By Joel Beall
It was a dream, a dream whose flames were fanned by Phil Mickelson as recently as yesterday. “I think we would both welcome it. I think we would both welcome it,” Mickelson said. And when asked if he knew if it would happen, Mickelson smiled, “I do have an idea of what Captain (Jim) Furyk is thinking, yeah.”

“It” being the team up of rivals turned business partners, Mickelson and Tiger Woods. The Hall of Famers have joined forces once at the Ryder Cup, to infamously bad results in 2004. However, with their icy rapport thawed and Woods rejuvenated, speculation grew over the summer if the two would give a coupling a second try. That the pair played together on Tuesday, along with Mickelson’s comments, added to the conjecture.

However, whatever aspirations harbored for that dream match-up were doused in cold water by Furyk on Wednesday.

“You know, I won’t ever say it wouldn’t happen, but it’s probably not too likely,” Furyk said.

Not too surprising; Furyk made a similar statement in June.

“I guess nothing’s out of the realm,” Furyk said. “They did play some golf yesterday. I think they both mentioned it would be a lot better pairing than it was in the past.”

On Wednesday, Woods went out with Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, while Mickelson practiced with Bryson DeChambeau, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson.

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By Ryan Herrington
Chances are Samuel Ryder, the man who helped inspire the competition that bears his name, would struggle to recognize the modern match that will be played for the 42nd time this week at Le Golf National. Even if you accept the premise that the English seed merchant was a man of vision, to think that he knew one day this test between professional golfers from both sides of the Atlantic would evolve into a multimillion dollar spectacle that entrances an international audience? Hardly! The mere fact the Ryder Cup includes golfers from continental Europe and is going to be played in of all places France would have been a bit mind-blowing.

Yet at its core, the Ryder Cup that will take place is something Ryder likely hoped would come to pass. Beyond a celebration of the game and its gentlemanly traits, Ryder was acutely interested in the competition part of the competition. That it’s become so fierce, with both sides spending the full two years between matches to prepare for the next, wouldn’t have been something he predicted, but would no doubt be something he would have enjoyed.

How exactly did the Ryder Cup get to this place? We traveled back in time, looking through the match’s history and try to identify various moments that have helped nudge the competition to its present state: a clash of prideful golfers, playing not for themselves but for each other and for their countries. These aren’t the biggest moments in Ryder Cup history, or even the most memorable necessarily. But they are individual moments that shaped what we’ll see over three days outside Paris and while not long after the final shot is struck on Sunday, we’ll be longing for Whistling Straits and 2020.

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Bettmann
The first victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team from 1927 (left to right): Al Waltrous, Bill Melhorn, Diegel Leo, F. Golden, Walter Hagen, Joe Pennoza, Gene Sarazen, Johnny Farrell, and Joe Turnesa.

1927: Begin at the beginning
To get to where the Ryder Cup is today, the event had to get started. The inaugural match was played at Worcester (Mass.) Country Club in 1927 and was the culmination of six years of discussions regarding the viability of a competition pitting professionals from the United States against their peers from Great Britain. Twice before an unofficial version of the match was held, first in 1921 at Gleneagles in Scotland and then again in 1926 at Wentworth Golf Club in England. (Both times the Brits routed the Americans.) At Wentworth, Englishman Samuel Ryder and American Walter Hagen laid out the plans for a regular competition, the match moving back and forth across the Atlantic. Ryder commissioned a trophy for £250, and a tradition was born.

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Hulton Archive
The Whitcombe brothers, Reg, Ernest and Charles, all competed on the 1935 Ryder Cup team for Great Britain, but they were no match for the Americans

1935: U.S. begins its dominance
Lost to history is the fact that the early years of the Ryder Cup were highly competitive, the two sides splitting the first four matches, each winning at home. But that would change starting in 1935 at New Jersey’s Ridgewood Country Club. British captain Charles Whitcombe, playing with his brothers Ernest and Reg, were no match for a squad consisting of Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Horton Smith and Craig Wood, among others. The Americans won 9-3 and would begin a run of seven straight matches in which they would get the best of the Brits.

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Fox Photos
Sir Henry Cotton competes in the 1947 Ryder Cup at the Portland Golf Club.

1947: Surviving the war
With the matches postponed four times during World War II (1939, 1941, 1943 and 1945), that they would resume at all was not a foregone conclusion. And much of the credit for the fact that they did belongs Robert Hudson, an Oregon fruit grower and a member of the PGA Advisory Committee. Hudson helped secure Portland Golf Club as a venue and then paid for the British team, led by Sir Henry Cotton, to travel by boat (the Queen Mary) to the U.S. and then by train across country to Oregon. The hospitality ended there, as the Americans claimed a 11-1 victory.

