A week after Alabama native and prospective Auburn recruit Robby Shelton helped lead USA to its third consecutive Junior Ryder Cup, former Auburn golfer Jason Dufner looks to do the same from Sept. 28-30.
This is Dufner's first Ryder Cup in his career, and he, along with Team USA, looks to wrest the Cup away from the European side.
The tournament will be held on U.S. soil this year at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill.
The U.S. team is selected based on money earned in majors in 2011 and all PGA events in 2012.
The qualification system gives players one point for every $1,000 earned and two points for every $1,000 made in 2012 majors.
Dufner, who had not won an event in his professional career before this year, enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of golf fame beginning with a second-place finish to fellow USA teammate Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA Championship.
This year, Dufner won his first and second tournaments of his career at the Zurich Classic and the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
He also finished second to teammate Zach Johnson in the Crowne Invitational at the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.
His play earned him third place on the Ryder Cup standings with 5,697 points, putting him behind only Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson.
Over the weekend, however, Dufner will have to join forces with those who beat him to oppose the strong European team.
The match-play duel consists of two days of doubles matches followed by 12 singles matches on Sunday. The team or player who wins the hole wins a point, and matches are played through 18 holes or until the lead is impossible to overcome.
Friday and Saturday morning will feature the foursomes in which partners will alternate shots.
The fourball matches--in which the teams can play the best shot hit by one of the two teammates--will take place in the afternoons.
The one-on-one matches on Sunday will be played according to normal match play rules.
While U.S. captain Davis Love III had the rough trimmed to take advantage of the team's drive length and roll off the tee shots, Dufner will have to adjust to playing against one particular opponent.
In match play, Dufner's career best finish was 33rd at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship this year.
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