The Ryder Cup's "envelope rule" gave Europe a half point without even playing a match.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Move over, “fumbling the ball out of the end zone.” Step aside, infield fly and tuck rule. We have a new champion in the “Worst Rule In Sports” category: the Ryder Cup envelope. It’s dumb, it’s anti-competitive, and it could have cost the United States the greatest Ryder Cup comeback in history.
Here’s the story. Viktor Hovland injured his neck while playing earlier in the week and withdrew from his Saturday match. After an MRI, he was forced to withdraw from the Sunday singles match as well.
This is all normal and understandable — unfortunate for Hovland, yes, but understandable. Injuries happen. However, it’s the Ryder Cup protocol for this situation that’s the problem.
According to Ryder Cup rules, if a player is injured and unable to compete in the singles session, the opposing team’s captain will place the name of one of his players in an envelope. That player will sit out the singles sessions alongside the injured player, and each team will receive half a point.
This is beyond ridiculous. All due respect to Hovland, but if you can’t go, your team doesn’t get to benefit from your absence. And in match play, where teams are attempting to reach a certain target — not just merely outscore their opponent — giving both teams a half-point is a huge benefit to the team with the injured player.
This isn’t done in other sports. If Josh Allen is injured before the AFC championship, Patrick Mahomes isn’t obligated to sit out. Moreover, it isn’t even done in other golf leagues — in the Solheim Cup, the women’s version of the Ryder, if a player is injured, the other team takes the full point. That’s logical, that’s reasonable.
And the envelope rule came within a single point of costing the United States the Ryder Cup. How much tighter would the Europeans have played knowing they didn’t have that half-point cushion? They had an eight-point lead coming into the day, and still didn’t get to the Cup-clinching point until the 10th match.
The Europeans, so cool and unbothered throughout the entire week, very nearly came apart down the stretch. And the cushion they got from the envelope rule was just enough to allow for a victory. (None of this should take away from the fact that the U.S. was historically awful the first two days of the Ryder Cup. The envelope rule will draw short-term attention, but the focus ought to remain on the U.S. team’s many failures this week.)
Here’s how ridiculous the envelope rule is: Europe literally could have had four other players withdraw with “injuries” prior to Sunday’s matches, and per the rules, Europe would retain the cup. There are plenty of ways to litigate sports rules, but a rule that allows you to win a title without even competing is, quite simply, a bad rule.
Moreover, the stupid envelope rule already cost a team the Ryder Cup. Back in 1991, Europe was the defending champion. But the U.S. won the controversial “War By The Shore” by a score of 14 ½ to 13 ½ , in part because Steve Pate withdrew from the singles matches. Pate had been injured in a car accident the night before the Ryder Cup started. Had the United States forfeited the full point, Europe would have retained the Ryder Cup with a total score of 14-14.
The United States has plenty of work to do between now and the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland. But Ryder Cup officials have some work to do of their own, starting with the elimination of the envelope rule.
Category: General Sports