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Bettmann
In 1957, Dai Rees captained the British Ryder Cup team to victory for the first time since 1933.

1957: Finally a British win
Dai Rees was just 44 when he was tapped to captain the British Ryder Cup team for the second of his record five times. Rees led by example, winning both his matches and inspiring his teammates at Lindrick Golf Club to do the seemingly impossible, defeating the Americans, 7½-4½, the Great Britain’s only Ryder Cup victory between 1933 and 1985.

RELATED: 9 things you need to know about the 2018 Ryder Cup

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Ted West
Eight female amateur golfers at the wheel of their mini mokes at Royal Birkdale in Southport. They will drive around the golf course during the upcoming Ryder Cup, announcing the state of play.

1965: Modern amenities
The commercial aspects of the modern Ryder Cup are inescapable these days, but much of their origins can be tied to the 1965 match at Royal Birkdale. It was there that Brian Park, a Birkdale member, donated £11,000 to help promote the match. The money was used to expand services for spectators, including the creation of a hospitality pavilion. A tented village was built and souvenir programs were sold. Scorekeepers carried individual match results on standards. The amenities didn’t change the outcome of the event—the U.S. won 19½-12½—but it did change people’s thoughts about what the event could become outside the ropes.

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PA Images
Nicklaus and Jacklin walk off the 18th green at Birkdale after a gesture of goodwill.

1969: The Concession
The first-ever tie in Ryder Cup history came when Jack Nicklaus, then a Ryder Cup rookie, gave Tony Jacklin a short par putt on the 18th hole in their singles match, halving their singles match and the overall competition. “I didn’t think it was in the spirit of the game to make Jacklin have a chance to miss a two-footer to lose the match in front of his fans,” Nicklaus said of his gesture, “The Concession” going down in history as one of golf’s finest displays of sportsmanship. But it wasn’t necessarily regarded so highly among everyone, demonstrating the competitiveness that was beginning to emanate from the match. “When it happened, all the boys thought it was ridiculous to give him that putt. We went over there to win, not to be good ol’ boys,” said American captain Sam Snead.

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Getty Images
In 1979, the GB&I Ryder Cup side was expanded to include all of Europe.

1979: Europe joins the mix
To address the lopsided nature of the matches, Ireland was allowed to join the Great Britain team in 1973, but that did little to make things more competitive. So ahead of the 1979 match at The Greenbrier, it was agreed that the GB&I side would be expanded to include all of Europe. In the short run, it didn’t do much; the Americans won easily again, 17-11. But with Spain’s Seve Ballesteros making his debut at 22, it wasn’t the fate of Ryder Cups to come had been altered. Another footnote to this event: It was the first time that “The Envelope” was employed, where the captains on each team would put the name of a player into a sealed envelope in case either team had an injured player that forced it to drop to 11 players for Sunday singles. The result would be a half-point for each team in the one match that didn’t go off.

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A tearful Sam Torrance becomes a Ryder Cup legend with a memorable birdie putt.

1985: A European first (of many)
An 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole at The Belfry from Scotland’s Sam Torrance to beat Andy North, 1 up, was the deciding point in Europe’s first Ryder Cup victory and the first loss for the Americans in 28 years. Much is made of the Euro’s victory two years later at Muirfield Village, the first time they’d win on foreign soil. But the psychological impact of this initial win can’t be underscored. The decision to open up the squad to all of Europe had paid its first dividends, as it would many times in the future.

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David Cannon/Getty Images
Langer’s 18th hole miss gave the Americans the victory in 1991.

1991: The War by the Shore
Revisionist history likes to say that the Ryder Cup had been the gentile affair of “The Concession” up until the 1980s, despite the numerous instances of contentiousness that dotted the match throughout its history. But the 1991 edition at Kiawah Island indeed had a different feel, egged on by the fact that the Americans were in the midst of their longest stretch without winning the Cup. A raucous and partisan crowd amped up the atmosphere at the Ocean Course. Combined with just how close the competition was, it created the most highly charged atmosphere in memory. Famously, it all came down to the final match between Mark Calcavecchia and Bernhard Langer, then then down to a Langer putt on the 18th hole. Make and the Euros win again. Miss, and the Americans prevail. You didn’t need to watch to know what happened. The sound of the roof coming off the Ocean Course gave it away.

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Rusty Jarrett/Allsport
Leonard’s look after making the birdie on the 17th at Brookline was priceless.

