Britain had some new young men for the 1971 match -- Harry Bannerman, John Garner (who played only once) and a player who was to prove a very good performer in Ryder Cup matches, Peter Oosterhuis. Seven of the team were still in their twenties and some thought this a good omen as the team flew off for the Old Warson Country Club, St. Louis, Missouri.

Others thought it rather more significant that the USA were fielding four of the greatest players in the modern game -- Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Lee Trevino and tried to take comfort from the thought that Dave Stockton had a weak long game (but was the best putter on either side) and Mason Rudolph was unimpressive. Overall, it was a very formidable team.

The British, for their part, had little hope of winning but were confident that they would not disgrace themselves. In Tony Jacklin they had a major championship winner who, the previous year, had become the first British player since Ted Ray back in 1920 to win the U.S. Open. Trevino, however, was the majors form man: he had won U.S., Canadian and British Opens in quick succession in 1971.

In the foursomes on the morning of the first day, Britain made an excellent start; Coles and O'Connor were square with Casper and Miller Barber at the turn but then won the next two holes. Though they took 7 to lose the monster 590-yard 12th hole, Coles immediately struck back by holing a long putt for a 2 on the next, after which Casper missed from a few feet. After a succession of halves, they ran out winners by 2 and 1.

Townsend and Oosterhuis played very good golf in the next match and Palmer hit a decisive shot on the last to win with Gardner Dickinson. His 6-iron went 20 feet or so past the flag and then spun back to no more than a foot.

In the third match, Frank Beard and Charles Coody went 3 down after six holes to Maurice Bembridge and Peter Butler and then 4 down after ten. All this despite the fact that the British pair had recorded not a single birdie. The Americans later pulled themselves together to win back a couple of holes but then lost the 620-yard 16th to a 4 and that was that.

In the last match out, the American captain, Jay Hebert, had tried an experimental pairing of long-hitting Jack Nicklaus with short-hitting Dave Stockton. He thought that Nicklaus would be able to blast long drives away when it was his tee shot or still reach the greens from Stockton's drives. The way the course worked out, Nicklaus would be taking the tee shot on all the par 3s, after which Stockton's putting would pull in the 2s. Too much strategy of this sort seldom seems to payoff in foursomes. Nicklaus missed the par 3s and even he couldn't hit his tee shots far enough for Stockton to reach the par 5s in 2. Without a birdie on their card, Jacklin and Huggett were 4 up after ten holes and won comfortably.

Britain had made easily their best start in the USA, leading by three matches to one. In the afternoon the momentum was maintained for a while, as Bernard Gallacher and Harry Bannerman beat Casper and Barber in the first match. Palmer and Dickinson then beat Oosterhuis and Townsend although the Englishmen held a narrow lead most of the way before losing 1 down. The next match ended in a half when Jacklin chipped in from nearly 20 yards off the last green for a par the Americans couldn't match. Hebert changed his strategy over who to partner with Jack Nicklaus. This time he gave him a long hitter, J.C. Snead, and it worked a lot better. The Americans had only one 5 on their card when they got home by 5 and 3 against Bembridge and Butler, themselves only 1-over par on a course measuring more than 7,200 yards.

The day ended with Britain 1 point in the lead. Could the first victory on U.S. soil lie ahead? It didn't seem so after the morning's four-balls, where strategy again played a part. With hindsight, it seems that the British captain made errors. Eric Brown was a loner, unlike Hebert, in his decision-making; he consulted no one, left out Jacklin, changed his pairings -- successful or not -- from the foursomes and brought in John Garner for his first Ryder Cup match. Not surprisingly, Brown came in for criticism when the British lost all four matches.

