Viktor Hovland will not play the Ryder Cup on Sunday. And Harris will not be English either, due to the “envelope rule”.
What is the envelope rule? It is The Ryder Cup protocol If anyone could not play in a single Sunday due to an injury. Instead of a team assigning the point, the games agreed that each captain, before the event, would select a player to sit – and that the name of this player would be placed in an envelope only to be not sealed in an emergency.
It is now at stake, because Team Europe has announced that Hovland would not play Sunday due to a neck injury. In response, the envelope has been opened, the name of the Englishman was revealed and each team received half a point, which makes the global score 12-5 in favor of Europe.
The envelope rule has become a possibility After Hovland abandoned the four-ball game on Saturday afternoon and was replaced by Tyrrell Hatton. Hovland played on Saturday morning, but after the match, he took pain relievers on the 7th hole on Saturday and received physical treatment on the 10th hole. He said he had then hit shots on the range after the match, and he said he couldn’t play on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday evening, according to a declaration from Ryder Cup, Hovland had an MRI in a neighboring hospital, then woke up on Sunday morning, unable to move his neck. He tried to warm up, but his movement was limited and it was decided that he could not go.
“I did not want to risk it for the match in case it gets worse and I could not continue,” said Hovland to journalists on Saturday, “especially in four balls when you hit each blow. I had to withdraw from the travelers championship earlier this year.
“I will receive treatment this afternoon and tonight and I hope I will agree for singles tomorrow.”
Twice, “the envelope” was at stake.
In 1991, the American Steve Pate suffered bruised coasts in a car accident a few days before the event. He sat until Saturday afternoon, but reacted the injury, and the call was made that he could not go there on Sunday – and the name of David Gilford was removed from the envelope.
Two years later, a European was injured. Sam Torrance was dealing with an infected toe, and he needed to sit on Sunday – but this time, the American Lanny Wadkins volunteered to sit, and the envelope was never opened.
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Said Wadkins at the time: “I was a captain’s choice. The other guys won their way on the team with two years of big game. I played in eight Ryder Cups now and I don’t know how many games, and I would hate to deprive someone.”
Saturday evening, American captain Keegan Bradley said it was not clear what the protocol would be if the envelope rule was applied.
He also said that he had not talked to the player whose name was in the envelope, who turned out to be English.
Publisher’s note: to find out more about “the envelope” and the history behind, click here For this story written by Dylan Dethier de Golf.
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