Why Ryder Cup Team Europe have numbers on their bags

When you watch this year’s Ryder Cup you may notice that Team Europe’s players all have a number etched onto their bags along with “Make It Count”. We find out why.

Today’s Golfer’s 2021 Ryder Cup coverage is brought to you in association with PING.

Just 164 players have ever represented Team Europe and, for the first time ever, each player at Whistling Straits will have their unique Ryder Cup number etched on their golf bags.

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Each player earns their number the first time they make the team with Aubrey Boomer, who played in the first Ryder Cup in 1927, being No.1. Rookies who make their debut in the same year are assigned numbers based on alphabetical order, meaning Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Bernd Wiesberger are the newest additions at 162, 163 and 164 respectively.

Padraig Harrington is using the roster as motivation, building around a theme called ‘Make it Count’ as he seeks to mastermind his teams successful defence of the trophy.

During Team Europe’s first night together in Wisconsin, the captain showed his players a motivational video which celebrated the rare achievement of representing Team Europe.

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To underline how rare the achievement really is, the video explains that 5,780 people have reached of Mount Everest’s summit, 570 people have been into space, 445 players have won the men’s football World Cup, 353 Europeans have won track and field gold medals and just 225 have won a men’s golf Major.

Harrington’s use of numbers is inspired from other sports, while Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew also used numbers to inspire her players at Gleneagles in 2019.

“This has been done before in Europe,” the Irishman said. “I think certainly the (British and Irish) Lions were famous for starting it out. This is a theme that the European Tour came up with, and I was very comfortable and happy to buy into it and believe in it, and it’s really worked out very nicely.”

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“We have a wall with the role of fame of who have played, and being able to look at those names and go through it, 164 is just startlingly small amount of players. 

“Obviously you can blame Lee Westwood for that for playing 11 times, and Sergio, as well, but it’s a small group of people.

“When you think 580 people have gone to space and 5,870 people have climbed Mount Everest, it’s incredible that there’s so few who have played in the Ryder Cup.

“It makes it very special for the players to know that they have a place in history that can never be taken away from them. They will always have a name on that wall.

Harrington is number 121 having first represented Europe back in 1999 – the same year that 2020 team member Garcia made his first appearance and two years after Westwood’s bow.

“It’s nice for me to look back and remember — kind of remember the person I was as a Ryder Cup player, and for these current players, obviously they’re experiencing it.

“The three rookies, it was extra special for them to be added in, and they had their moment to stand up and receive the applause of everybody that they’re new to this. It was a lovely way to start the week.”

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Rory McIlroy, who is number 144 having made his debut at Celtic Manor in 2010, said it was “pretty cool” to be part of such a small group.

“It’s a small collection of people that have played for Europe in the Ryder Cup,” the four-time Major winner said. “I think that’s what brings us very close together, and one of our big focus points this week is that just being here is very special and being part of a European team.

“Very few people can call themselves a European Ryder Cup player.”

Garcia, Europe’s all-time leading points scorer, called the video “very powerful,” and admitted he’d never considered the numbers before.

“I’ve always known that being a part of the Ryder Cup team is very difficult, but I didn’t know that only that little amount of players have made it,” said the Spaniard, who made his debut at Brookline in 1999. 

“That’s why every time I’m a part of a team or the rest of our team-mates, that’s why we give it the respect that it deserves, because it’s so difficult to be a part of it. It’s an honour, and we treat it like that.”

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Of the current team, Lee Westwood has the lowest number having made his debut 24 years ago in Valderrama.

“We’ve all got numbers. Mine is the smallest number, obviously, 118. But yeah, it’s something to be very proud of, being able to pull on the clothing with the European team crest on it.”

This year’s European team rooms continue the ‘Make It Count’ theme, highlighting the rarity of the achievement and the famous names who are on the list, while each player’s headcovers will also include their numbers.

The full list of players is below.  so this year Viktor Hovland (162), Shane Lowry (163) and Bernd Wiesberger (164) are earning their numbers for the first time.

Also making up this year’s team: Lee Westwood (118), Sergio Garcia (120), Paul Casey (130), Ian Poulter (134), Rory McIlroy (144), Matt Fitzpatrick (152), Tommy Fleetwood (157), Tyrrell Hatton (158) and Jon Rahm (161).

Who are the 164 players to have represented Ryder Cup Team Europe?

