The Ryder Cup is golf’s biggest team event as the best players from the US and Europe compete for the chance to win the famous trophy.
In 2025, the 45th edition of the match it comes from Bethpage Black in Long Island, New York, for the first time in its history, where famous fans in attendance on the opening day included US President Donald Trump and NBA legend Michael Jordan.
As well as its allure for some of the world’s most famous people, it also regularly draws huge interest from fans of the wider sporting world, while an estimated 50,000 fans a day are attending the Bethpage Black edition.
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In other words, this is one occasion in the golfing calendar you don’t want to miss.
But what about some of the nuances of the match, such as how many points you need to win or how often it is played?
Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Ryder Cup.
Ryder Cup Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Players Are In The Ryder Cup?
The Ryder Cup comprises two teams, one from the US and one from Europe. Each team has 12 players, who qualified in one of two ways.
The first way is through automatic qualification. On each team are six who qualify via that route, with points awarded in earlier tournaments during a set qualifying period in the lead-up to the match.
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The top six in the separate USA and Europe team standings at the end of the qualifying period make the team automatically.
The final six players on each team are chosen by the respective captains. In 2025, that honor fell to Keegan Bradley for the US and Luke Donald for Europe.
How Many Matches Does The Ryder Cup Have?
The Ryder Cup is played over three days, with 28 matches in total.
The matches are divided between five sessions – two of foursomes, two four-ball sessions, and one singles session.
The foursomes and four-ball sessions each have four matches, with the singles session, which concludes the Ryder Cup, featuring 12 matches.
The winning team in a match receives one point, with the losing team receiving none. If a match finishes all square (or tied), it is halved, with 0.5 points awarded to each team.
How Many Points Do You Need To Win The Ryder Cup?
The first team to reach 14.5 points is the champion because that leaves it mathematically impossible for the other team to accumulate as many.
However, if the match ends in a 14-14 tie, the team that entered the match as the defending champion retains the trophy.
The Europeans won the title in 2023
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In 2025, that is Team Europe after they won the previous edition of the Ryder Cup 16.5-11.5 at Marco Simone near Rome in Italy.
What Is The Ryder Cup Format?
The Ryder Cup follows a match play format, which, unlike the more common strokeplay, sees players take on an opponent rather than an individual taking on the course and its scorecard.
In the Ryder Cup, the foursomes and four-ball formats see two players from each team play against each other in all four of the session’s four matches.
In foursomes, the two players on each team use the same ball and take alternate shots from the tee all the way to the putt being holed. The team that completes the hole with the lowest number of shots wins the hole.
In four-ball, the two players on each team use their own ball. The player with the lowest score in each pair on each hole provides the team’s score for that particular hole.
The Ryder Cup follows a match play format
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The singles session sees all 12 players compete against an opponent, with the player who makes the lowest score on each hole winning that hole.
How Often Is The Ryder Cup?
The Ryder Cup is played every two years.
The first edition was in 1927, with the sixth coming in 1937, after which it was put on hold due to the Second World War.
It resumed in 1947, where it was played in odd-numbered years until the 34th Ryder Cup, which took place in 2002 after it was deferred the previous year because of the 9/11 attacks.
The 2020 match was then deferred because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it resumed in odd-numbered years from 2021.
Do Players Get Paid For Playing In The Ryder Cup?
Until the 2025 match, neither side’s players were officially paid for their participation.
However, they had received some type of compensation in various forms through the years.
For example, European players are offered gifts from their captains that are paid out of the Ryder Cup pool. That remains the case as of 2025.
US players were previously paid $200,000 each, although it didn’t reach their bank accounts.
Keegan Bradley defended player payments to the US Ryder Cup players
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Instead, the money was split evenly between educational charities chosen by the PGA of America and charities chosen by the player.
From the 2025 edition, that figure has increased to $300,000 for US players as well as a $200,000 stipend, a move defended by captain Keegan Bradley, but breaking with a tradition that has been in existence since the first match in 1927.
Who Has Won The Most Ryder Cups?
For the first 19 editions, the US played Great Britain in the Ryder Cup. That expanded to Great Britain & Ireland between 1973 and 1977, before including players from continental Europe from 1979.
After 44 matches, the US was in the lead, with 27 wins and 15 losses. The match has finished tied just twice, in 1969 and 1989.
The biggest US win since the inclusion of players from continental Europe was 19-9 at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Team USA has the most wins – and the biggest
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Europe’s biggest wins came in 2004 at Oakland Hills, with an 18.5-9.5 victory, with an identical score coming two years later at the K-Club.
Are LIV Golfers Excluded From The Ryder Cup?
LIV Golfers are not excluded from the Ryder Cup, but their barrier to entry was raised after joining the circuit.
Players who sign for LIV Golf are suspended from the PGA Tour, restricting US players to earning points through the Majors.
For non-PGA Tour European players, the DP World Tour and Majors offered the best chance to accumulate points. However, the DP World Tour avenue was complicated in 2023 when it won a legal battle against LIV Golfers, allowing it to impose sanctions for breaching its conflicting tournament release regulation.
Some former European Ryder Cup stars, including Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, resigned from the DP World Tour, making them ineligible for the Ryder Cup.
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Since the inception of the circuit in 2022, only four LIV Golfers have played in the Ryder Cup, US players Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau and Europeans Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm.
Where Is The 2027 Ryder Cup?
Adare Manor hosts the 2027 edition
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The 2027 Ryder Cup is being held at Adare Manor in Ireland for the first time.
It will also mark only the second occasion the match has been held in Ireland, the first time being at the K-Club in 2006, when Europe won 18.5-9.5.
What Are The Dates For The Next Ryder Cup?
The next Ryder Cup will take place between September 17th and 19th 2027.
