The Ryder Cup of golf was started as a biannual competition between Great Britain and the United States back in 1927 with the venues alternating between Britain and the US.

The Americans so dominated play that in 1979 Ireland was added to the British side. It didn’t help much so at Jack Nicklaus’s suggestion, in 1983 the European players were added making things much more competitive indeed. The teams have been very evenly matched with the Europeans now more often winners than losers.

There are a lot of reasons for this parity.

It’s true that the format with 4 ball, two ball and other assorted formats is more familiar to Europeans than Americans. I think it could be fairly stated that if the format was, say, 90 holes of medal play the Americans would be favoured. But it isn’t.

But what is more important is that golf in Europe is unbelievably improved at the grassroots and this has been reflected in the quality of its stars. World class figures such as Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olizabel, Colin Montgomerie  and Benhardt Langer are just a few of the new “names” that have cropped up in Europe.

Ironically much of this can be credited to the Americans who, in the 60s and led by Arnold Palmer. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson remade the British Open (or THE Open as they say in the UK) into a true “Major” again. This helped boost the European Tour and gave golf a new attraction – there was more money and the general populations were savvy and playing the game. And the Europeans began to use the larger American ball – to explain the effect of that is long and arcane so I’ll let it pass.

This year the Cup is being played for at a course near Dublin. These, and the format, give Europe the edge. But it’s not that easy for while the Americans, led of course by the remarkable Tiger Woods, dominate the very top of the World ratings from there on down the Europeans take over. In other words, Europe has more depth. That along with the fact that Tiger has never played particularly well at this format give the Europeans the definite edge, in my view.

There are two special emotional factors in play this year. Darren Clarke from Northern Ireland is playing just weeks after the tragic loss of his wife. Even the most patriotic Americans will be pulling for him to do well. Then there was the vicious libel of Tiger’s wife by a Dublin publication which has Mr. Woods more than just a little bit angry.

Its the last of the Gentlemen’s (or Ladies) games where the players call the penalties on themselves and where sportsmanship is still the tradition.