European Ryder Cup Team Bios
Posted: Mon September 22, 1997 at 11:57 a.m EDT
Team Captain
Seve Ballesteros -- Eight-time Ryder Cup veteran who has assembled an
experienced team to keep the cup on European soil; first of the
two non-British Golfers to appear in Ryder Cup competition when
Europeans were first allowed to compete in 1979; has compiled a
20-12-5 record in Ryder Cup play and is second behind Nick Faldo
for wins and points won among European golfers; is also third in
matches played with 37; has won 72 tournaments worldwide,
including The Masters in 1980 and 1983 and three British Opens
(1979, 1984 and 1988); has won open championships in nine
different countries and Australia; dominated group play, going
18-8-3 as opposed to 2-4-2 in singles matches.
Players
Colin Montgomerie -- Scottish player who is considered the best player on
the European PGA Tour; has recorded wins at the European Grand Prix
and Irish Open this year but finished a disappointing 24th at the
British Open at Troon, where he played growing up; is making his
fourth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance and enters with a 5-4-2
mark all-time; has dominated singles play, going 3-0-1 but has
struggled in four-balls 1-3-1; 2-3 in five matches at Oak Hill Country
Club in 1995, losing four-balls with Nick Faldo and Sam Torrance.
splitting two foursome matches paired with Faldo and beating Ben
Crenshaw in singles play; paired with Tiger Woods, a potential
opponent in singles, during the third round of the The Masters
and crumbled as he shot a 74 to Woods' 65; also placed second at
the U.S. Open to Ernie Els and finished tied for 13th at the PGA
Championship; finished fist in European Ryder Cup standings.
Darren Clarke -- Native of Northern Ireland who is making his first Ryder Cup
appearance; does not have a win on the European PGA Tour this year but
did finish second to Justin Leonard at the British Open; also finished
second at the Volvo PGA Championship and has six other top-10 finishes
this year; last win came at the 1996 German Masters; currently fourth
on the Volvo money list.
Bernhard Langer -- German who is best remembered for missing short putt in
1991 that gave the Ryder Cup to the Americans; making his ninth
consecutive Ryder Cup appearance and is 15-14-5 all-time; went 2-3
at Oak Hill Country Club in 1995, winning foursome matches with
Per-Ulrik Johansson and David Gilford, losing four-ball matches with
Johannson and Nick Faldo and dropping singles match to Corey Pavin;
has 17.5 points in Ryder Cup play, placing him third all time among
Europeans; has three wins on the European Tour this year -- the
Italian Open, the Benson & Hedges International and Czech Open
and finished third in the European Ryder Cup standings; also winner
of the 1985 and 1993 Masters.
Ian Woosnam -- Native of Wales who is making his eighth consecutive Ryder Cup
appearance; enters Valderrama with an overall mark of 13-11-5; earned
1 1/2 of a possible three points at Oak Hill Country Club in 1995;
lost a foursome match with Philip Walton, won a four-ball match with
Costantino Rocca and halved his singles match against Fred Couples;
is a stellar best-ball player with a 9-3-1 mark but has an equally
terrible 0-5-2 record in singles matches; won the Volvo PGA
Championship but has not finished better than 24th in his last five
events; won the 1991 Masters and finished fourth in the European
Ryder Cup sptandings.
Per-Ulrik Johansson -- Native of Sweden who grabbed first headline with an
eighth-place finish at the 1996 PGA Championship; teammate of Phil
Mickelson at Arizona State who is making his second consecutive Ryder
Cup appearance; went 1-2 at Oak Hill Country Club, winning foursome
abd losing four-ball with Bernhard Langer and losing 2 & 1 to
Mickelson in singles play; won the English Open and the Smurfit
European Open this year but only other top-10 finish on the European
PGA Tour this year was a sixth-place finish at the Moroccan Open;
finished fifth in the European Ryder Cup standings and tied for
12th at The Masters.
Lee Westwood -- 24-year-old native of England making his first Ryder
Cup appearance; has been consistent on the European PGA Tour this
year with nine top-10 finishes, including a second at the Turespana
Masters and third at the European Grand Prix; also placed 10th at
the British Open; lone European PGA Tour victory came at the 1996
Scandanavian Masters; has finished no worse than 22nd in his last
eight events and also finished second at the Irish Open; has finished
under par in every event where he has made the cut and finished
sixth in the European Ryder Cup standings.
