ESPN 2008 Ryder Cup

For a generation of golf fans, one fact has become accepted, sort of like bourbon in Kentucky. You understand it and shrug. While the Commonwealth has been associated with the infamous corn liquor, so too have the Americans been linked to disappointment at the Ryder Cup.

The biennial competition gets under way Friday at Valhalla Golf Club, and the United States will be trying to stop a three-match losing streak that saw the Americans get blown out in each of the past two encounters. They have lost five of the last six, and starting in 1985, the Europeans have gone 7-3-1.

Whether bourbon is the beverage of choice for the victors remains to be decided, but there is no doubt that the Europeans have had their share of boisterous celebrations at the Americans' expense in recent times.

It wasn't always that way.

"When I played for the first time in 1979, you knew the outcome of the Ryder Cup," said seven-time U.S. Ryder Cup team player Tom Kite, who captained the 1997 team that lost in Spain. "That was the first year Europe was brought into the equation, and '83 was probably the first time that all of a sudden it became competitive."

From the Ryder Cup's inception in 1927 through 1977, the U.S. went 18-3-1. Two of the U.S. defeats came in the first four matches. The lone tie, in 1969, was remembered more for Jack Nicklaus' act of sportsmanship -- a conceded putt to Tony Jacklin on the final hole -- than the fact the Americans actually didn't win.

Even adding all of continental Europe to the Great Britain & Ireland team starting in 1979 did not immediately change things. The U.S. routed the Europeans 17-11 that year, and again in 1981, 18½ to 9½.

But it was clear that a team of European stars was emerging. England's Nick Faldo played in his first Ryder Cup in 1977. Scotland's Sandy Lyle and Spain's Seve Ballesteros joined him in 1979. By 1983, Germany's Bernhard Langer and Wales' Ian Woosnam had come aboard.

"I've been on all ends of the Ryder Cup," said Ben Crenshaw, the last captain of a winning U.S. team in 1999, who played on the first team to lose on American soil in 1987. "I was on the '81 team at Walton Heath and we felt it coming then. We had an incredible team but we saw it coming front and center in Palm Beach Gardens [in 1983]. If it wasn't for Lanny Wadkins' histrionics, we would have tied that match. And I was part of a big group that just fell down at the end for Jack [Nicklaus in 1987 at Muirfield Village]. It just felt terrible. We didn't do the job."

So when did things change? And why?

Certainly the aforementioned Big Five of Faldo, Ballesteros, Lyle, Langer and Woosnam played a huge role. But the Europeans still lacked the depth of the Americans. And yet since all of continental Europe was included in 1979, things are very tight at 7-6-1 in favor of Europe. But the U.S. has just one victory since 1993 and is only 4-7-1 since 1983.

"It will go down in history as the golden age of the European Tour," said England's Jacklin, who captained the European team from 1983-89, going 2-1-1. "Seve was already established and then Faldo was quick on his heels. Lyle, Woosnam, [Jose Maria] Olazabal, Langer. . . It was a grand time for golf in Europe. That really got the thing established. We came very close in '83, won for the first time in '87 on American soil. We had the tie in '89, and I didn't think there was anything more for me to do.

"I thought it might have been one too many. Fortunately, we got out with a draw. But it gives me nothing but joy to see the European side has maintained that spirit and that will to win. They seem to rally together and do a hell of a job."

And it is Jacklin who gets a big part of the credit. One of the biggest stars in British golf at a time when it had few top players, Jacklin, 64, won the 1969 British Open and the 1970 U.S. Open. He played in seven Ryder Cups, starting in 1967, all losing efforts except for 1969 at Royal Birkdale, when the entire competition came down to his final singles match against Nicklaus.

The two were all-square at the 18th hole, both had birdie putts on the final green, but after Jacklin's missed, leaving himself a 2-footer for par, Nicklaus ran his birdie putt some 4½ feet by the hole. After making the putt, the Golden Bear reached down and picked up Jacklin's marker, conceding the par putt and assuring that the Ryder Cup would end in a tie.

"Jack always saw the big picture," said Jacklin, still marveling at the gesture many years later.

