Ryder format reorganized to avoid Monday finish

By Mitch Phillips

NEWPORT, Wales (Reuters) - In a bid to make up for lost time at the weather-delayed Ryder Cup, officials have reorganized the format by squeezing four pairs sessions into three.

This means none of the 24 players can be left out of the remaining pairs matches and that there is still a total of 28 overall points on offer to Europe and the U.S. holders.

European Tour chief executive George O'Grady told a news conference on Friday the organizers wanted to try to avoid finishing the biennial team event on Monday.

"The captains were very cooperative. We did everything we could to keep the singles sacrosanct," he said.

O'Grady added the players were happy with the new format. "None of them enjoy sitting out and they didn't need much convincing," he said.

Heavy rain wiped out more than seven hours from Friday's opening fourball matches which will now spill over into Saturday.

There were fears the competition might run into Monday for the first time and although this could still be a possibility with bad weather forecast for Sunday, officials are hopeful the event can finish as scheduled on Sunday.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)