The 36th Ryder Cup Matches were held 22–24 September

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

at the Palmer Course of the

K Club The Kildare Hotel and Golf Club (abbreviated The K Club) is a golf and leisure complex in the Republic of Ireland, located at Straffan, County Kildare. It is built on the original grounds of the Straffan estate, incorporating the 1830s Straffan ...

in Straffan,

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the count ...

, west of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. It was the first time the event was played in Ireland. Europe won by 18 to 9 points, equalling their record winning margin of two years earlier for their third consecutive win, a first for Europe. Swedish rookie

Henrik Stenson Henrik Olof Stenson (; born 5 April 1976) is a Swedish professional golfer. He is the first male Swedish and first male Nordic major champion, having won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon with a major championship record score of 26 ...

made the winning putt, just moments after Luke Donald sank a putt to ensure Europe retained the trophy.

Course

The K Club has two Arnold Palmer-designed championship courses and the 36th Ryder Cup was held on the ''Palmer Course'' (also known as the North or Old Course). The course is a parkland course located on the banks of the River Liffey, threaded through mature woodlands on the Straffan country estate.

Television

Domestically,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

provided live coverage of all sessions. In the United States, coverage of the first day was recorded live, but presented on tape-delay by

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

. Bill Macatee hosted from the 18th tower. On Saturday,

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

presented coverage on tape, but recorded live. NBC then aired the singles live on Sunday morning. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller hosted from the 18th tower, Gary Koch and

Bob Murphy Robert, Rob, Bob or Bobby Murphy may refer to: Sports Ice hockey * Robert Ronald Murphy or Ron Murphy (1933–2014), Canadian ice hockey player * Bob Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1951), Canadian retired professional ice hockey player * Rob Murphy (ic ...

called holes, while on-course reporters were Mark Rolfing, Roger Maltbie, and Dottie Pepper. To provide a European perspective, NBC used former European team player

Nick Faldo Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. A top player of his era, renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking fo ...

as a guest analyst on the Saturday afternoon session. Faldo had worked in the same role for NBC at the 2002 Ryder Cup, and at the time of the 2006 edition was in between jobs, having worked as an analyst for ABC Sports from 2004 to 2006, but having signed with

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

for 2007 and beyond.

Format

The

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

and 2006 was as follows: *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, 14 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.

Team qualification and selection

Europe

The European team consisted of: * The top five players on the Ryder Cup World Points List **Total points earned in Official World Golf Ranking events from 2005 to 2006 and then only in the BMW International Open, which ended on 3 September * The five players, not qualified above, on the Ryder Cup European Points List **Money earned in official European Tour events from 2005 to 2006 * Two captain's picks

United States

The United States team consisted of: * The top ten players on the Ryder Cup Points List **Total points earned in

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

events from 22 August 2004 to 20 August 2006. Points were awarded for top-10 finishes in these events based on the following table: * Two captain's picks

Teams

Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2006 Ryder Cup. As vice-captains, European captain Ian Woosnam selected Peter Baker and

Des Smyth Desmond John Smyth (born 12 February 1953) is an Irish professional golfer. He won eight times on the European Tour between 1979 and 2001. He also had a successful senior career winning twice on the Champions Tour and five times on the European ...

, to assist him during the tournament. Captains picks are shown in yellow; the world rankings and records are at the start of the 2006 Ryder Cup. As vice-captains, United States captain Tom Lehman selected

Corey Pavin Corey Allen Pavin (born November 16, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and currently on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 150 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1986 and 1997 a ...

and Loren Roberts, to assist him during the tournament.

Friday's matches

Morning four-ball

Afternoon foursomes

Saturday's matches

Morning four-ball

Afternoon foursomes

Sunday's singles matches

Individual player records

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

Europe

United States

References

External links

Official Ryder Cup site for Team USAOfficial Ryder Cup site for Team EuropePGA of America: 2006 Ryder CupOfficial K Club website
{{coord, 53.307, -6.625, type:event, display=title Ryder Cup Golf tournaments in the Republic of Ireland Golf in County Kildare International sports competitions hosted by Ireland