But Jacklin was hardly in good spirits in the early 1980s. After playing on seven straight Ryder Cup teams, he was not chosen for the 1981 squad. Jacklin believed it was because of his affinity for playing on the PGA Tour in the United States. The Europeans got waxed again, and then the British PGA came to Jacklin to see if he'd be interested in the captaincy.

The snub had put him in a position of power. He let it be known he'd only take the position if certain conditions were met. In short, he wanted his players treated as if they were equal to the Americans.

"I definitely knew from our end that self-esteem was a big factor," said Jacklin, who for years has lived in Bradenton, Fla. "When I was asked to be the captain, I had been party to sitting in the back of the bus on British Airways and booking a few rows of seats for the team. We couldn't bring our caddies. We never knew who was paying for the dry cleaning or what was what.

"Then we get to the other end and we find our American counterparts wallowing in the lap of luxury, as it were. They had the best of everything, and I felt very strongly that until we got that aspect of it on equal footing … it was the first thing I took up with the British PGA.

"If the Americans fly the Concorde, we fly the Concorde. If they get cashmere, we get cashmere. At least we could stand on the first tee knowing we were all square. We were 2 down before we hit a golf ball for most of the time. That was the first thing I rectified."

Jacklin's concerns seem almost laughable today, given the cash cow that the Ryder Cup has become, both for the PGA of America and the European Tour.

But when the competition was not as compelling, neither was the event's appeal. When Jacklin captained Europe for the first time against Nicklaus' squad at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., only 14,000 spectators attended the final day, with $15 tickets available at the gate. There were just two hours of television coverage, and it was all on Sunday. (Compare that to this year's event, which is sold out, including corporate hospitality venues, and will have wall-to-wall television coverage on ESPN and NBC.)

Jacklin also sought and received an extra captain's pick -- much like current U.S. captain Paul Azinger, who got four this year.

"I thought that was very important because the guy in ninth or 10th position could have gained the position by playing a lot, not necessarily by winning," Jacklin said. "Another reason you need extra picks is they qualify by stroke play. But guys who are good stroke players are not necessarily good match players."

And so it went. Jacklin got immediate results, taking an 8-8 tie into the 1983 competition's final day, only to see Wadkins' last-hole wedge shot assure a narrow 14½ to 13½ U.S. victory. Two years later at The Belfry, Scotland's Sam Torrance holed the clinching putt and the first European victory in 28 years for a 16½ to 11½ win. And in 1987, Europe built a five-point lead heading into the final day at Muirfield Village, then hung on for a 15-13 victory.

"Tony Jacklin was an amazing captain," said Dave Stockton, the winning U.S. captain in 1991 and one of Azinger's assistants this year. "He did a phenomenal job in changing how they thought, how they perceived themselves. Nickalus being the captain at his own golf course and getting drummed sent a signal, let us know this was no walk in the park, we better darn [sure] be ready. It sure shook me up."

The next six Ryder Cups were amazingly close, and arguably helped turn it into one of golf's must-see events. Those six Ryder Cups were decided by a total of six points -- one shot, one match going the other way, and the outcome would have been different every time.

That has not been as much the case in the last three competitions, although the two sides were tied heading into the final day in 2002. At Oakland Hills in 2004, the U.S. got drummed in the team competition and trailed by six points heading into the last day. Two years ago in Ireland, the Americans again fell behind before losing by a record-tying margin.

Numerous theories have been presented for the Americans' struggles: European camaraderie, U.S tightness; the Presidents Cup forcing the top Americans into one of these competitions every year; the Europeans putt better, they are more familiar with match play; the Europeans just have better players (which is hard to believe when the Americans have had Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson).

Of course, none of those excuses mattered when the Americans were doing all the winning for all those many Ryder Cups.

"I wish to say it was something more complicated than the Europeans seem to play better together than we do," Crenshaw said. "They've exhibited that over the last handful of matches. They seem to have a higher threshold for making a mistake. They do a beautiful job of playing together.

"I wish I knew something more complicated than that. We just have to play better. We have to hole more putts and do things at the right time."

Given all the angst about it, such a scenario would likely lead to quite the Sunday celebration for the United States -- bourbon or not.

Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.