The format of contests has changed over the years. Current one consists of 28 matches on 18 holes. 8 foursome matches, 8 fourball matches and 12 singles matches are played over 3 days, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

A player who won a match gets 1 point for the team and gets 1/2 point if a match was drawn. Hence a team with 14 1/2 points or more will win the Ryder Cup Matches.