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Stadium cheering at the Marco Simone golf and country club where the highlight of the golf Ryder Cup is underway. Open stage applause for the idol of the European public, the world no.3, the Spaniard Jon Rahm, at the start of the first match of the day against the American world no.1 Scottie Scheffler.
Patrick Cantlay, statements
Impressive whistles and boos instead when Patrick Cantlay entered the green after yesterday's sparks between his caddy Joe LaCava, who started waving his cap in the air as a sign of defiance, and Team Europe's ace Rory McIlroy at the hole 18 at the end of a hotly contested match.
And there are those who swear that there was a risk between the two players of coming to blows in the evening when the two returned to the hotel. Ryder Cup matches include various types of match play between players chosen from the 2 teams each played over 18 holes.
According to the formula now in force, the competition includes eight foursomes challenges, eight fourballs and twelve individual matches. The winner or winning couple of each challenge gets one point for their team, in case of a draw both teams get half a point.
A foursome match is a match between two pairs of golfers: the players of the same team however take turns hitting the ball. Fourball is always a game between two pairs, but each player completes his hole independently, choosing the best result of the pair, and comparing it with that of his opponents.
An individual challenge is finally a match between two golfers in which each finishes his own hole and compares his result with that of his opponent. In all three cases, each hole is won by the team or individual with the fewest strokes, and whoever wins the most holes wins the match.
The matches take place over three days: from Friday to Sunday (except in 2010 when, due to bad weather, the tournament ended on Monday), for a total of 28 matches. On Fridays four fourballs are played in the morning and four foursomes in the afternoon (or vice versa).
On Saturday we play again according to the same scheme. On Sunday, 12 individual challenges take place: all twelve players from the two teams take to the field for the first time. In fact, not all players compete on Friday or Saturday, it is up to the captain to choose the 4 pairs to field for each session.
At the end of the three days, the team with the highest number of points is the winner. According to the rules, the reigning champion team retains the cup in the event of a draw (14 points), the challenging team must therefore score at least 14 and a half to achieve victory.