The 37th Ryder Cup at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., will be played from Sept. 19-21, 2008. While the United States is certain to miss the presence of Tiger Woods, both teams are packed with enough golf talent to make for a riveting spectacle.

The Ryder Cup is such an important golf event, that the usual season highlights, the majors, are regarded by members of the PGA Tours as the platform for Ryder Cup qualification. The battle for Ryder Cup positions is hard-fought, with only a win in a major guaranteeing a European or American player a place in their respective Ryder Cup team.

This should be a cliff hanger of an event as the US Team try to win back the trophy on home ground. Who will captain the US team? How will he motivate the US stars to victory over the weight of European Ryder Cup experience. Nick Faldo captains the Europeans and will be gearing up to lead the Europeans in their attempt to hold on to the trophy.

Since the format changed in 1979 to allow European Players to compete alongside the British and Irish golfers, against the USA, the competition has become much more competitive. In the last 14 matches, Europe have won seven times and the USA six. One match having been halved. Recent Ryder Cup Results has seen the tide of competition turn in favour of the Europeans, they have won five of the last six encounters, the last two wins coming with emphatic score lines.

Valhalla is an 18-hole, 7,195 yard layout from the longest tees. It has a par of 72; the course rating is 75.9 and it has a slope rating of 141. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, ASGCA, the Valhalla golf course opened in 1986. Nicklaus, described the site in 1983 as a "golf designer's dream because there is a variety of terrain, vegetation and water to work with. Everything necessary for an excellent golf course is here: room for wide, tree lined fairways and spectacular golf holes."

Over the next 10 years, the course matured and settled. Then, in 1996, it became the venue for PGA Championship of that year. So successful was the 1996 championship, the PGA of American decided to purchase a 50% stake in the club. Again, the decision was a good one and, by the end of 2000, they decided to the rest of the club. That same year, they announced that the 2008 Ryder Cup would take place at Valhalla.

In addition to the 1996 PGA Championship, Valhalla has played host to several other important tournaments, including the 2002 PGA Club Pro Championship and the 2004 Senior PGA Championship. The marriage with the PGA has been good for Valhalla. Who knows what great things the future holds for this most excellent of golf courses.

2008 Rider Cup Results

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Currently: Fair, 85 °F - Wind N, 0 mph

Captain Paul Azinger changed the qualifying format to reward players who were playing well in the same year of the event and to give himself four captain's choices instead of two. Both moves were crucial to the American team's success. Captain's choices Hunter Mahan and J.B. Holmes didn't play like the Ryder rookies they were, earning a combined six points and winning their Sunday singles matches. Anthony Kim, Kenny Perry and Justin Leonard all parlayed strong play in 2008 into places on the team, and all three showed that continued good form. That combination of good form and good chemistry gave Azinger's team a for lack of a better word European flavor, and the result was, um, European. The underdog role obviously agreed with this captain, and with his team. It'll be interesting to see how the Americans try to figure out a way to cast themselves as underdogs again in 2010, at Celtic Manor, when Tiger Woods is presumably back on the team.