Ryder Cup 2018: Format, scoring, rules, and team rosters for Paris

The Ryder Cup is the best event in golf. I suppose you could submit some other contender. But you would be wrong. There is nothing like it. The stakes feel as high as anywhere in golf even when they’re playing for nothing compared to all the million-dollar purses that dot the schedule each week.

The pressure is at its most intense — every player who has been through it will tell you as much. The nerves rattle more at this event than anywhere, included a major championship. There’s the dynamic of failing or coming through for a team, a partner, a country. You feel a sense of shame of letting others down that doesn’t exist when you maybe blow a tournament on your own.

The formats are different, the stakes are different, the crowds are different, the scoring is different, the celebrating is different, the shit-talking is definitely different. It’s still golf, but it’s the closest thing the game comes to approximating the other competitive team sports. And not just a regular season NBA game in early February. The Finals between two often evenly-matched teams that have waited two years for this.

I’ve explained why it’s the best. I’ve explained why the USA has its best chance ever to end a miserable 25-year winless drought in Europe. We’ve gone through our predictions for this week. Now, here’s your nuts and bolts explainer (watch that video above, too!) for just how this thing works.

Unlike regular old stroke play golf, this is match play. Total strokes do not matter. Winning individual holes with less strokes than your opponent is what matters. But there’s not some 18-hole tally at the end. The point is to win the most holes to win the match.

A match can be halved, or tied on the 18th green. This happens more often than you’d think because the margins between these best-in-the-world players is minimal and they’re all going to make a bunch of pars and birdies trading punches for a few hours.

Each match is worth a point. There are 28 matches for 28 points. If the team currently holding the cup, which is the USA in 2018, gets to at least 14 points, they “retain” or win the cup. The team not holding the cup has to get to 14.5 points to win the cup.

There are three types of matches at the Ryder Cup. Two two-man formats and then Sunday singles. Here’s the breakdown.

Four-ball — There are 8 total four-ball matches. These are scheduled for the morning session on Friday and the morning session on Saturday. Four-ball is pretty intuitive and common and it’s also known as “best-ball.” The two-man USA team goes up against the two-man European team. Every player plays his own ball from tee to hole, and the best of the two goes up against the best of the other two. Sometimes everyone just makes a par, and well, that’s just a nice great halve of a hole.

Foursomes — This is much more intuitively known as alternate shot. There are 8 total Foursomes matches, with this format scheduled for the Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon sessions. One guy tees off, then his partner hits the second shot, and they alternate back-and-forth until the ball is in the cup. Each player gets nine tee shots, alternating from hole-to-hole leading things off.

This is the hardest format to adapt to for these world-class pros. Your partner may put you in a tough spot with a drive into the woods or a nervy comebacker putt that you wish had been a tap-in. Also, you may have to adjust to your partner’s brand and model of golf ball, which is often different than your own. That doesn’t sound like much for the regular hack, but for the best in the world where every minuscule detail counts, changing the model ball dramatically alters their feel and shotmaking.

Singles — This is also pretty self-explanatory. It’s the full 12 man lineup in one-on-one singles matches. While only eight of the 12 players on each team play in each of four sessions on Friday and Saturday, no one can hide on the bench in this fifth and final session. It’s exceedingly rare for a player to not play at least once in the first two days during those two-man formats. But you could technically keep a guy on the bench until Sunday, which is what Europe did with multiple players in 1999 for disastrous results.

No big rules changes here, aside from the normal rules of golf, which are hundreds of pages long and not about to be listed here. The one major departure from normal rules of golf in match play is that you can concede a hole. You often don’t play it all the way through and just pick up your ball if, say, you’re just getting on the green in five and you’re opponent is sitting there 15 feet from the hole in two. Let’s not screw around taking time when we know what’s going to happen. So you concede the hole and move on.

You can also, and probably should unless you want to get beat up, give your opponent’s putts that are within “gimme range.” What that range is from player to player varies and the more intense guys that make you putt every little short one are generally resented by opponents and held close by teammates.

Here’s the schedule for the three-day competition in Paris. The lineups are set on the fly as a previous session winds to a close.

Friday, September 28

2:10 a.m. Morning Matches start (fourballs)

7:50 a.m. Afternoon Matches start (foursomes) — lineup TBD

Saturday, September 29

2:10 a.m. — Morning Matches start (fourballs) — lineup TBD

7:50 a.m. — Afternoon Matches start (foursomes) — lineup TBD

Sunday, September 30

6:05 a.m. ET — Singles Matches start — lineup TBD

Here’s your coverage schedule for the day 1’s two sessions. Golf Channel will have the reins on Friday before handing the majority of coverage off to NBC on the weekend.

2 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET -- Golf Channel

2 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET -- Golf Channel simulcast stream

Other streaming options

FuboTV from 2 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET

Ryder Cup App’s “Ryder Cup Live” from 2 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET

2 a.m. until completion of play -- PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208)

Ryder Cup Apps will also have “Live Radio” feature during match play