklin, Kentucky 5 16 0 Rookie
David Toms 37 Shreveport, Louisiana 6 22 1 5 3–1–1 70.00
Chad Campbell 30 Lewisville, Texas 7 14 0 Rookie
Chris DiMarco 36 Orlando, Florida 8 17 0 Rookie
Fred Funk 48 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 9 59 0 Rookie
Chris Riley 30 Las Vegas, Nevada 10 40 0 Rookie
Jay Haas 50 Greenville, South Carolina 12 23 2 8 3–4–1 43.75
Stewart Cink 31 Duluth, Georgia 14 10 1 3 1–2–0 33.33

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2004 Ryder Cup.

As vice-captains, United States captain Hal Sutton selected Jack Burke and Steve Jones, to assist him during the tournament.

  Team Europe
Name Age Residence Points rank
(World)
Points rank
(European)
World
ranking
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
  Bernhard Langer 47 Anhausen, Germany
Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Non-playing captain
  Pádraig Harrington 33 Dublin, Ireland 1 5 8 2 7 3–3–1 50.00
  Sergio García 24 Borriol, Spain 2 23 12 2 10 6–3–1 65.00
  Darren Clarke 36 Chobham, England 3 3 15 3 12 4–6–2 41.67
  Miguel Ángel Jiménez 40 Málaga, Spain 4 1 20 1 5 1–2–2 40.00
  Lee Westwood 31 Worksop, England 5 2 41 3 15 7–8–0 46.67
  Thomas Levet 36 Warfield, England 7 4 43 0 Rookie
  Paul Casey 27 Weybridge, England
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
8 6 27 0 Rookie
  David Howell 29 Weybridge, England 13 7 38 0 Rookie
  Paul McGinley 37 Sunningdale, England 11 8 67 1 3 0–1–2 33.33
  Ian Poulter 28 Milton Keynes, England 10 9 60 0 Rookie
  Luke Donald 26 High Wycombe, England
Chicago, Illinois, USA
9 36 36 0 Rookie
  Colin Montgomerie 41 Troon, Scotland 19 16 62 6 28 16–7–5 66.07

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2004 Ryder Cup.

As vice-captains, European captain Bernhard Langer selected Joakim Haeggman and Anders Forsbrand to assist him during the tournament.

Thursday practice edit

Friday's matches edit

Morning four-ball edit

U.S. captain Hal Sutton put his top pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the first match of the Ryder Cup, hoping to come out to a quick lead. The decision backfired on Sutton, as the Woods/Mickelson pairing fell behind almost from the start, eventually losing. Only a 7-foot par putt by Chris Riley on the 18th hole of his match kept Team USA from being shut out by Team Europe. Team USA never had the lead during any of the first day's four-ball matches.

  Results  
Montgomerie/Harrington   2 & 1 Mickelson/Woods
Clarke/Jiménez   5 & 4 Campbell/Love III
McGinley/Donald halved Riley/Cink
García/Westwood   4 & 3 Toms/Furyk
312 Session 12
312 Overall 12

Afternoon foursomes edit

The afternoon alternate-shot session was almost as good for Team Europe as the morning session. Mickelson and Woods lost an early lead in their match, leaving Woods winless in the first day of his last three Ryder Cups. Team USA picked up its first full point, but Europe ended the day with a 612–112 lead, its largest lead after the first day in Ryder Cup history.

  Results  
Jiménez/Levet   3 & 2 DiMarco/Haas
Montgomerie/Harrington   4 & 2 Love III/Funk
Clarke/Westwood   1 up Mickelson/Woods
García/Donald   2 & 1 Perry/Cink
3 Session 1
612 Overall 112

Saturday's matches edit

Morning four-ball edit

  Results  
García/Westwood halved Haas/DiMarco
Clarke/Poulter   4 & 3 Woods/Riley
Casey/Howell   1 up Furyk/Campbell
Montgomerie/Harrington   3 & 2 Cink/Love III
112 Session 212
8 Overall 4

Afternoon foursomes edit

  Results  
Clarke/Westwood   5 & 4 Haas/DiMarco
Jiménez/Levet   4 & 3 Mickelson/Toms
García/Donald   1 up Furyk/Funk
Harrington/McGinley   4 & 3 Love III/Woods
3 Session 1
11 Overall 5

