The #RyderCup on Twitter

Monday, 1 October 2012

It’s been dubbed The Miracle of Medinah as Team Europe came back from 10-4 behind on Sunday to retain the Ryder Cup in Chicago.

And if the level of chatter on Twitter was anything to go by, golf fans either side of the Atlantic have been gripped by the tournament.

There have been 1.3 million mentions of the Ryder Cup and the hashtag #RyderCup on Twitter over the last seven days, with the peak in conversation coming last night around midnight UK time / 6pm CDT as Team Europe beat the USA in a nail-biting finish.

It was victory for the Europeans on and off the course, with 200,000 mentions of the triumphant Team Europe and the hashtag #TeamEurope on Twitter over the last week, compared to only 55,000 mentions of Team USA and the hashtag #TeamUSA.

Most Mentioned
The top five 2012 Ryder Cup golfers on Twitter (by mention of their name or handle over the last seven days) are:
1. Ian Poulter - @IanJamesPoulter (Europe)
2. Tiger Woods - @TigerWoods (USA)
3. Rory McIlroy - @McIlroyRory (Europe)
4. Bubba Watson - @bubbawatson (USA)
5. Justin Rose - @JustinRose99 (Europe)

Most Followed 
The most followed Ryder Cup golfer of them all is Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) of Team USA, with over 2.6 million followers on Twitter. Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) and Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) are neck-and-neck for the top spot in Europe, both hovering around the 1.3 million follower mark.

And throughout the week, Poulter and McIlroy were two of the most entertaining European players on Twitter. Poulter kept fans close to the action throughout the week, and on the last day, he invoked the spirit of the late, great Seve Ballesteros with this Tweet:

And when victory was won, he posted a simple pic of the trophy:

And as the European players headed for their celebrations, Luke Donald summed it up best, and most simply:

Plus there were classy tweets in defeat from @BubbaWatson among other US players:

Finally, betting company Paddy Power took Twitter to new heights during the tournament, writing Tweets of support for Team Europe in the sky over the course: