2021 Ryder Cup

The 43rd Ryder Cup Matches were held from September 24–26, 2021, on the Straits course at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin, US. Europe was the holder of the Ryder Cup after its win over the United States in 2018 at Le Golf National.
The United States, fielding its youngest team in its history, regained the Ryder Cup in 2021 with a record 19–9 victory. This was the largest margin of victory in a Ryder Cup since 1967. Continental Europe joined the Ryder Cup in 1979; this is Europe's heaviest defeat in Ryder Cup history. Combined with its 2016 win at Hazeltine, the United States won back-to-back Ryder Cups on home soil for the first time since 1979 and 1983.
Due to several tournaments, including a number of majors, shifting their schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ryder Cup was originally scheduled to take place only five days after the final round of the rescheduled U.S. Open, from September 25 to 27, 2020.
On July 8, 2020, the PGA of America announced the postponement of the event to September 24 to 26, 2021, because of the pandemic. The next Ryder Cup was rescheduled to 2023 and further odd years, while the Presidents Cup was also rescheduled into 2022 and further even years, resetting the yearly rotation of both events to how they were scheduled before the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The event took place from September 24–26, 2021 at the Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The event was played over three days, with four foursomes and four fourball matches on the first day. The second day followed with the same matches, and the third day had twelve singles matches. The event was played between teams of twelve representing the United States and Europe. As the hosting team, the United States captain determined which matches were played during the morning session, and which were played in the afternoon.
With a total of 28 points available, 14 points were required to win the Cup, and 14 points were required for the defending champion to retain the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Team selection

United States

The United States qualification rules were announced on February 20, 2019. These were amended on August 5, 2020. The qualification rules are similar to those used for the 2018 Ryder Cup. The majority of the team are selected from the Ryder Cup points list, which is based on prize money won in important tournaments, with one point awarded for every $1,000 earned unless otherwise stated below. The team consists of:

The leading six players on the Ryder Cup points list gained in the following events:
*2019 major championships, 1 point per $1,000 earned.
*2019 World Golf Championship events and The Players Championship, 1 point per $2,000 earned.
*2020 major championships.
*2020 PGA Tour events. Qualifying events in this category are those played between January 1 and the conclusion of the Mayakoba Golf Classic on December 6, 2020 . "Alternate" events do not earn points.
*2021 PGA Tour events. Qualifying events in this category are those played between January 10 and the conclusion of the BMW Championship. "Alternate" events do not earn points.
*2021 major championships.
Six captain's picks
*Announced on September 8, 2021, three days after the conclusion of the Tour Championship

The leading 15 players in the final points list after the final qualifying event, the BMW Championship, were:

Position	Name	Points
1	Collin Morikawa	18,883.82
2	Dustin Johnson	18,058.24
3	Bryson DeChambeau	17,367.91
4	Brooks Koepka	15,418.06
5	Justin Thomas	15,269.82
6	Patrick Cantlay	13,391.33
7	Tony Finau	12,970.65
8	Xander Schauffele	12,730.20
9	Jordan Spieth	12,462.51
10	Harris English	11,605.30
11	Patrick Reed	10,931.70
12	Daniel Berger	10,906.57
13	Webb Simpson	9,833.89
14	Scottie Scheffler	9,295.80
15	Jason Kokrak	8,345.03

Europe

The European team qualification rules were announced on May 8, 2019. There was one significant change from the previous Ryder Cup, with the number of captain's picks reduced from four to three. Following the postponement, points were frozen from after the Qatar Masters until January 1, 2021, with the new end date and amendments to the points multipliers expected to be announced before then. The team consisted of:

The leading four players on the Race to Dubai Points List
*Points earned in all Race to Dubai tournaments starting in September 2019 with the BMW PGA Championship and ending with the BMW PGA Championship in September 2020. Points earned in the later events of 2020 were multiplied by 1.5.
*The leading four members on The Ryder Cup European Points List on September 12, 2021.
The leading five players, not qualified above, on the World Points List
*Total World Points earned in Official World Golf Ranking events starting in September 2019 with the BMW PGA Championship and ending with the BMW PGA Championship in September 2020. Points earned in the later events of 2020 were multiplied by 1.5. No World points were earned from tournaments staged opposite Rolex Series tournaments in both 2019 and 2020.
*The leading five members, not otherwise qualified above, on The Ryder Cup World Points List on Sunday, September 12, 2021.
Three captain's picks
*The captain, Padraig Harrington, chose the remaining three members on September 12, 2021.

The leading players in the final point lists were:

Position	Name	Points
1	Jon Rahm	10,122.82
2	Tommy Fleetwood	6,487.92
3	Tyrrell Hatton	5,242.76
4	Bernd Wiesberger	4,918.19
5	Matt Fitzpatrick	4,824.02
6	Rory McIlroy	4,810.17
7	Paul Casey	4,110.62
8	Victor Perez	4,022.63
9	Robert MacIntyre	3,696.97
10	Guido Migliozzi	3,599.62
11	Thomas Detry	3,201.54
12	Viktor Hovland	3,057.52
13	Richard Bland	2,931.41
14	Justin Rose	2,761.87
15	Shane Lowry	2,704.75
16	Matthias Schwab	2,703.03
17	Lee Westwood	2,657.57
18	Danny Willett	2,498.39
19	Sergio García	2,288.89
20	Rasmus Højgaard	2,263.06
21	Calum Hill	2,209.49
22	Nicolai Højgaard	2,157.80
23	Ian Poulter	2,150.18

Position	Name	Points
1	Jon Rahm	853.90
2	Rory McIlroy	466.09
3	Viktor Hovland	367.53
4	Paul Casey	323.10
5	Tyrrell Hatton	311.33
6	Matt Fitzpatrick	281.66
7	Tommy Fleetwood	259.91
8	Lee Westwood	258.95
9	Shane Lowry	239.41
10	Sergio García	206.67
11	Bernd Wiesberger	197.46
12	Victor Perez	195.41
13	Robert MacIntyre	186.49
14	Ian Poulter	181.48
15	Guido Migliozzi	176.61

Teams

Captains

Both team captains were announced in early 2019; Pádraig Harrington was named as the European team captain on January 8, and Wisconsin native Steve Stricker as the U.S. team captain on February 20.

Vice-captains

For the U.S. team, in October 2019, Stricker announced Jim Furyk as his first vice-captain. On May 11, 2020, Zach Johnson and Davis Love III were revealed as the next two vice-captains. On September 1, 2021, Stricker named his final two vice-captains, Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples.
For the European team, in September 2019, Harrington announced Robert Karlsson as his first vice-captain. In May 2020, he accidentally revealed Luke Donald as his second vice-captain during an interview. In June 2021, Harrington announced two more of his vice-captains, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell. On September 15, 2021, nine days ahead of the tournament, Henrik Stenson was named as the fifth and final European vice-captain.

Players

The hosting United States team contained eight players in the top 10 of the world rankings, while also containing eight players under the age of 30 and six rookies, the most in one team since 2008. Based on the Official World Golf Rankings prior to the event, ten of the U.S. players were ranked ahead of Europe's second-highest-ranked player.
Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger were the first players from their countries to qualify for a Ryder Cup team. Lee Westwood was the oldest player to represent the European team since Christy O'Connor Snr in 1973.