A famous incident occurred in the Palmer/Dickinson versus Oosterhuis/Gallacher four-ball. When 1 up on the 208-yard 7th, Palmer cracked a superb 5-iron into the heart of the green. Awestruck, Gallacher's American college-boy caddie sidled up to Palmer and said something like, 'Jeez Arnie, what you hit there?', A 5', came the answer. That did it. The British were penalized loss of hole under Rule 9a, just as if Gallacher had asked the question rather than his caddie. It is said that Gallacher heard neither question nor answer, though he apparently changed his choice of club from a 4-iron to a 3. The British pair were two down. Palmer asked that the penalty be dropped but ...well, rules are rules and the British lost that match by 5 and 4.

The British put up a better struggle in the afternoon. Gallacher and Oosterhuis put their disappointments behind them and beat Casper and Trevino by one hole in the first match but Jacklin and Huggett, together again, lost to Snead and Gene Littler by 2 and 1.

Then followed some of the best scoring of the day. Nicklaus and Palmer reached the turn in 30 only to find themselves 1 down to Peter Townsend and Harry Bannerman. The next four holes were halved and Nicklaus then hit a wedge from the rough stone dead to square the match which continued level until Nicklaus holed a putt of about four yards on the last for both the hole and the match. Peter Townsend had by this time been involved in four matches, which went all the way and had been on the losing side in them all.

In the last match out, Charles Coody and Frank Beard were running away with it after five holes when they were 4 up. Neil Coles then had four birdies in a row to square on the 9th. A gallant effort, yes, but all seemed lost when the United States took both the 12th and 13th. Again Coles brought the teams level with birdies on the 16th and 17th. On the last, O'Connor had a very good chance of a birdie to win the match but this putt stopped on the lip. Thus the day ended with the United States leading by 4 points.

Tony Jacklin no longer enjoyed competing in the Ryder Cup; he didn't like the way unrealistic hopes were expressed about the British team's chances. Also, in strong contrast to what was to happen in the 1980s, he was an individualist rather than a team man. He thought Britain had no real chance in the United States and didn't relish being associated with failure. He was out against Trevino -- his nemesis in the British Open in 1972 -- and went 4 down after five holes. Thereafter he had some luck, which involved hitting a tree, which stopped his ball going out of bounds and then entangling his ball in the flag with too strong an approach shot later on. His ball fell down dead to the hole but in the end Trevino still won.

Things then went better for Britain with a halved match followed by a couple of wins. In the fifth match, though, Peter Townsend didn't get to the last green and Jack Nicklaus beat him by 3 and 2. Of the remaining matches, one was lost and two halved. Harry Bannerman made a strong impression while halving with Palmer. His large cigars gave him an air of lordly confidence, justified when he went 2 up on the 12th. In the end, though, he let Palmer off the hook when he could not par the last.

All in all, the morning's eight singles had produced a creditable British performance but they were 5 points in arrears with the final eight singles to go. The chance of a recovery seemed to fade when Trevino, first out in the afternoon, dismissed Huggett by 7 and 6 but, as the pattern of play developed, Britain led in all the other matches except two. They had no margin for individual error, but the errors came. Neil Coles, for instance, had been 3 up against Nicklaus after three holes but then it all went wrong. Although Nicklaus managed only two birdies over the next ten holes, he won eight of them -- and the match.

The Jacklin/J.C. Snead match had been a good contest; Jacklin holed a vast putt across the 17th green to square the match rather as he had done against Nicklaus at Birkdale in 1969. However, this time he failed to par the last hole and Snead won the decisive point.

Britain made the score quite respectable; they finished level in the afternoon singles and level in the match -- if you discount the four-balls, which they had lost by 6-1 with one match halved. The overall result was U.S. 18 1/2, Britain 13 1/2.

In the post-mortems, which followed, the fact that Britain had produced her best performance ever in the USA tempered the criticism but Eric Brown came in for most of what there was because of his four-ball combinations on the second day. Critics found it strange that, as John Garner had been picked for the team only at Brown's insistence, he had played the young man just once, when Garner had looked very under-powered. Brown also seemed to have a low opinion of Maurice Bembridge whom he played in both foursomes, when Bembridge was involved in a win and a loss, but not in the singles.

