Golfing beyond the Big Four

The Big Four major tournaments in golf -- the Masters, U.S. Open,

British Open, and PGA Championship -- are over for the year. But the

golf world is still abuzz with talk about the other big ones -- the

President’s Cup and the Ryder Cup.

The first occurs in late September, and the latter will not be

played until 2006 (the Ryder Cup takes place in even years and the

President’s Cup in odd years).

Notably, the matches are played not for the purse but for national

honor.

The precise beginnings are clouded in debate, but it is known that

in 1921 an American team of professional golfers faced a British team

at Gleneagles, Scotland. The U.S. team lost to the British, 9-3.

Another unofficial match was played in 1926. This time it was even

worse for the Yanks, a 13 1/2 -1 1/2 disgrace.

In the stands at this match, however, was one Samuel Ryder, an

English businessman who had made his fortune selling penny seed

packets to the garden-crazy English. At a lunch with both British and

American pros after the match, someone proposed making it a regular

event, and Ryder volunteered to provide the gold trophy.

Over the years the match has evolved, most notably in 1977 when

Jack Nicklaus approached the PGA of Great Britain and encouraged them

to expand their field of player selection to include all the players

on the European Tour division of the British PGA. The result was that

in 1979, Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido joined the once

all-British team.

This arrangement is still discriminatory in that it doesn’t take

into account all the great golfers from South Africa, Australia,

Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, Japan, Fiji and the rest of the

world.

The President’s Cup was created to rectify that situation. Begun

in 1994, it pits an American team against great players who do not

qualify for the European pool of the Ryder Cup.

What really distinguishes both these events is that they are

match-play tournaments. That is to say, it isn’t a whole bunch of

golfers and their caddies against each other in a four-day contest.

Three different types of golf are played -- singles match play,

four-ball match play and foursome match play -- and to describe the

rules would take several more columns. Suffice it to say that the

goal is not money but points, and it makes for some of the most

exciting golf to watch.

For the seasoned golfer or neophyte duffer, there are lots of

books in the library that can help with your game. There are DVDs and

books to help with your swing, your drives, your short game and your

putting.

But there are also some great titles that will help in

appreciating the two big match-play tournaments. For starters, there

is Arnold Palmer’s “Playing by the Rules: All the Rules of the Game,

Complete with Memorable Rulings from Golf’s Rich History,” and “Rules

of the Green: A History of the Rules of Golf,” by Kenneth Chapman.

To get even more specific, there is “Never Out of the Hole: Tips

and Tactics for Winning at Match-Play Golf,” by T.J. Tomasi, Mike

Adams and Michael Corcoran.

If you want to improve your enjoyment of the matches, there are

also “David Feherty’s Totally Subjective History of the Ryder Cup”;

“The Ryder Cup: Golf’s Greatest Event,” by Bob Bupka and Tom Clavin;

and “Us Against Them: An Oral History of the Ryder Cup,” by Robin

McMillan.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Sara Barnicle. All titles may be

reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at

o7www.newportbeachlibrary.orgf7. For more information on the

Central Library or any of the branches, please contact the library at

(949) 717-3800, option 2.