In its long and storied history, the Ryder Cup has produced a lengthy list of heroes on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Who was the greatest Ryder Cupper of them all? It sure wasn’t Tiger Woods, who compiled a dismal career record in the event of 13-21-3. Phil Mickelson didn’t fare much better; in 12 Ryder Cup appearances (more than any player on either side), he won fewer than half his matches.
In the bygone era of the original Big Three, it was a different story. Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer all had lopsidedly winning marks, with Palmer winning a whopping 70 percent of his matches. But that was in an age when the Americans were routinely beating up on inferior squads from Great Britain and Ireland only. It is far more difficult to dominate today.
That’s another way of saying that individual records only reveal so much. The quality of the opposition matters, as do the vagaries of match play and the pressure of the moment, which has increased exponentially through the decades as the Ryder Cup evolved into the game’s most amped-up spectacle. As with so many rankings, putting players in order is an inexact science. But that won’t stop us from giving it a go. As this year’s battle outside Rome moves into the weekend, here’s our list of the 12 greatest Ryder Cuppers, drawn from players on both sides of the Atlantic.
Seve Ballesteros (Career record: 20-12-5)
The Ryder Cup didn’t really become the Ryder Cup as we know it until 1979, when European players joined the fray and the balance of power shifted. No star embodied the new era more completely than Ballesteros, a match-play predator who did more than double as his team’s emotional leader. He also inspired new generations of his countrymen, including Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm, all of whom have became Ryder Cup stalwarts, too.
Arnold Palmer (22-8-2)
Yes, he competed in era of imbalance between the teams. But in match play, anything can happen. And mostly what happened was that the King came out on top. His winning percentage of 71.88 is the best of any American in history, and though his career point total of 23 is second to Billy Casper’s 23.5, Palmer had seven fewer chances. He played in 30 career matches, compared to Casper’s 37.
Colin Montgomerie (20-9-7)
When poor etiquette is mentioned around the Ryder Cup, people often point to the American stampede of the 17th green in Brookline after Justin Leonard drained a critical putt in 1999. Lost in many recollections of that event was the verbal abuse fans heaped on Montgomerie as he went about his business, which reached a vicious level rarely seen in the game. Montgomerie’s poised play in the face of that treatment (he went 3-1-1) pointed to a truth that is further reflected in his career Ryder Cup record: some guys are just built for this event.
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Patrick Reed (7-3-2)
Love him or hate him (don’t answer that!), there’s no denying that Reed rightly earned his moniker. On both U.S. and European soil, Captain America produced some of the most memorable heroics in the history of the event. His singles match with Rory McIlroy at Hazeltine in 2016 was golf’s version of the Thrilla in Manilla, and the bareknuckle blows that Reed ultimately delivered almost merit his inclusion on this list on their own.
Sergio Garcia (25-13-7)
Petulant? Puerile? Prone to gamesmanship? Yes. Yes. And yes. But when you set personality aside and focus squarely on performance, you’re left staring at a match-play force and the leading European Ryder Cup points earner of all time.
Lanny Wadkins (20-11-3)
Wadkins’ amiable persona as an announcer masks what everyone who played against him knew: in competition, the man had an inner-fierceness that is critical in match play. His Ryder Cup record shows that, as does his description of the contrast between players of his era and stars of today. “It’s different now. Guys are soft. Guys like me and Hale Irwin and Raymond Floyd, we were mean. We were junkyard dogs.”
Jose Maria Olazabal (18-8-5)
Often paired in matches with his idol and mentor, Ballesteros, Olazabal had a quieter personality than his partner. But his play was every bit as fierce. As time wore on, Olazabal also proved to be a link between generations, passing on a flair for match play to his younger countryman, Garcia, whose own competitive Ryder Cup spirit has since been picked up by Jon Rahm.
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Ian Poulter (15-8-2)
If you were a team captain, rounding out your roster, would you take Poulter or Tiger Woods? It speaks to the uniqueness of the Ryder Cup that every stat would point you toward the Englishman, who frightened almost no one in PGA Tour events but, when it came to biennial match play, was born to be a thorn in the Americans’ side.
Billy Casper (20-10-7)
The top American points-earner of all time, Casper played on eight Ryder Cup teams, all of them winners, and captained a victorious squad in 1979. Along the way, he won a total 20 matches (tied with Lanny Wadkins for most by an American), including six victories in singles. True, this was an era of wild imbalance between the teams. But you can only beat the opposition they put in front of you, and Casper did that, time after time.
Hale Irwin (13-5-2)
In 1991, as the War by the Shore at Kiawah went into its final day of battle, in an atmosphere as tense as anything the Ryder Cup had ever produced, U.S. captain Dave Stockton could have sent his soldiers out in a lot of different orders. He chose Irwin for the anchor match. This was the last of Irwin’s five Ryder Cup appearances, and the half-point he scratched out against Bernhard Langer proved to be the difference maker. It wasn’t pretty. But in the Ryder Cup, winning pretty is not what matters. Irwin never played on a losing team, and his career winning percentage (70) ranks among the highest in U.S history.
Bernhard Langer (21-15-6)
In the most replayed moment of his Ryder Cup career, Langer missed a six-foot putt on the 18th hole at Kiawah that would have clinched things for Europe in 1991. But that one failing distorts the larger picture. In 10 Ryder Cup appearances, Langer was a rock for his side, a quiet killer with an icy habit of coming up clutch.
Sam Snead (10-2-1)
Other American legends amassed more points, but only because they had more opportunities. No one made more of the chances they got. In seven Ryder Cup appearances, Snead did almost everything he could have, winning 76-percent of his matches while serving as a winning player-captain twice. In 1969, Snead captained the U.S. team again, and could not contain his fury when Jack Nicklaus offered a famous concession to Tony Jacklin that ensured a tie between the teams. “When it happened, all the boys thought it was ridiculous to give him that putt,” Snead said at the time. “We went over there to win, not to be good ol’ boys.” A sporting attitude? Maybe not. But in the Ryder Cup, a healthy dose of cantankerousness never hurt.
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