1989 Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format in 1989 was as follows:

• Day 1 (Friday) — 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball (better ball) matches in an afternoon session
• Day 2 (Saturday) — 4 foursome matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball matches in an afternoon session
• Day 3 (Sunday) — 12 singles matches

With a total of 28 points, 141⁄2 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.

The selection process for the European team remained the same as used in 1985 and 1987, with nine players chosen from the 1989 European Tour money list at the conclusion of the German Open on 27 August and the remaining three team members being chosen immediately afterwards by the team captain, Tony Jacklin. Prior to the final event Philip Walton was in the 9th qualifying place with Cañizares in 10th. Cañizares finished joint fifth in the German Open and took the final qualifying place with Walton dropping to 11th place behind Bernhard Langer who finished in 10th. Jacklin's choices were Langer, Christy O'Connor Jnr and Howard Clark. 1988 Masters winner Sandy Lyle had previously told Jacklin that he did not wish to be considered for selection.^[10]

Team Europe
Name	Age	Points rank	World ranking	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Tony Jacklin	45	Non-playing captain
Ronan Rafferty	25	1	26	0	Rookie
Mark James	35	2	35	3	10	2–7–1	25.00
José María Olazábal	23	3	9	1	5	3–2–0	60.00
Nick Faldo	32	4	3	6	22	14–7–1	65.91
Ian Woosnam	31	5	6	3	12	5–5–2	50.00
Gordon Brand Jnr	31	6	47	1	4	1–2–1	37.50
Seve Ballesteros	32	7	2	4	20	10–7–3	57.50
Sam Torrance	36	8	48	4	15	3–8–4	33.33
José María Cañizares	42	9	59	3	9	4–3–2	55.56
Bernhard Langer	32	10	18	4	19	10–5–4	63.16
Christy O'Connor Jnr	41	12	71	1	2	0–2–0	0.00
Howard Clark	35		64	4	9	4–4–1	50.00

Captains picks are shown in yellow. The world rankings and records are at the start of the 1989 Ryder Cup.

Team USA
Name	Age	Points rank	World ranking	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Raymond Floyd	47	Non-playing captain
Mark Calcavecchia	29	1	5	1	2	1–1–0	50.00
Curtis Strange	34	2	4	3	12	5–6–1	45.83
Chip Beck	33	3	10	0	Rookie
Payne Stewart	32	4	7	1	4	2–2–0	50.00
Tom Kite	39	5	8	5	20	11–6–3	62.50
Paul Azinger	29	6	13	0	Rookie
Fred Couples	29	7	15	0	Rookie
Ken Green	31	8	24	0	Rookie
Mark O'Meara	32	9	22	1	3	1–2–0	33.33
Mark McCumber	38	10	17	0	Rookie
Tom Watson	40		19	3	12	9–3–0	75.00
Lanny Wadkins	39		28	5	21	13–7–1	64.29

Captains picks are shown in yellow.^[11][12][13] The world rankings and records are at the start of the 1989 Ryder Cup.