Trivia
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The Ryder Cup Killer Quiz - Results
There are a total of 28 points to play for in golf’s ultimate matchplay team event…. and 28 points at stake here in Golf Today’s ultimate Ryder Cup Quiz. So, pencils at the ready – how much do you really know about golf’s biennial extravaganza?
Q1: One of the most endearing and romantic pieces of Ryder Cup trivia concerns the identity of the golfing figure that graces the diminutive seventeen-and-a-half inch solid gold trophy. In jaunty set-up, sporting plus fours and a flat cap, he’s a player of some note – but who is he?
(a) Bobby Jones
(b) Abe Mitchell - the figure is said to be the modelled on Abe Mitchell, a preeminent player in the 1920s and Samuel Ryder’s personal coach.
(c) Samuel Ryder
(a) 1927
(b) 1930
(c) 1931Q3: In the late 1970s, Jack Nicklaus was prominent among those who canvassed for the expansion of the GB&I team to embrace the Continent of Europe in a bid to make the matches more competitive. The first European team was formed in 1979, under the captaincy of John Jacobs, and travelled to The Greenbrier, West Virginia. Included in that historic team were two Continentals – Seve Ballesteros was one, who was the other?
(a) Antonio Garrido
(b) Manuel Pinero
(c) Jose RiveroQ4: Leading the team out at No.1 in the final day’s singles at Valderrama in 1997 – his last outing as a Ryder Cup player – Ian Woosnam was blown off the course as his opponent ripped the course apart to record a thumping 8&7 victory (matching the record set by Tom Kite in his match with Howard Clarke in 1987). Can you identify the unstoppable American?
(a) Fred Couples
(b) Tiger Woods
(c) Mark O’MearaQ5: The American team assembled at Walton Heath in 1981, under the captaincy of the late, great Dave Marr, is widely acknowledged as the greatest in Ryder Cup history. Nicklaus, Miller, Watson, Trevino, Kite, Crenshaw, Floyd, et al – the team-sheet read like a Who’s Who of the game. Included in their number – and the only rookie on that record-making team – was the newly-crowned Open champion. Can you name him?
(a) Bruce Lietzke
(b) Tom Weiskopf
(c) Bill RogersQ6: The Ryder Cup has been played just twice in Scotland, most recently at Gleneagles, where in 2014 Europe enjoyed success under the meticulous captaincy of Ireland’s Paul McGinley. On the previous occasion, in 1973, Peter Butler holed a 3-iron at the par-three 16th to record the first hole-in-one in the matches’ history. Can you identify the venue?
(a) Muirfield
(b) Carnoustie
(c) Turnberry
(a) Paul Azinger
(b) Ray Floyd
(c) Ben CrenshawQ8: Sir Nick Faldo’s captaincy in 2008 was not without controversy, though no one could argue with his judgment when it came to naming Ian Poulter among his wild-card picks. After a relatively quiet debut in 2004, Poults gave notice of the passion the matches inspired in him, winning four points from five outings. Can you name Faldo’s other wild-card in ’08?
(a) Paul Casey
(b) Soren Hansen
(c) Luke DonaldQ9: Tiger Woods blazed onto the professional scene with his first major championship victory in 1997, his rookie season, and made his Ryder Cup debut later that year at Valderrama. But for all the hype surrounding golf’s latest wunderkind, the young American was taken down by a margin of 4&2 in the last-day singles. Name the European who claimed his scalp?
(a) Costantino Rocca
(b) Per-Ulrik Johansson
(c) Lee WestwoodQ10: There have been a total of six ‘aces’ in Ryder cup history – but this man has the enviable record of being the only player to have closed out his match with that fateful, glorious moment of perfection, achieved on the 14th hole at the K Club in 2006. Name the player.
(a) Howard Clark
(b) Nick Faldo
(c) Paul CaseyQ11: In 2002, the replay of the scheduled 2001 fixture after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, the match was poised at 8-8 after two days of remarkable golf. Step forward journeyman Phillip Price, who produced the performance of his life to help Europe edge Sunday’s singles and win the match by half a point. Which American superstar did the Welshman beat?
