Ryder Cup Trends

It is almost time for the hype to stop and the golf to start, as the 39th Ryder Cup gets under way at Medinah Country Club on Friday. The rarity of team events in golf gives the Ryder Cup a special feel but even though it only takes place every two years, it’s frequent enough for some trends to develop.

Home Advantage
Since 1979, when Europe joined the competition, the home team has won 10 out of 16 editions of the Ryder Cup, a 62.5% win rate. Home domination has got even stronger recently, with the host nation winning 6 of the last 7 tournaments. If these trends continue then the USA should be no worse than an 8/13 chance.

World Rankings
In 2008 & 2010 the teams were evenly matched in terms of cumulative world rankings. You have to go back to 2006 for the last time there was such a disparity between the teams.

At the K Club, Europe had a team ranked 80 places higher in the world than the USA, which equated to 6.7 per player. We have a similar scenario in 2012, this time the USA hold a ranking advantage of 76.

Putting
At almost every level of golf, putting separates the winners from the also-rans and the Ryder Cup is no different. Two of the last three tournaments have been won by the team with the better putters. In 2010, Europe managed to sneak victory despite their team averaging more putts per round during the season.

In 2012, the USA dominates the putting stats, with their team averaging 0.5 putts fewer per round than their European counterparts.