Ryder Cup 2018: USA's away-day blues, Woods' woeful record - the Opta facts

Peter Hanson

•
Ryder Cup 2018: USA's away-day blues, Woods' woeful record - the Opta facts image

The time for talking is almost done and come Sunday we will know who will have Ryder Cup bragging rights for the next two years.

For the 20th time, the United States will battle Europe (the previous 22 editions having seen USA take on Great Britain and Ireland) in golf's most prestigious team event.

This year's edition at Le Golf National promises to be typically competitive, with USA aiming to end their away-day blues and Europe out for revenge after a Hazeltine hammering in 2016.

MORE: Ryder Cup captains honour Jarrod Lyle |

With the help of Opta, we look at the best facts ahead of the Ryder Cup.

OVERALL

- The 2018 Ryder Cup is the second to be held in continental Europe after 1997 when it was played at Valderrama in Spain. Europe won 14.5-13.5.

- Europe have won eight of the last 11 Ryder Cups, including the last five to have been played on home soil.

- USA last won a Ryder Cup on European soil 25 years ago, in 1993. Jordan Spieth was born only 61 days prior to that victory while Justin Thomas was just five months old. It was also before both current captains Thomas Bjorn and Jim Furyk took part in their first Ryder Cup (1997).

- Bjorn is the first Dane to captain the European Ryder Cup team. He is also only the fourth non-British or Irish captain after Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Jose Maria Olazabal.

- Only Phil Mickelson (11) has made more Ryder Cup appearances for USA than this year's captain, Furyk (nine). However, Furyk ended up on the winning side only twice (1999, 2008).


TEAM EUROPE

- Francesco Molinari is taking part in his third Ryder Cup after ending up on the winning side in 2010 and 2012. However, he has yet to win a single match at the tournament, halving two and losing four. He faced Tiger Woods in the singles in each of his two previous Ryder Cup appearances, losing 4&3 in 2010 and halving in 2012.

- This is Justin Rose's fifth Ryder Cup appearance. Among the 2018 line-up, only Sergio Garcia (22.5) and Ian Poulter (13) have won more points than Rose (12) for Europe. He and Henrik Stenson are the only players to have beaten the pair of Spieth and Patrick Reed at the Ryder Cup.

- Rory McIlroy is making his fifth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance, the longest current run among European players. 

- This is Poulter's sixth Ryder Cup, he has the best record of any European player to have featured at more than two events, winning 13 points out of a possible 18.

- Garcia is taking part in his ninth Ryder Cup. It is only the second time he has been a wildcard pick after 2002. Just four European players have won more points in the history of the competition than Garcia (22.5): Nick Faldo (25), Langer (24), Colin Montgomerie (23.5) and Lee Westwood (23).


TEAM USA

- This is Woods' eighth Ryder Cup as a player and his first since 2012. He has ended on the losing side in six of his seven previous appearances, his only victory coming in 1999. He failed to win a single match in his last appearance in 2012 (halved one, lost three) – the last match he won was against Molinari in the 2010 singles.

- Woods has lost only one of his seven singles matches at the Ryder Cup, it was in 1997 against Costantino Rocca. 

- This is Mickelson's 12th Ryder Cup appearance, an unbroken streak since 1995 and all-time record for the tournament. He has played 45 matches - one fewer than record-holder Faldo.

- This is Spieth's third consecutive Ryder Cup appearance. All seven of his fourball/foursome matches have been with Reed – they have lost only one of those seven matches, winning four and halving two.

- Dustin Johnson has won six of the last eight matches he has played in the Ryder Cup (singles in 2010, all three matches in 2012, two of four in 2016); he has also won all three of his singles. 

Peter Hanson