(a) Lanny Watkins
(b) Scott Hoch
(c) Phil MickelsonQ12: In 2012, this European talisman birdied each of the five closing holes for an improbable Saturday afternoon Fourball victory in partnership with Rory McIlroy – and in the process reversed the momentum of the match to set up a momentous Sunday singles at Medinah.
(a) Justin Rose
(b) Ian Poulter
(c) Graeme McDowell
Can you name the US captain.
(a) Brad Faxon
(b) Hal Sutton
(c) Larry Nelson
(a) Arnold Palmer
(b) Tony Jacklin
(c) Walter HagenQ15: At 51 years and 20 days, this American became the oldest player to compete in the Ryder Cup, a captain’s selection in 1993, fully 24 years after making his debut in 1969 (which is also a record). Can you name him?
(a) Lee Trevino
(b) Ray Floyd
(c) Lanny WatkinsQ16: On the subject of age…. this player became the youngest competitor in the Ryder Cup’s history, qualifying as of right in 1999 at the age of 19 years and 258 days. He was one of seven rookies on the team at Brookline, scene of the infamous 17th green invasion…
(a) Andrew Coltart
(b) Paul Laurie
(c) Sergio GarciaQ17: The so-called ‘envelope’ rule came into operation in 1979, under which each captain places the name of the player he would nominate to sit out the singles in the event a player on the opposing side is injured – the ‘non-match’ being recorded as a half. At Kiawah Island in 1991, to add further controversy to golf’s ultimate needle match, the American Steve Pate suffered a rib injury in a car crash and was sidelined on the final day. Can you name the unfortunate European whose name was in captain Gallacher’s envelope?
(a) David Gilford
(b) Steven Richardson
(c) Peter BakerQ18: In 2012, the’Miracle at Medinah’ saw Jose Maria Olazabal’s European team turn around a four-point deficit with a Sunday singles performance dedicated to the memory of Seve Ballesteros. Only three American players won their singles match – Dustin Johnson and Zach Johnson being two of them. Who was the third (beating Peter Hanson 2up)?
(a) Jason Dufner
(b) Matt Kuchar
(c) Jim Furyk
(a) Ken Brown
(b) Nick Faldo
(c) Mark JamesQ20: While he may not have won the major championship his talent so richly deserved, Colin Montgomerie is a true Ryder Cup legend, producing some of the finest golf ever witnessed in the biennial matches. The Scot won 20 of his 36 matches, and halved a further 7. Incredibly, Monty was unbeaten in his eight singles matches – including this 18th-hole victory over David Toms at Oakland Hills in 2004 that clinched the cup for Europe. Who was captain?
(a) Sam Torrance
(b) Bernhard Langer
(c) Bernard Gallacher
(a) Zach Johnson
(b) David Love III
(c) Tiger WoodsQ.22: How’s this for a Ryder Cup debut: paired alongside Lee Westwood for the Friday afternoon Fourballs of the 2012 matches at Medinah, this most flamboyant of Europeans produced eight birdies and an eagle on his own ball to destroy the pairing of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. Can you name him?
(a) Victor Dubuisson
(b) Nicolas Colsaerts
(c) Raffa Cabrera-BelloQ.23: Can you name the first Irishman to captain a Ryder Cup team?
(a) Christy O’Connor
(b) Paul McGinley
(c) Fred DalyQ.24: Brookline Country Club witnessed one of the most raucous of Ryder Cups in 1999 as Ben Crenshaw’s American side staged a monumental comeback to clinch the trophy by a single point. How many singles points did Team USA score on the final day (a total matched in 2012 by Europe in the Miracle of Medinah)
(a) 9
(b) 10
(c) 8.5
(a) Raffa Cabrera-Bello
(b) Thomas Pieters
(c) Matthew Fitzpatrick
(a) Keegan Bradley
(b) Bubba Watson
(c) Webb Simpson
(a) Justin Rose
(b) Rory McIlroy
(c) Sergio Garcia
(a) Italy
(b) Sweden
(c) Germany
