Sixteen Irish professionals have been selected for Ryder Cup teams since 1947 when it was played at the Portland Gold Club, Oregon. Harry Bradshaw, Christy O' Connor Sr., Norman Drew, Hugh Boyle, Jimmy Martin, Eddie Polland, Eamonn Darcy, John O' Leary, Des Smyth, Christy O' Connor Jr., Ronan Rafferty, David Feherty, Philip Walton, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington. Christy O' Connor Sr. has the distinction of playing on 10 consecutive teams casing a time period of 1955 to 1973.
In the period of 1927 to 1977, the Britain and Ireland team endured trounce on 18 events, was successful on 3 events, with a drawn match in 1969. In the 1979 Continental European Tour, players were incorporated for the first time in European team selection.
And then the series of Ryder cup kept on moving from place to place and then in the year 1997, the Ryder Cup took place for the first time at a European venue outside Britain in Valderrama Golf Club, Spain. The European Team got another victory in this years Ryder cup. In 1999 the pendulum swung in America's favour at the passionate and now well-feted venture at Brookline, Massachusetts. |