1999: The Comeback
The Country Club offered another highly partisan crowd backing the American team, although it appeared Sunday would be one for the Euros as they took a seemingly insurmountable 10-6 lead into singles play. But a rally unseen to that point in Ryder Cup history, predicted the night before by captain Ben Crenshaw, changed everything. The U.S. would win 8½ of the 12 available singles points, Justin Leonard’s birdie putt on the 17th clinching the half point needed for the U.S. to pull over the improbable. Just when the Ryder Cup looked like it couldn’t become an even more dramatic event than it already evolved into, Brookline set a new standard for drama and excitement.

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Andy Lyons/Getty Images
The Euros comeback in 2012 at Medinah was sparked by Poulter’s perfect play.

2012: The Comeback, The Sequel
The proverbial shoe was on the other foot at Medinah, the Americans having run out to a 10-6 lead entering Sunday singles and the Europeans needing the miracle. But Ian Poulter’s impressive late rally with Rory McIlroy on Saturday afternoon helped trim the deficit to four points and inspired his teammates for arguably the most impressive comeback in Ryder Cup history. In short, the Europeans turned into the Europeans again, winning 8½ of the 12 available singles points. More memorable than Brookline? Perhaps. It’s hard not to think, though, given the Euros accomplishing it on the road that it wasn’t more improbable. And, yet again, the Ryder Cup became a greater spectacle than previous imagined.

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Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
Watson and Mickelson tried to work together, but their differences would bubble over.

2014: The Press Conference
It was an ugly week for the American Ryder Cup team, trounced at Gleneagles, 16½-11½, for yet another loss in the match. And it only got uglier in the Sunday evening press conference. With the entire American team present, Phil Mickelson openly questioned the leadership of U.S. captain Tom Watson, sitting not far from him on the podium. There was a surreal feel to this act of honesty—and defiance. And yet it set in motion a chain of events that you could argue has put the U.S. in the best position it has been in to compete and win the Ryder Cup in decades. Mickelson’s decrying of the commitment and organisation of the U.S. Ryder Cup effort led to the infamous Task Force charges to help identify ways the Americans can create a blueprint for long-term success.

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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
A happy American team wins for the first time in eight years at Hazeltine.

2016: The start of another American run?
If the Americans’ 17-11 victory at Hazeltine National was the result of all the madness that followed Gleneagles, then maybe the pain was worth it. The U.S. team looked more organized and engaged. And the timing couldn’t have been better as the rise of the next generation of top American players (Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, etc.) meant for a collective group determined to change the direction of the competition. Of course, the bigger test of the long-term viability of the new blueprint comes this week in Paris, where the U.S. is trying to win on the road for the first time since 1993. The fact that they’re the favorites suggests hints that they might be on to something.

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By John Huggan
Long one of the biggest-hitters in world golf, Scott Hend has never really been known for his consistency on the golf course. Except in Switzerland that is.

For the second year in succession, the 44-year-old Australian played his way into a playoff for the Omega European Masters. And for the second year in succession, Hend had to be content with the runner-up check.

Last year Sweden’s Alex Noren emerged victorious; 12 months later it was the Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick’s turn to see off Hend’s gallant challenge and claim the €450,000 first prize.

Three holes after the pair had tied on 14-under-par 266 in regulation of the endlessly picturesque Crans-sur-Sierre course, Fitzpatrick’s two-putt par on the 18th was good enough to break the deadlock.

Hend had his chance though. On the second playoff hole, the World No. 98 missed from no more than four feet for what would have been a winning birdie and his third European Tour victory.

As it was, one hole later the 23-year-old Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Amateur champion who shot a closing 64 on Sunday to get into the playoff, owned a fourth European Tour win. Hend, after bunkering his tee-shot and finding a less than appetizing lie, flew the putting surface with his approach and in the end did well to make bogey.

For the record, another highly promising Englishman, Tyrrell Hatton, tied for third place alongside Fabrizio Zanetti of Paraguay. Defending champion Noren pulled up T-6 on nine under.

“I’m delighted,” said Fitzpatrick, who changed his shot-shape from draw to fade prior to finishing second behind compatriot Danny Willett in Switzerland in 2015.

“It’s one that I’ve always wanted to win. I love playing this golf course, from the first ever year I came as an invite in 2014, it’s one that has really stood out on my schedule and I always want to come back and play. And today I kept my nerve and just played really smart all week. I remember being here in 2015 when Dan won, and his parents were there to see him win so it’s nice to have mine here too. It’s the third win they’ve seen me achieve, so it’s pretty special.”

Perhaps just as important for Fitzpatrick—a member of Europe’s losing side at Hazeltine National in 2016—first-prize brings with it a large pile of Ryder Cup points. Two weeks into the qualifying period for France in 2018, Fitzpatrick is already top of the rankings and off to a flying start in his quest to tee-up at Le Golf National outside Paris next September.

