US Prevails in Hard-Fought 2003 Ryder Cup
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Author: Byron Hebert
Released 10 November 2003
On October 30-31, the USA battled to another win over the Common Wealth Team (CW). This year’s event was again held at the Riffa Golf Club in Bahrain. The 2003 Ryder Cup, the last one to be held, was the tenth straight win for USA. Captains Rem Seil (USA) and Alan Fox (CW) put together two more strong teams with many of the matches going down to the last hole.
USA Team players were: Rem Seil (Captain), Byron Hebert, Brian Clement, Mike McGuire, Jim Wahl, Tim McGee, Philip Gagnard, Vaughn Martin, Andrew Knowlton, Tom Arnold, Ronnie Norvell, Don Nims and Richard Arnold.
The CW Team players were: Allan Fox (Captain), Gordon Rentz, Luke Shinners, Kevin Holloway, Derek Wooder, Neil Brown, Dave Smith, Gram Jones, Roy Gilmore, Jack Dempsey, Dave Evans and Fred Browne.
The format of the Ryder Cup is Match Play. There are 30 points possible with 15 ½ needed to win. In case of a 15-15 tie the Cup remains with the previous year’s winner. Match wins are worth 1 point, ties are ½ point and a loss is 0 points. On Thursday October 30, three sets of six matches were played with 18 points up for grabs. Nine hole’s each of Captains Choice, Four-Ball or Best Ball and Foursomes or Alternate Shot. Captains Choice puts one pair of USA players against two CW players. Each Team chooses its best shot and both players play the next shot from that spot and so on until holed out. Four-Ball is simply the best net score from each two-man Team. Foursomes are the most difficult; the two-man Teams play only one ball and alternate shots until the ball is holed-out. The lower Handicap player tees-off from the odd numbered holes and his partner the even numbered holes.
The Highlight of the mornings play was a hole-in-one by Alan Fox on the Par-3 16th during the Four-Ball match of Seil / Wahl versus Fox / Shinners. The 6 iron shot from 172 yards was his first ace on grass. Fox and Shinners completed the match in 4 under to beat the USA team who made a good showing at 3 under.
The score was very tight after the morning matches of Captains Choice and Best Ball; 6½ for the USA, 5½ for CW. Historically the USA has performed badly in the afternoons Alternate Shot matches; advantage CW. The USA would need a strong showing to maintain their lead going into the 12 Singles Matches scheduled for the next day.
Surprisingly the USA had its best performance ever in the Alternate Shot Matches winning all its matches except one, a tie. The score after the first day was 12 – 6 in favor of the USA.
The Thursday night social was held at Fusions on the 6th floor of the Gulf Hotel. A great buffet and a DJ made it a night to remember. Friday’s singles matches began with the USA needing only 3 wins to retain the Cup. In the end the USA won 10 matches, lost one and tied one.
A buffet luncheon was held after the matches to honor the players, thank the Captains and reflect on another great Ryder Cup. This year’s cup was again dedicated to John Logan, the original organizer of this event, who passed away early this year after a long bout with cancer.