2016 Ryder Cup consisting of the last three Ryder Cup captains: Paul McGinley, José María Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, another ex-Ryder Cup player David Howell and the European Tour chief executive George O'Grady. Davis Love III was named the United States captain on February 24, 2015. He had previously captained the 2012 team. Each captain selects a number of vice-captains to assist him during the tournament. Clarke selected Thomas Bjørn, Pádraig Harrington, and Paul Lawrie as European team vice-captains in May 2016. He added Ian Poulter in June and Sam Torrance in July. Tom Lehman was named as a United States vice-captain at the
2012 Ryder Cup and is widely regarded as one of the best sporting comebacks of all time and the greatest in Ryder Cup history. The victory was Europe's second consecutive and fifth in the last six contests. The European captain Olazábal dedicated the victory to the late Seve Ballesteros. The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was: On the first two days there were 4 foursome matches and 4 fourball matches, with the home captain choosing which were played in the morning and which in the afternoon. With a total of 28 points