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It is becoming more difficult to keep up with Tommy Fleetwood, whose 2017 season continues to go from strength-to-strength. The winner in Abu Dhabi back in January (where he pipped World No. 1 Dustin Johnson by a shot), the 26-year-old Englishman has now added a second title with his victory in the HNA Open de France at Le Golf National.

In between those two wins, Fleetwood hasn’t been performing too badly, either. So far this year, the former top-ranked amateur was second in the WGC-Mexico Championship, second at the Shenzhen International in China, fourth in the U.S. Open at Erin Hills (where he played alongside eventual champion Brooks Koepka in the final round) and, only one week before this latest triumph, T-6 at the BMW International Open in Germany. He is a player on the rise and a far cry from the struggling young man who arrived at the 2012 South African Open needing a top-10 finish just to keep his European Tour card (he was T-6).

Fleetwood’s 12-under-par 272 in the $7 million event, the second of eight in the European Tour’s new Rolex Series, was also in complete contrast to his previous visits to the course outside of Paris that will host next year’s Ryder Cup matches. Not once had the Southport native broken par; not once had he even made the halfway cut.

This time was different though. Fleetwood’s bogey-free closing 66 left him two shots clear of American Peter Uihlein and was typical of the form he displayed all week, earning him €1,040,824 and pushing him to the top of the Race to Dubai rankings. In the 72 holes, he dropped only four shots to par.

“When the Rolex Series was talked about last year, they were the tournaments we wanted to be in and win,” Fleetwoods said. “To claim this one is a big deal. Today was good from start to finish. I nearly holed my first two iron shots. And I didn’t miss a shot down the stretch. On those last four holes there is a series of shots you just want to get behind you and I hit them all great. I felt very comfortable. It was great to successfully test all the things I work on every day.”

Uihlein—who joined Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Alexander Bjork of Sweden in claiming one of the three exempt spots available in this month’s Open Championship—deserves much credit, too. When Fleetwood made his fifth and final birdie of the day at the par-5 14th he was four shots clear of the former U.S. Amateur champion. The eventual winner then played the pond-infested finishing stretch in level par, yet only won by a single shot. Uihlein, in fact, played the last 13 holes in five under after a slow start that saw him drop consecutive shots at the fourth and fifth holes.

But it was Fleetwood’s week, one will help him rise into the world’s top 15.

“Today is one that I’ll never forget,” he continued. “Winning is the best feeling by far in golf, and to do it on this golf course in this event is just massive. With the start I had this year, it’s very easy to look at the Race to Dubai and want to look towards the end of the year. But topping the money-list is going to be tough. I was a long way ahead and then Sergio [Garcia] won the Masters. You can’t control what other people do. With how strong the tour is, there’s no reason why people can’t win majors. It might be me, it might be someone else.”

Right now though, especially as the Open Championship visits Royal Birkdale and his home town in less than three weeks, it looks a lot like it might be Tommy Fleetwood.

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With nine Ryder Cups as a player on his resume, Jim Furyk will be the the most experienced captain in Ryder Cup history. Now the question remains: Will he be the first playing captain in more than half a century?

Furyk was asked just that on Wednesday after he was formally announced as U.S. captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup at PGA of America headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. And after a long pause, this was his response:

“I don’t want to say no, but also, my main focus and what I’m really interested now, is being a captain,” said Furyk, who plans on playing a full schedule of 18-20 events this year.

In a Golf Channel interview following the press conference, Furyk added this:

“If this time next year, I’m in the talk, if I’m in the top eight (on the points list), then I think it’s time to have that discussion.” – new U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk

The 2018 Ryder Cup will be played at Le Golf National just outside of Paris. It’s the first time France has hosted the event. Furyk will face a daunting task in leading Team USA to its first win on foreign soil in the event since 1993.

Last year, Furyk looked like he might play his way onto the team for a 10th time when he finished runner-up at the U.S. Open in June and then became the first player to shoot 58 on the PGA Tour in August. He wound up not being one of Davis Love III’s captain’s picks, but was a vice captain as the U.S. defeated Europe 17-11 to end an eight-year drought in the biennial event.

“It’s no secret this has been the favorite event of my career,” said Furyk, who owns a 10-20-4 career Ryder Cup record as a player. “I get chills just thinking about all the events I’ve been fortunate enough to play in. . . . I look forward so much to the next two years.”

Furyk’s first order of business on Wednesday? Naming Davis Love III, who led the U.S. to that win at Hazeltine, a vice captain.

And regardless of whether or not his Ryder Cup playing career is over, Furyk thinks it’s a plus that his PGA Tour career is still thriving.

“I wanted to be relevant on the PGA Tour,” Furyk said about the timing of being named captain. “I wanted to know the guys and know the young players well.” – Alex Myers is an associate editor at Golf Digest and the author of The Grind

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