The United States<= /st1:country-region> won The Ryder Cup for the first time since 1999, ending a run of three successive victories for Europe after = an epic encounter at Valhalla Golf Club.

What a great 3 days of action I hope you all got to watch. Unfortunately team Europe start= ed poorly on day one and was always playing catch up.

Europe captain Nick Faldo said he was proud of his players despite their defeat. Trailing 9-7 ahead of the 12 singles matches the European’s were always facing a tough task to retain the trophy= and they got off to the worst possible start with Sergio Garcia, going down f= ive and four to Anthony Kim in the opener.

A big well done must go to wild card Ian Poulter w= inning 4 out of 5 points.

Please feel free to forwar= d this email onto any of you friends. <= span style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Script MT Bold"'>Martin

Ballesteros in Hospital. (Monday 6th Oct. 2008)

Seve Ballesteros, a five-time major winner, was admitted to hospital in M= adrid after fainting earlier today. The charismatic Spaniard was in a stable condition and undergoing tests after suffering dizziness and briefly fa= inting, La Paz hospital said in a press release.

51 year old Ballesteros retired from golf in 2007 a= fter Suffering several back and knee problems towards the end of his career. During his = heyday he won 87 titles worldwide including 50 European titles. His career wins = come with 5 Major titles, 3 British Opens and 2 Masters. &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p;

Seve = also had a fantastic Ryder cup record of winning 20 out of his 37 matches many of which were with fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabel. His inspiration to g= olf is famous throughout Europe no more so= than when he captained the team to Victory in 1997 at the Valderrama golf cour= se.

Let’s all hope he makes a full and quick recov= ery. Posted 10/06/2008