Sunday's singles matches edit

  Results  
Paul Casey   3 & 2 Tiger Woods
Sergio García   3 & 2 Phil Mickelson
Darren Clarke halved Davis Love III
David Howell   6 & 4 Jim Furyk
Lee Westwood   1 up Kenny Perry
Colin Montgomerie   1 up David Toms
Luke Donald   5 & 3 Chad Campbell
Miguel Ángel Jiménez   1 up Chris DiMarco
Thomas Levet   1 up Fred Funk
Ian Poulter   3 & 2 Chris Riley
Pádraig Harrington   1 up Jay Haas
Paul McGinley   3 & 2 Stewart Cink
712 Session 412
1812 Overall 912

Individual player records edit

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

Source: [2]

United States edit

Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes Fourballs
Chad Campbell 1 1–2–0 1–0–0 0–0–0 0–2–0
Stewart Cink 1.5 1–2–1 0–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–1
Chris DiMarco 2.5 2–1–1 1–0–0 1–1–0 0–0–1
Fred Funk 0 0–3–0 0–1–0 0–2–0 0–0–0
Jim Furyk 1 1–3–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–2–0
Jay Haas 1.5 1–2–1 0–1–0 1–1–0 0–0–1
Davis Love III 1.5 1–3–1 0–0–1 0–2–0 1–1–0
Phil Mickelson 1 1–3–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 0–1–0
Kenny Perry 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0
Chris Riley 1.5 1–1–1 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–0–1
David Toms 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0
Tiger Woods 2 2–3–0 1–0–0 0–2–0 1–1–0

Europe edit

Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes Fourballs
Paul Casey 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–0–0
Darren Clarke 3.5 3–1–1 0–0–1 2–0–0 1–1–0
Luke Donald 2.5 2–1–1 0–1–0 2–0–0 0–0–1
Sergio García 4.5 4–0–1 1–0–0 2–0–0 1–0–1
Pádraig Harrington 4 4–1–0 1–0–0 2–0–0 1–1–0
David Howell 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–0–0
Miguel Ángel Jiménez 1 1–3–0 0–1–0 0–2–0 1–0–0
Thomas Levet 1 1–2–0 1–0–0 0–2–0 0–0–0
Paul McGinley 2.5 2–0–1 1–0–0 1–0–0 0–0–1
Colin Montgomerie 3 3–1–0 1–0–0 1–0–0 1–1–0
Ian Poulter 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–0–0 0–1–0
Lee Westwood 4.5 4–0–1 1–0–0 2–0–0 1–0–1

References edit

  • "Ryder Cup 2004 / The Official Site of the 35th Ryder Cup Matches". The PGA of America, Ryder Cup Limited, and Turner Sports Interactive. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  • "Ryder Cup". BBC Sport. August 3, 2005. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  1. ^ Montgomerie is widely credited as having holed the winning putt, although Ian Poulter birdied on the 15th hole of his match to guarantee a half point and so mathematically win the Ryder Cup seconds before Montgomerie. This was commentated on by course commentators and BBC Radio 5 Live, whose Golf correspondent Ian Carter recalled in the News of the World: "My editor said Poulter was three up seconds before Monty hit his putt. Then Colin's putt went in - you can imagine the situation. To have overruled his achievement would have been like trying to deny Alan Shearer a goal that went in off a defender." "This man won us Ryder Cup - not Monty" News of the World (London); September 26, 2004; Geoff Sweet; p. 75. Frank Keating of The Guardian also noted this chain of events, writing "radio logged the fact that it was not Montgomerie's putt which actually clinched the cup but Poulter's, a matter of seconds before and a few holes behind." "Golf, Cricket: Notes from the touchline" The Guardian (Manchester); Sep 24, 2004; Frank Keating; p. 34. Notwithstanding, Poulter was still in a Dormie position at this time (3 holes up with 3 to play) and players in this position can still be disqualified and thus lose their match. A similar situation took place 2 years later.
  2. ^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.

42°32′38″N 83°16′37″W / 42.544°N 83.277°W / 42.544; -83.277