what hell are rules of Ryder club, I dont understand these terms 1 up, up 10 to 8. Why arent americans kicking the eurpoean ass. Tiger is playing well, my idol,

The Ryder Cup is a competition between players from European countries against the United States. There are 12 players on each roster. They play matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (this year, with the weather, things got pushed back a day). There are two sessions (morning/afternoon) each of the first two days, and each session consists of 4 matches. So, doing the math, there are 16 matches over the first two days. Each of these matches involves 2 players from each side competing against two players from the other side in a variety of formats... These could be Best Ball (you and your partner hit a shot and then you play the second shot from the better of the two balls) or Alternate Shot (you hit the tee shot, your partner hits the second shot, you hit the third shot and so on) or Four Ball (each of the four players plays their entire hole and you take the best score), or some variation of these formats.

In terms of scoring each match, you are only concerned with who wins the hole, how many strokes you shoot doesn’t matter. So for example if the team of Woods/Stricker score a par on the first whole, while Harrington/Jimenez score a bogey, then Woods/Stricker win the hole and they are one up. If W/S had taken 10 strokes and H/J had taken 11 strokes, W/S would still be 1 up. Strokes do not matter. If H/J then win the next hole to tie, then the match is all squared. You keep playing until it is impossible for the other team to catch up. For example if W/S are 4 holes up and there are only three holes left, the match is declared over and W/S win 4&3 (4 up with 3 to play). When a team wins a match they get a point. If a match is tied (All Square) then each team wins a 1/2 point. There are no extra holes played

So through the first two days there are a total of 16 points awarded. So in this year, Europe was winning 9 1/2 to 6 1/2. Then on the last day, there are 12 singles matches (12 points total). Again scoring is the same, only you are playing by yourself. Each player for the Americans is given a number 1 to 12 by their captains (#1 goes first, #12 last). Same for the Europeans. So # 1 plays #1 and so on.

So there are 28 points total (16 the first two days and 12 the last). To win the cup, the team that won it last two years ago (in this case the US won in 2008) needs to win 14 points. For Europe to win the cup, they need to get to 14 1/2 points. The idea is that if it ends up 14-14, the team that won the Cup last retains the Cup.

Historically, the US has trouble in the partnership format (the first two days). Europe usually has a lead going into the singles and then the US makes their charge.  The US team seems to be better in the singles format and Europe in the group play. A 9 1/2 to 6 1/2 lead for Europe will be tough for the US to overcome, but it is certainly feasible.