Brown was not asked to captain again, although his teams had produced the best result in Britain since 1957 and the best ever on U.S. soil. However, it is fair to say that in Britain, as in the USA, there has always been the feeling that the honor of captaincy should be shared around. Some surprising people have not captained a Ryder Cup team -- players with distinguished playing careers and long experience of the pressures of the match. Gene Sarazen would have made an immensely popular captain but was never chosen because of what he believed was 'PGA politics'

DAY ONE

Morning Four-balls
Neil Coles/Christy O'Connor Sr. (GB) d. Billy Casper/Miller Barber (US), 2 and 1
Arnold Palmer/Gardner Dickinson (US) d. Peter Townsend/Peter Oosterhuis (GB), 2 up

Brian Huggett/Tony Jacklin (GB) d. Jack Nicklaus/Dave Stockton (US), 3 and 2

Maurice Bembridge/Peter Butler (GB) d. Charles Coody/Frank Beard (US), 1 up

Afternoon Foursomes
Harry Bannerman/Bernard Gallacher (GB) d. Billy Casper/Miller Barber (US), 2 and 1

Arnold Palmer/Gardner Dickinson (US) d. Peter Townsend/Peter Oosterhuis (GB), 1 up

Lee Trevino/Mason Rudolph (US) vs. Brian Huggett/Tony Jacklin (GB), halved

Jack Nicklaus/J.C. Snead (US) d. Maurice Bembridge/Peter Butler (GB), 5 and 3

Britain 4.5, United States 3.5

DAY TWO

Morning Four-balls
Lee Trevino/Mason Rudolph (US) d. Christy O'Connor Sr./Brian Barnes (GB), 2 and 1

Frank Beard/J.C. Snead (US) d. Neil Coles/John Garner (GB), 2 and 1

Arnold Palmer/Gardner Dickinson (US) d. Peter Oosterhuis/Bernard Gallacher (GB), 5 and 4

Jack Nicklaus/Gene Littler (US) d. Peter Townsend/Harry Bannerman (GB), 2 and 1

Afternoon Foursomes
Bernard Gallacher/Peter Oosterhuis (GB) d. Lee Trevino/Billy Casper (US), 1 up

Gene Littler/J.C. Snead (US) d. Tony Jacklin/Brian Huggett (GB), 2 and 1

Arnold Palmer/Jack Nicklaus (US) d. Peter Townsend/Harry Bannerman (GB), 1 up

Charles Coody/Frank Beard (US) vs. Neil Coles/Christy O'Connor Sr. (GB), halved

United States 10, Britain 6

DAY THREE

Morning Singles
Lee Trevino (US) d. Tony Jacklin (GB), 1 up

Dave Stockton (US) vs. Bernard Gallacher (GB), halved

Brian Barnes (GB) d. Mason Rudolph (US), 1 up

Peter Oosterhuis (GB) d. Gene Littler (US), 4 and 3

Jack Nicklaus (US) d. Peter Townsend (GB), 3 and 2

Gardner Dickinson (US) d. Christy O'Connor Sr. (GB), 5 and 4

Arnold Palmer (US) vs. Harry Bannerman (GB), halved

Frank Beard (US) vs. Neil Coles (GB), halved

Afternoon Singles
Lee Trevino (US) d. Brian Huggett (GB), 7 and 6

J.C. Snead (US) d. Tony Jacklin (GB), 1 up

Brian Barnes (GB) d. Miller Barber (US), 2 up

Dave Stockton (US) d. Peter Townsend (GB), 1 up

Bernard Gallacher (GB) d. Charles Coody (US), 2 and 1

Jack Nicklaus (US) d. Neil Coles (GB), 5 and 3

Peter Oosterhuis (GB) d. Arnold Palmer (US), 3 and 2

Harry Bannerman (GB) d. Gardner Dickinson (US), 2 and 1

United States 18.5, Britain 13.5