Beijing Golfers Club

Beijing Ryder Cup:

The Beijing Ryder Cup has been played every year since 1995. The idea has been to emulate the "real" Ryder Cup and so it has been done here in Beijing with the difference being it is the Americas vs. Rest of the World (RoW).

It has over the years become a prestige tournament where the urge to win is high. As golf is an individual sport usually rewarded after the principal "Less is better", the Beijing Ryder Cup offers players to be part of a team, to play three different match play formats and all the fun, challenges and pressures that comes with it.

Captains for the teams 2010:
Americas Chau Nguyen Vice Captain Michael Young

RoW Stefan Oestlundh Vice Captain Jens Olsen

Player Eligibility and Handicaps:

Americas players can be from any country in North, Central and South America. RoW players can be from any other country than those in North, Central and South America and Mainland China.
Players must be a member of Beijing Golfers Club.
Players must have filed a minimum of 10 scores (BGC events and non-BGC events) with the Beijing Golfers Club within the current year of the Beijing Ryder Cup event. Please also notice the USGA handicap requirement to file every score (tournament and social) for handicapping purposes.
In cases of new BGC members that have only started to file scores in the year of competition and has not yet reached 20 score cards, such players must submit their previous USGA, CGA or R&A handicap index to their Captains for review. The lower handicap index of the two must be used for competition purposes (USGA rule).
Handicaps will be locked (for the Bejing Ryder Cup competition purpose only) based on the player handicap computed as of the last Sunday of August.
For players that have filed an unusual high number of non-BGC event score cards in July and August (compared to such players normal score card filing pattern), those scores will be disregarded if they have resulted in an increase in handicap but stand if they have resulted in a decrease of handicap.

Each team consists of 14 players. A minimum of 12 of the players on each respective team must reside in Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei. Any players (maximum two per team) not residing in Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei (whether residing else where in Mainland China or out of China) must meet the following criteria: 1) Having played golf regularly with BGC in the past residing in Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei, 2) Continued to maintain BGC membership after departure from Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei, 3) Continued to appropriately maintain a USGA handicap via BGC.

Note: Players should take notice that in order to maintain a correct handicap index according to the USGA Handicap Manual Section 5.1 and 5.2, ALL golf round scores should be posted for handicapping purpose. For more information about acceptability of scores go to www.usga.org/playing/handicaps/manual/manual.html

Selection of Captains and Vice Captains:

The previous year's Captain will make a recommendation to the BGC Committee for next year's Captaincy. The BGC Committee will then endorse the Captain based on recommendations from previous Captains and so far, the BGC Committee has passed all Captain candidates in the history of the Beijing Ryder Cup. However, the BGC Committee does reserve the right to refuse a Captaincy in case of justified concerns as to a candidates ability to uphold the ideals and spirit of the competition and the game of golf.

The approved Captain will elect his own Vice-Captain and the BGC Committee will then also endorse the Vice-Captain. Refusal of Vice Captain candidates will be on the same grounds as above, however, this has not happened yet in the history of the Beijing Ryder Cup.

Team Selection:

In picking the team players, the Captains must follow and abide by:

1) Player eligibility criteria as outlined above

2) Captain's Responsibility to ascertain fairness of his selected player's handicaps and upholding the ideals of golf (see below)

The Captains will further take into account when picking players:

a. Performance in BGC events (BGC Order of Merit is part of that but not exclusive)

b. Performance in BGC match play tournaments

c. Other Match play experience

d. Personal knowledge of a players' ability to perform under match play conditions (which is rather different from stroke play events)

e. Judgment of candidates to gel as part of a team

f. Player's demonstration of upholding the ideals of golf and understanding of the game and value of its traditions and sportsmanship.

As you can see this does not mean that a high ranking on the BGC Order of Merit is an automatic entry into the Ryder Cup. However, a higher BGC Order of Merit score will put that person higher on the Captains radar; i.e. it is better to be higher rather than lower on the BGC Order of Merit.

At the end of the day, the Captain's responsibility is to pick a team that he judges have the best possible chance of winning!

Captain's Responsibility:

When picking the team players, the Captain must take responsibility to:

i. Ascertain a player can live up to the obligation of the ideals of golf and understanding of the game and value of its traditions and sportsmanship

ii. Ascertain that selected players has a correct handicap. Therefore, in cases of selected players that plays most of his golf outside BGC events that a) the BGC handicap is fair representation of the players golfing ability (as per handicap definitions) AND b) the BGC handicap is being updated with relevant other scores AND c) a possible second handicap is checked and used if lower.

iii. Pro-actively suggest to lower a player's handicap for cases where the Captain has information and believes his selected players official handicap is too high compared to the player's ability.

iv. Avoid selecting players for which the Captain can not reasonably ascertain him self of the players handicap fairness.

v. Not to ask for a handicap increase of selected players. In the Beijing Ryder Cup, the USGA rules regarding temporary increase of handicaps due to slump in playing ability or medical conditions will not be considered or applied. It is the Captain's choice to select or not select players that may temporarily not have the potential ability to play to their handicap for reasons of slump of form or medical conditions.

The principle of handicap accuracy of players is that the team Captain must take responsibility for this own team players. It should not be the job of the opposing team Captain to investigate the handicap accuracy of the players on the Captain's team

Host Team:

The 2 Teams alternative to host. The host team Captain is responsible for:

Organize Captain's Dinner and Draw and Capital Club (see below)
Nominate one of the BGC partner courses for the Beijing Ryder Cup event. Final course selection should be agreed by opposing team Captain, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld
Organize celebration/ commiseration dinner Saturday evening on the last day of competition for Trophy Presentation

The BGC Committee can assist the 'host Captain' with practical matters to contact Capital Club and negotiate green fee prices / tee-times for the selected golf course.

The Americas Team is host team for the 2009 Beijing Ryder Cup

Competition:

Played on a Friday (Fourball - 7 matches, Foursomes - 7 matches) and Saturday (Individual - 14 matches).

Captains Dinner / Competition Draw:

Takes place the last Wednesday before the Beijing Ryder Cup at the Capital Club. All players are invited and strongly encouraged to join. During the dinner, the teams will be introduced to each other and the competition draw will be completed.