29 September 2023 , 06:00
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The Ryder Cup is steeped in decades of tradition and some obscure regulations, including a rule that will require captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson to put the name of one of their players in an envelope.
The opening two days of the competition will see the European and American teams battle in foursomes and fourballs at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy on Friday and Saturday, but when it comes to Sunday's singles, Donald and Johnson will have to make a near-impossible decision.
With all 12 members of each team facing off on Sunday, competition rules require a contingency plan in case one member of either team is unable to play due to injury.
When deciding the order in which they send their players out, the captains will also write the name of one player who will stand out if a member of the opposition cannot tee off due to injury. Team USA captain from 2002, Curtis Strange, described it as “The most uncomfortable thing I ever had to do."
Instead of a match being forfeited by the injured player, the two players who do not play will receive half a point each, with 11 points left up for grabs in the other matches.
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The last time the rule was used was in 1993, the last time the Americans won on European soil. Sam Torrance could not take part on Sunday due to a foot issue and Lanny Wadkins, one of the greatest American players in Ryder Cup history, was withdrawn.
Zach Johnson and Luke Donald will hope their envelopes remain sealed. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)On that occasion, Wadkins volunteered, saving captain Tom Watson the difficult decision of deciding which player he believed was weakest. The one-time major champion was set to play Seve Ballesteros, but he stood down, with Jim Gallagher Jr – who was due to face Torrance – replacing him and winning 3 and 2 in a 15-13 win at The Belfrey.
Donald and Johnson are unlikely to have the same luxury of having the decision made for them, and although the envelope will probably never be opened, it is sure to be an uncomfortable moment when they have to pick the most expendable of their 12 players.
And it is a decision they will likely have to take alone to reduce the risk of word of the name in the envelope getting out to the players, which could be a hammer blow to the nominated man's confidence.
“I probably will talk to my assistants and then probably not tell them who I put in there,” Steve Stricker said of the decision-making process when he was US captain two years ago. “You don’t want to have anybody know that they went in the envelope. At least I wouldn’t want to know if I was in there, and I probably was in there at some point.”