Ryder Cup 2023 format explained: What you need to know about rules and scoring

Most of the time, professional golf is played as an individual sport, with each player out for themself. But that's not the case during the Ryder Cup. Every other year, two teams of top players – one from the United States and one from Europe – compete for the coveted international trophy. There's no prize money involved, only pride.

The championship is played alternately at courses in the U.S. and Europe. In earlier years (1927-1977), the competition pitted the U.S. against Britain, or Britain and Ireland. The U.S. dominated those Ryder Cups, with a 18-3-1 record.  

In 1979, the Britain-Ireland team was expanded to include all of Europe, and wins became harder for the U.S. to grab. Since then, Team Europe has posted a 11-9-1 record, and the U.S. has failed to win on European soil since 1993.  

That's 30 years without bringing a trophy home from across the Atlantic. Can the Americans put an end to that sorry run this weekend in Italy?

How to watch Ryder Cup 2023

Dates: Friday to Sunday.

Location: Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, outside Rome.

Current record: U.S. 27 wins, Britain/Ireland/Europe 14 wins, 2 ties

Television:

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Meet the 2023 USA Ryder Cup team

Meet the European Ryder Cup team

How Ryder Cup matches are played and scored

Ryder Cup matches are competed over three days in a format called match play. Team captains decide which players will compete in each match. Formats include foursomes, four-ball and singles. Scores on each hole are reported as all square or even when the players tie. Otherwise, the score is 1-up or 1-down with the low scorer being up by the difference in strokes.

How teams score in the Ryder Cup

Twenty-eight matches will be played over the three-day tournament. Each win is worth one point, and each tie worth one-half point in the overall standings. The team who currently holds the Cup (the U.S. won in 2021) needs 14 points to retain it, so Europe will need 14½ points to take the Cup away.

Not all matches will go the usual 18 holes. If a player is 4-up with three holes to play, the opponent can’t win enough holes to win the match. When a match ends early, the final match score will be recorded as 4 and 3, which means 4 ahead with 3 holes to play. The win will count as one point in the overall standings.

Here's an example of a full scorecard for a hypothetical Ryder Cup match. In this example, Team USA wins the match 2 and 1, meaning the participants would not play the 18th hole. Team USA would get one point toward their overall score. Team Europe would not get any points toward their overall score.

Scoring in the Ryder Cup can be confusing, as there are scores being kept on each hole, scores being kept for each match, and the overall standings that will determine the winning team. It's that overall score that is the most important!

Italy hosts the Ryder Cup for the first time

This year, the tournament takes place at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, roughly 10 miles northeast of Rome's city center. The course was designed and built in 1989 by American architect Jim Fazio and is named for the 11th-century castle whose grounds it shares.

The course has hosted four other major golf tournaments: the 1994, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Italian Opens on the European DP World Tour.

Marco Simone course layout and distances

The Marco Simone Golf & Country Club sits on more than 370 acres of countryside northeast Rome. A course redesign was completed in March 2021, taking advantage of the rolling terrain and giving spectators natural vantage points on the course as well as distant views of the city.

Par: 71. Course length: 7,181 yards.

Contributing: Tim Gardner, USA TODAY

SOURCES: rydercup.com, pgatour.com, Marco Simone course satellite by Google Earth and ©2022 Maxar Technologies