As European golf fans we never get tired of watching our boys winning golf’s biggest event, The Ryder Cup – a feat Team Europe has achieved in seven of the last nine meetings with Team USA.
With Wednesday marking 500 days since Team Europe won The 2014 Ryder Cup in style at Gleneagles, what better way to celebrate that accomplishment than remembering some of the very best European Ryder Cup performances on European Tour TV.
Valderrama Golf Club, which has this week been named as venue for this year’s Open de España, played host to The 1997 Ryder Cup in the first time the biennial event was contested on continental European soil.
Relive that dramatic battle, which pitted European Captain Seve Ballesteros and his passionate side – featuring the likes of Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Nick Faldo and José María Olazábal – against a US team featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples, byclicking here.
Europe won that enthralling contest 14½ - 13½, a narrow margin by which they also won The 2010 Ryder Cup.
So if you are after a more recent European triumph, then why not head back to thatglorious occasion in Celtic Manor six years ago, where under grey skies, Graeme McDowell memorably helped hold off a strong USA Sunday singles fightback, in the very last tie of the match play event.
Rory McIlroy, who made his debut in the famous three-day event under the captaincy of Colin Montgomerie in Wales, was only 15 years old when his compatriot and good friend Darren Clarke lit up the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club in Ireland, months after he had tragically lost his first wife Heather to cancer.
The Northern Irishman, who has been stalwart of four winning European sides, received an incredible ovation when he stepped onto the tee for his Friday morning fourballs contest alongside Lee Westwood, moving the Englishman to tears.
This year’s European Ryder Cup Captain then went on to win all three of the matches he contested in 2006, as Ian Woosnam’s team went on to inflict a second successive 18½ - 9½ defeat on the Americans.
You can enjoy this resounding, emotionally-charged victory by selecting the 2006 Ryder Cup highlights from the menu or byclicking here.
Overall, our extensive Ryder Cup video highlights collection on European Tour TV offers you the choice of 17 Ryder Cups to enjoy, with the earliest of those events coming in 1967.
To access European Tour TV for free all you have to do isclick here to sign up for My European Tour, where you can also enjoy behind-the-wall features, videos and interactive articles.
