The 8 Golfers With The Most Ryder Cup Appearances Of All Time

The lineup for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black is officially set now that Luke Donald has announced the six captain’s picks hailing from Europe, which will be heading into hostile territory at the end of September to face off against the American team that will be helmed by Keegan Bradley (the man who turned down the chance to become the first player-captain since Arnold Palmer did double duty in 1963).

This marks the fourth time Justin Thomas will be competing in the Ryder Cup, which makes him the most experienced veteran on the United States’ roster. Rory McIlroy is firmly the most experienced golfer in the entire field ahead of what will be his eighth appearance as he continues to rise up the list of the guys who’ve competed in the event the most times since it was held for the first time in 1927.

No golfers have competed in the Ryder Cup on more occasions than these guys

I’m setting the cutoff at nine appearances, as there are 14 golfers (four Americans and ten Europeans) who’ve earned a spot on a Ryder Cup team exactly eight times. There are also a number of people here who have competed in the Ryder Cup on the same number of occasions, and I’m using the number of individual matches they competed in as a tiebreaker.

8. Dai Rees: 9 Times

The United States had a stranglehold on the Ryder Cup when it was still a competition between golfers from America and Great Britain (the latter expanded its horizons to Europe in 1979 in the hopes of evening the playing field).

Dai Rees was subsequently one of the many golfers who experienced plenty of misery while repeatedly getting beaten by the Americans during an unbeaten streak that would have spanned from 1935 to 1983 if not for Great Britain’s lone victory in 1957, which marked the second of the five times Rees would serve as captain during a Ryder Cup career where he competed nine times.

7. Jim Furyk: 9 Times

This list is dominated by Europeans (even though that team theoretically has a larger talent pool to pluck from based on population), and Jim Furyk is the first of just two Americans we’ll be mentioning here.

The golfer known for his unorthodox swing represented the United States for the first time in 1997 to kick off a run where he was a member of every team until his swan song in 2014.

It wasn’t exactly a stellar stretch, as Furyk had a 10-20-4 record that undoubtedly contributed to the Americans going 2-7 while he was playing. He got a shot at redemption as the captain in 2018, but failed to capitalize as they came up short yet again.

6. Christy O’Connor Sr.: 10 Times

We’ve got another throwback courtesy of Christy O’Connor Sr., the Irishman who joined Great Britain at the Ryder Cup in 1955 and set the record for the most appearances by any golfer on either side when he played for the tenth and final time in 1973 (I can’t find any stats concerning his record in individual matches, but as I mentioned above, 1957 marked the only time the guys from the United Kingdom won during that stretch).

The son he lent his name to also followed in his father’s footsteps, although he only played in the Ryder Cup a couple of times.

5. Bernhard Langer: 10 Times

It didn’t seem like a stretch to assume Bernhard Langer would end up with nine Ryder Cup appearances when everything was said and done after his streak of the same length came to an end when he ended up on the outside looking in for the competition that was held in 1999.

However, he managed to qualify at the age of 45 when it was held in 2002 to cap off a career where he went 21-15-6 in his matches. He wasn’t even closer to the oldest player to ever compete, as Raymond Floyd set the mark that’s still the one to beat when he played less than a month after his 51st birthday in 1993.

4. Sergio Garcia: 10 Times

Sergio Garcia is rightfully regarded as one of the best Ryder Cup players of all time; no golfer on either team has managed to top the 28.5 points he cumulatively compiled by winning a record 25 matches (he lost 13 and tied another seven) while appearing in 10 of the 11 showdowns that were held between his first selection in 1999 and what was presumably his final one in 2021.

3. Nick Faldo: 11 Times

It’s only natural that one of the finest golfers Europe ever produced was also one of its most prolific Ryder Cup players, as Nick Faldo competed for the first time in 1979 and was named to every single team that competed until he played for the final time in 1997.

As was the case with the next man on this list, Sir Nick was no stranger to successes and failures during a stretch where he had a 20-19-4 record in the matches he played while Team Europe went 5-4-1. He also trails only Sergio for the most points in Ryder Cup history with 25.

2. Lee Westwood: 11 Times

Lee Westwood only had two wins on the PGA Tour in the nearly 270 events he played prior to his suspension for defecting to LIV Golf—a move that also ensured he would not be able to tie the next man on this list for the most Ryder Cup appearances of all time.

With that said, he had 25 victories on the European Tour and ten straight Ryder Cup appearances after making his debut in 1997 (he ended up missing the cut in 2018 but returned in 2021). Westwood was about as close to average as you could get, as he had a 21-20-6 record in individual matches during a run where Team Europe went 7-4 while he was a member.

1. Phil Mickelson: 12 Times

No golfer on either side of The Pond has represented their squad more times than Phil Mickelson, who got the nod for the first time in 1995 to mark the first of a dozen consecutive appearances during a run that came to an end in 2018 (although he did serve as a vice captain in 2021).

Lefty only got to experience three wins while playing for the United States, and he also had a losing record in the matches where he went 18-22-7. With that said, he is tied with Lanny Watkins for the third-most points an American golfer has compiled over their Ryder Cup career with 21.5 (if you’re curious, Billy Casper—who had eight appearances—leads the way with 23.5).