PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Nov. 6, 2004 – Tom Lehman, a member of three Ryder Cup teams and winner of the 1996 British Open, has been selected by the PGA of America to captain the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup Team.
Lehman will guide a 12-member team in the 36th Ryder Cup Matches that will be held Sept. 22-24, 2006, at The K Club in Straffan, Dublin, Ireland.
Lehman, 45, competed on three consecutive Ryder Cup teams -- 1995, '97 and '99. He left his mark in the competition with a 3-0-0 record in singles and as a member of the 1999 U.S. squad that mounted the greatest comeback victory in 1999 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
The winner of five PGA Tour events, Lehman became the first American professional to win the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1996, and the first American since amateur Bobby Jones in 1926. That same season, Lehman was the PGA Player of the Year, the PGA Tour's leading money-winner and winner of the Vardon Trophy and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.
Lehman is the 24th Ryder Cup captain and the eighth British Open champion to guide a U.S. Ryder Cup Team, joining a distinguished group that includes Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. That roster of U.S. captains owns a combined 13-5-0 Ryder Cup record.
Lehman will lead a U.S. Team that seeks to win back the Ryder Cup, which it has surrendered since 2002, including a record European 18½ to 9½ victory Sept. 19 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich. Since 1985, Europe has retained ownership of the Ryder Cup in seven of the past 10 matches.
"When you mix Tom Lehman's competitiveness, his passion for the game and his leadership in past Ryder Cup Matches, he makes a consummate captain to guide the American team in the 2006 Matches," said PGA of America President M.G. Orender. "Tom has been an invaluable member of past Ryder Cup teams and his performances both in the matches and in major championships have earned him the respect of his teammates as well as many around the world."
A native of Austin, Minn., Lehman attended the University of Minnesota and turned professional in 1982. He joined the PGA Tour in 1983, and competed through 1985 before playing in Asia and South Africa.
He made an impact on the former Ben Hogan Tour in 1990 (now the Nationwide Tour), winning once in 1990 and three times in 1991 to earn the Player of the Year and leading money-winner titles.
Lehman's breakthrough season came in 1994, as he won the Memorial Tournament, and had nine top-10 finishes in 23 Tour events. He won the Colonial National Invitation in 1995, and the British Open and Tour Championship in 1996, a year in which he had 13 top-10 performances in 22 starts.
A co-designer of golf courses, including collaborations with John Fought and Arnold Palmer, the latter of which was the Tournament Players Club of the Twin Cities, which serves as the site for the 3M Championship on the Champions Tour in Minneapolis.
The K Club, one of the most active sites of golf in Europe, will be the first Irish course to host the Ryder Cup Matches. The K Club also will host the 22nd PGA Cup Matches, matching club professionals from the United States and Great Britain & Ireland, in September 2005.
The Ryder Cup Matches began in 1927 when enterprising English seed merchant Samuel Ryder commissioned the casting of a gold chalice that bears his name. The U.S. Team defeated Great Britain, 9½ to 2½, in the inaugural matches in Worcester, Mass.
Since then, except for a span (1939-45) during World War II, the Ryder Cup Matches have been held biannually with the United States and Europe alternating as host. Since 1985, Europe owns a 6-3-1 advantage in golf's pre-eminent event.
The PGA of America's point system to determine 10 of the 12 members of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team began following this year's 86th PGA Championship, and concludes in August 2006, at the 88th PGA Championship at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club.