2020 team in bold

1. Aubrey Boomer 1927
2. Archie Compston 1927
3. George Duncan 1927
4. George Gadd 1927
5. Arthur Havers 1927
6. Herbert Jolly 1927
7. Ted Ray 1927
8. Fred Robson 1927
9. Charles Whitcombe 1927
10. Percy Alliss 1929
11. Stewart Burns 1929
12. Henry Cotton 1929
13. Abe Mitchell 1929
14. Ernest Whitcombe 1929
15. Bill Davies 1931
16. Syd Easterbrook 1931
17. Bert Hodson 1931
18. Allan Dailey 1933
19. Arthur Lacey 1933
20. Alf Padgham 1933
21. Alf Perry 1933
22. Dick Burton 1935
23. Jack Busson 1935
24. Bill Cox 1935
25. Ted Jarman 1935
26. Reg Whitcombe 1935
27. Sam King 1937
28. Dai Rees 1937
29. Jimmy Adams 1947
30. Fred Daly 1947
31. Max Faulkner 1947
32. Eric Green 1947
33. Reg Horne 1947
34. Arthur Lees 1947
35. Charlie Ward 1947
36. Laurie Ayton, Jnr 1949
37. Ken Bousfield 1949
38. Jack Hargreaves 1951
39. John Panton 1951
40. Harry Weetman 1951
41. Peter Alliss 1953
42. Harry Bradshaw 1953
43. Eric Brown 1953
44. Bernard Hunt 1953
45. John Fallon 1955
46. John Jacobs 1955
47. Christy O’Connor Snr 1955
48. Syd Scott 1955
49. Peter Mills 1957
50. Norman Drew 1959
51. Dave Thomas 1959
52. Neil Coles 1961
53. Tom Haliburton 1961
54. Ralph Moffitt 1961
55. Brian Huggett 1963
56. Geoffrey Hunt 1963
57. George Will 1963
58. Peter Butler 1965
59. Jimmy Hitchcock 1965
60. Jimmy Martin 1965
61. Lionel Platts 1965
62. Hugh Boyle 1967
63. Malcolm Gregson 1967
64. Tony Jacklin 1967
65. Brian Barnes 1969
66. Maurice Bembridge 1969
67. Alex Caygill 1969
68. Bernard Gallacher 1969
69. Peter Townsend 1969
70. Harry Bannerman 1971
71. John Garner 1971
72. Peter Oosterhuis 1971
73. Clive Clark 1973
74. Eddie Polland 1973
75. Eamonn Darcy 1975
76. Tommy Horton 1975
77. Guy Hunt 1975
78. Christy O’Connor Jnr 1975
79. John O’Leary 1975
80. Norman Wood 1975
81. Ken Brown 1977
82. Howard Clark 1977

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83. Peter Dawson 1977
84. Nick Faldo 1977
85. Mark James 1977
86. Seve Ballesteros 1979
87. Antonio Garrido 1979
88. Michael King 1979
89. Sandy Lyle 1979
90. Des Smyth 1979
91. José Maria Cañizares 1981
92. Bernhard Langer 1981
93. Manuel Piñero 1981
94. Sam Torrance 1981
95. Gordon J. Brand 1983
96. Brian Waites 1983
97. Paul Way 1983
98. Ian Woosnam 1983
99. José Rivero 1985
100. Gordon Brand, Jnr 1987
101. José María Olazábal 1987
102. Ronan Rafferty 1989
103. Paul Broadhurst 1991
104. David Feherty 1991
105. David Gilford 1991
106. Colin Montgomerie 1991
107. Steven Richardson 1991
108. Peter Baker 1993
109. Joakim Haeggman 1993
110. Barry Lane 1993
111. Costantino Rocca 1993
112. Per-Ulrik Johansson 1995
113. Philip Walton 1995
114. Thomas Bjørn 1997
115. Darren Clarke 1997
116. Ignacio Garrido 1997
117. Jesper Parnevik 1997
118. Lee Westwood 1997
119. Andrew Coltart 1999
120. Sergio García 1999
121. Pádraig Harrington 1999
122. Miguel Ángel Jiménez 1999
123. Paul Lawrie 1999
124. Jarmo Sandelin 1999
125. Jean van de Velde 1999
126. Niclas Fasth 2002
127. Pierre Fulke 2002
128. Paul McGinley 2002
129. Phillip Price 2002
130. Paul Casey 2004
131. Luke Donald 2004
132. David Howell 2004
133. Thomas Levet 2004
134. Ian Poulter 2004
135. Robert Karlsson 2006
136. Henrik Stenson 2006
137. Søren Hansen 2008
138. Graeme McDowell 2008
139. Justin Rose 2008
140. Oliver Wilson 2008
141. Ross Fisher 2010
142. Peter Hanson 2010
143. Martin Kaymer 2010
144. Rory McIlroy 2010
145. Edoardo Molinari 2010
146. Francesco Molinari 2010
147. Nicolas Colsaerts 2012
148. Jamie Donaldson 2014
149. Victor Dubuisson 2014
150. Stephen Gallacher 2014
151. Rafael Cabrera-Bello 2016
152. Matthew Fitzpatrick 2016
153. Thomas Pieters 2016
154. Andy Sullivan 2016
155. Danny Willett 2016
156. Chris Wood 2016
157. Tommy Fleetwood 2018
158. Tyrrell Hatton 2018
159. Alex Norén 2018
160. Thorbjørn Olesen 2018
161. Jon Rahm 2018
162. Viktor Hovland 2020
163. Shane Lowry 2020
164. Bernd Wiesberger 2020

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