Ignacio Garrido -- Native of Spain who has golf in his genes; oldest son of
Antonio Garrido, who teamed with Seve Ballesteros to play in 1979,
the first time players from continental Europe were eligible to
play; the younger Garrido is making his first-ever Ryder Cup
appearance; the 24-year-old from Madrid made a late push to nail down
his spot, winning the German Open and finishing second at the
Scandanavian Masters and Czech Open; also finished second at the
Portugese Open; missed the cut at the British Open with a 9-over 151;
finished seventh in the European Ryder Cup standings.
Thomas Bjorn -- Native of Denmark making his first Ryder Cup appearance; has
become a fixture on the European Tour after his win at Loch Lomond
World Invitational in 1996; has not won on the European PGA Tour this
year but finished third at the Dimension Data and added a fifth-place
finish at the BMW International Open; also placed seventh at the
Irish Open; missed the cut at the British Open with a 7-over 149;
the 26-year-old is the only golfer from Denmark to win a European
PGA Tour event; finished eighth in the European Ryder Cup standings.
Costantino Rocca -- Native of Italy who is making his third consecutive Ryder
Cup appearance; split four matches at Oak Hill Country Club, winning
four-ball matches with Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam, losing a foursome
with Torrance to Maggert and dropping a singles match against Davis
Love; is 3-4 all-time in Ryder Cup play and 0-2 in singles; also
lost to Love in 1993, blowing a two-hole lead over the final three
holes and assuring the U.S. at least a tie and continued possession
of the Ryder Cup; lost playoff to John Daly at 1995 British Open;
fifth at The Masters this year and nailed down his spot on the
European squad with a victory at the European Masters; has played
his last 12 rounds at 47-under-par; placed fifth at the Smurfit
European Open, sixth at the Italian Open and 10th at the Dubai
Desert Classic.
Jose Maria Olazabal -- Ryder Cup veteran who finished 11th in the standings
and moved into the final automatic qualifying position after
10th-place finisher Miguel Angel Martin had a wrist injury that
prevented him from playing; the native of Spain is appearing in his
fifth Ryder Cup and enters Valderrama with a record of 12-6-2 all-time;
went 2-3 in five matches in 1993 Ryder Cup at West Milford; has
dominated in foursome play, primarily partnered with Seve Ballesteros,
going 11-3-1, including a 6-1-1 mark in foursomes and a 5-2-1
record in four-ball; Olazabal has struggled in singles, going 1-3; won
the Turespana Masters this year after missing all of 1996 with
rheumatoid arthritis in both feet; winner of the 1994 Masters and
World Series of Golf; tied for 12th at this year's Masters.
Nick Faldo -- Making his 11th consecutive Ryder Cup appearance, the 40-year-old
native of England holds almost all of Europe's Ryder Cup records,
including number of Ryder Cups (snapping current tie with Christy
O'Connor Sr.), youngest player, most matches played (41), most points
won (23.0), most matches won (21); needs two wins to pass Arnold Palmer
for most victories in Ryder Cup action; enters Valderrama with a record
of 21-16-4; went 2-3 at Oak Hill Country Club in 1995, winning his
singles match against Curtis Strange to al but secure victory for the
European team; lost three of four team matches, going 1-2 when paired
with Colin Montgomerie; has played 15 PGA Tour events; won the Nissan
Open; other top finish was third at the Kemper Open; missed the cut
at The Masters and PGA Championship while finishing 47th and 51st at
the U.S. Open and British Open; three-time winner of the Masters
(1988, 1989 and 1996) and three-time British Open champion (1987, 1990
and 1992); selected as an alternate by Seve Ballesteros after
finishing 27th in the European Ryder Cup standings.
Jesper Parnevik -- Native of Sweden who is a regular on the PGA Tour; second
alternate selection of Seve Ballesteros; not a member of the
European Tour therefore ineligible for an automatic berth on the team;
making his first Ryder Cup appearance; finished tied for second at
the British Open to Justin Leonard; has three second-place finishes
on the PGA Tour in addition to runner-up at Royal Troon (Phoenix Open,
Buick Invitational and Freeport-McDermott Classic); has yet to win on
the PGA Tour since turning pro in 1994; currently 11th on the PGA
money list with $1,077,587 in just 18 events.
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