Samuel Ryder had a vision: make golf an ambassador for people while having a little competition, so, he donated the Ryder Cup so that the United States and the United Kingdom, would play, every two years, not for money, but for the sake of competition and camaraderie. He succeeded, except for one thing, by the time the first Ryder Cup was played, America already had the best and deepest pool of golfers to choose from, so, the matches were, for the most part, lopsided and attendance to the cup by spectators was getting low because in most cases, it was boring to know the results before hand.
In 1973, Great Britain added Ireland to the matches, but it was the same result. Then, Jack Nicklaus -who else!!-, suggested to the PGA of Great Britain, to include all European players in their team in order to make it more competitive. He too, had a vision, and it was that if the Ryder Cup became competitive, it would benefit golf, golfers and the interest in the sport in both sides of the ocean. He was right. In 1979, it was America vs all Europe for the first time, and the matches became very close -now you had a man by the name of Seve Ballesteros who reignited the spirit of competition, "give it all effort, take all matches if you can". By 1983, the matches, played in the United States that year, were very close, the Unites States winning 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 thanks to a timely shot by Lanny Wadkins that decided the Cup, had he lost his match, the result would have been the opposite by the same margin.
In fact, from 1985 to 2010, Europe has won the Cup 8 times, the USA has won 4 times and there has been one tie. Of the 13 cups, in nine of them, the winner has not scored more than 15 points (it takes 14 1/2 to win the cup).
Europe is the defending champion, when they won in Ireland two years ago a very close competition. Graeme McDowell (U.S. Open Champion), beat Hunter Mahan in the last match of the day. Hunter cried after the match. That is how much these players want the cup. Grame is coming back, Hunter is out this year. He felt he lost it, but there were others who lost their match too, only his was the last and the one that viewers watched most. Maybe the captain should have put him in the middle, since he is not known to be a very solid player from 20 yards in, and the pressure of playing for your colors is far more than the pressure of playing for yourself.
Because of that, this is by far, my favorite golf weekend. Better than any major. First, the Ryder Cup is played only every two years; second, it only comes to the United States every four years; third, you are playing match play, not stroke play; fourth, you are not only playing for yourself, you are playing for your colors and fifth, you are not playing for money, but for pride and the competition.
P.S. As for me, I will be doing something I actually like better than watching any Ryder Cup or any major championship: that weekend I will be carrying the bag for my youngest daughter, Anya, in her last Symetra Tour event of 2012. It is only fitting, I started her season by carrying the bag for her, I get to help her close her season. In her first one, she was in the hunt, but slipped to 21st with two late bogeys. This will be different, I assure you!