With Hovlund battling injury, what is Ryder Cup envelope rule?

The rarely used envelope rule may be applied on Sunday’s Ryder Cup final day at Bethpage Black in New York due to Viktor Hovland’s neck injury.

Following Hovland’s victory over Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley in the Saturday morning foursomes, the issue became public.

The Norwegian made up Tyrrell Hatton to take Matt Fitzpatrick in the afternoon fourballs, but he withdrew.

On Saturday night, he had an MRI to assess the extent of the problem.

For the past two months, I’ve had some issues with a neck injury intermittently, according to Hovland.

“I’m going to get some treatment, and I’ll probably be okay for the singles.”

At 19:03 BST, Hovland will face Harris English in the final singles match, but if he is unable to play, the envelope rule will apply.

A sealed envelope with the name of one player is also provided when the two captains submit their Sunday singles lineup.

If a rival player’s withdrawal from the first singles match was more than 30 minutes prior to the start of the match was due to illness or an injury, the player named in the envelope would miss the singles.

Each side would receive half a point because the two players would be regarded as a pair.

A player’s match is forfeited if they withdraw less than 30 minutes before the first singles match begins.

A team captain must immediately notify the opposing captain and chief referee of any potential illness or injury to one of his players.

The names on the envelopes are only used names that are revealed.

In the event that a player had to withdraw after testing positive for Covid-19, an additional envelope was used at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straights.

What happens after Hovland is withdrawn depends on the recipient’s name in the envelope.

And whoever is named would not be able to win a singles match.

If Hovland’s scheduled opponent, English, were to enter the envelope, the match would be straightforward and tiebreaker.

Since its introduction in 1979, the envelope rule has only been used twice to include players from all over Europe.

American Steve Pate was hurt in a car crash on the day before the event in 1991. Although he was able to play on Saturday, he was deemed unable to compete in the Sunday singles.

As the US won 1412-4312, English rookie David Gilford was the one who missed out on the Europe envelope when the US opened it.

Two years later, a toe infection prevented Europe’s Sam Torrance from playing on Sunday.

Surprise player: American Lanny Wadkins, who won 2112 points in eight Ryder Cups, was eliminated. Later, it became apparent that he had agreed to step down in order to prevent a more inexperienced player from having the opportunity to play. That Ryder Cup was won by the US 15-13.

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