The Beijing Ryder Cup has been played for twelve consecutive years. The idea has been to copy 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 that comes with it.

Captains for the teams 2007:
Americas     Ronn Tokuyama
                    Scott Phillips (Vice)
RoW          Jack Mannion
                    Paul McNeill (Vice)

As both teams are based on Captains picks please read the logics and preferences for that below.
- The Captain (and Vice-captain) pick the entire team. Strong bias is to pick from the BGC member list, although Captains are allowed to bring in ex-BGC members that have shown strong support to BGC in the past.

- When Captains look at candidates, they will look at all available information to pick the best possible team.

This includes:
- Performance in BGC events (order of merit is part of that but not exclusive)
- Performance in BGC match play tournaments
- Other Match play experience
- Personal knowledge of a players' ability to perform under match play conditions (which is rather different from stroke play events)
- Judgment of candidates to gel as part of a team
- 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 Order of Merit is an automatic entry into the Ryder Cup. However, a higher 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 Order of Merit.

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

Note to the Americas:
It seems the Americas' best golfers are hiding out in Beijing and we are having some trouble finding them. If you or someone you know from the Americas might be a potential candidate for the team, please contact Ronn Tokuyama at rrtokuyama@yahoo.com and let him know as he is busy putting his team together now.