Which Player Has the Best Winning Percentage in Ryder Cup Matches?

Question: Which Player Has the Best Winning Percentage in Ryder Cup Matches?

To find out who has the best winning percentage, we have to look at won-loss records in Ryder Cup competition, of course. But we also have to decide on a minimum number of matches played. We don't want to "give" this record to someone who won the only match he played.

So for this question, we are only considering golfers who played in at least five Ryder Cup matches. With that proviso in mind, let's answer the question:

Answer: Jimmy Demaret holds the record for highest Ryder Cup winning percentage. Of all golfers who played at least five matches in Ryder Cup competition, Demaret is the only one who never lost. Demaret's perfect record of 6 wins, 0 losses and 0 halves yields a perfect winning percentage of 1.000.

Here are the best winning percentages for each side (records are W-L-H - wins, losses and halves):

Team USA
Jimmy Demaret, 6-0-0, 1.000
Gardner Dickinson, 9-1-0, .900
Jack Burke Jr. 7-1-0, .875
Walter Hagen, 7-1-1, .833
Mike Souchak, 5-1-0, .833
J.C. Snead, 9-2-0, .818
Tony Lema, 8-1-2, .818

Team GB/GB&I/Europe
Sergio Garcia, Europe, 14-4-2, .750
Paul Way, 6-2-1, .722
Paul Lawrie, 3-1-1, .700
Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe, 18-8-5, .661
Colin Montgomerie, Europe, 20-9-7, .653

See Page 2 of our Ryder Cup records section for more of the best winning percentages.

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