Untitled Document

For the 1975 match at Laurel Valley in Pennsylvania, the strength of American golf was illustrated by their major championship performers. Seven of the team members had won the U.S. Open, three had won the British Open, two had Masters titles and four were U.S. PGA champions. The recent winner of the British Open at Carnoustie, Tom Watson, did not even qualify to play because he had not been a PGA member long enough.

Against this, Britain had a fading Tony Jacklin with his 1970 U.S. Open and 1969 British titles. There was also an oddity; Palmer was non-playing captain of the United States. His wins in the Spanish Open and British PGA that summer would have made him a leading qualifier for the British side.

For this match, there was little bombast from the British press. The U.S. team was thought very strong indeed, the British weak -- an attitude reflected in betting shops throughout the nation where no money was being accepted on a U.S. victory. The most one could do in this respect was place a bet on the final score.

The shortest odds were on the prospect that the U.S. would take about 2 points to every 1 from the British but even that level of British performance seemed unlikely after the four-somes on the morning of the first day. Over the years Britain had settled into a pattern of jumping into an early lead before seeing it gradually or dramatically eroded on the following days; this time all four matches in the morning went to the United States.

It started with the Britain's early heroes of Muirfield in 1973 -- Bernard Gallacher and Brian Barnes -- facing Nicklaus and Weiskopf. They were quickly brushed aside by the American pair, who were 5-under par when the match ended after 14 holes.

Although the other British defeats were not quite as overwhelming, the scoreline read U.S. 4, Britain 0 at lunchtime. Barring miracles, the contest was already over. It is possible to win from that position when you think you have the best team; it's much less likely when you've been trying to persuade yourself that there's at least an outside chance.

The afternoon began better, however. The strong pairing of Jacklin and Oosterhuis, who had lost to Al Geiberger and Johnny Miller in the morning foursomes, this time beat Casper and Floyd 2 and 1. The next three matches saw Barnes and Gallacher gaining a half against Nicklaus and Bob Murphy, but the others were lost.

For the British team, supporters and press it was acutely embarassing: one win and a halved match against six U.S. successes. In both camps, people were saying that the important thing was friendly competition, tradition, meeting new people, making new friends and all the other clichés that had been clutched at since U.S. dominance began in 1947. However, nearly 30 years is a long time to be saying the same thing.

The players, throughout, remained fairly satisfied; it was the only time that a team was picked to represent the professional golfers of their respective countries. The British PGA never gave any serious thought to the bringing in of other nations. There was some mention that Sam Ryder had given his golden chalice under certain terms -- but that was eventually dismissed without too many backward glances. During the 1930s, it would have been easy enough to let members of the British Empire in, but by the 1970s there was no easy formula. The Commonwealth would have lacked any good South Africans and would otherwise bring in two or three Australians and Bob Charles from New Zealand. The concept of the European Tour lay ahead.

On day two, Palmer, who had apparently an ambition to have his team win every match and achieve a 32-0 score, totally changed his pairings. The order of play was also changed, with fourballs leading off and foursomes following.

The process of U.S. victory slowed, but only a little. Jacklin, paired with Oosterhuis in the morning fourballs, halved and won with Barnes in the afternoon foursomes. Eamonn Darcy and Guy Hunt halved their fourball. The day went to the United States by a 6-2 count.

At 12.5-3.5 going into the final day, there was no prospect of drama and Brian Barnes provided the main story. Perhaps Britain had, in the end, won some kind of moral victory, for Barnes beat Jack Nicklaus twice. To add to that, Peter Oosterhuis, in the 1970s Britain's most reliable performer, beat both Johnny Miller and J.C. Snead in a day. Unfortunately, the remainder of the team picked up just three halves throughout the day, and wins from Tommy Horton and Norman Wood when the match result was already settled.

When it was all over, Hale Irwin commented that the U.S. had been rather below their best. Palmer tried to be polite about the contest, saying that there were only a few points between the two teams (Britain lost 21-11). But Palmer thought the fun had gone out of the contest somewhere on the morning of the final day. Even then, it had long ceased to matter. Few took a picture of the historic moment when, yet again, the United States won the Ryder Cup. For the record, though, it came when Tom Weiskopf beat Guy Hunt by 5 and 3 in the second-to-last morning singles.

Despite the match being so one-sided, the spectator turnout was reasonable –- considering the lack of interest the event is always said to arouse in America; more than 21,000 attended play.

Would the formula ever change? There was little impetus from the Americans who were quite happy to be selected to represent the United Sates of America. The PGA on the other side of the Atlantic was also quite happy, as were its members, to choose teams representing the geographical British Isles. Those golfers likely to be picked did not want to lose their places and a new formula might exclude them.

After the 1987 Ryder Cup victory with those honorary Englishman Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, it seems a long way back to the rather drear days of 1975. Ballesteros had come to the public's notice as a difficult-to-credit phenomenon in the 1976 Birkdale British Open. Following this the British PGA would probably have liked to include him in the 1977 Ryder Cup match at Lytham. At last, there was a European who would not merely strengthen the team but who was a world-class golfer.

With the European Tour developing fast, there was new motivation for bringing continental European players into the contest -- despite the original wishes of Sam Ryder. He had not, in fact, done a great deal more than present the golden chalice. In contrast, few remember much about Mr. Walker and his trophy for the amateurs on both sides of the Atlantic.

Gene Littler/Hale Irwin (US) d. Norman Wood/Maurice Bembridge (GBI), 4 and 3

Al Geiberger/Johnny Miller (US) d. Tony Jacklin/ Peter Oosterhuis (GBI), 3 and 1

Lee Trevino/J.C. Snead (US) d. Tommy Horton/John O'Leary (GBI), 2 and 1

Afternoon Four-Balls
Peter Oosterhuis/Tony Jacklin (GBI) d. Billy Casper/Ray Floyd (US), 2 and 1

Tom Weiskopf/Lou Graham (US) d. Eamonn Darcy/ Christy O'Connor Jr. (GBI), 3 and 2

Jack Nicklaus/Bob Murphy (US) vs. Brian Barnes/ Bernard Gallacher (GBI), halved

Lee Trevino/Hale Irwin (US) d. Tommy Horton/John O'Leary (GBI), 2 and 1

Morning Four-Balls
Billy Casper/Johnny Miller (US) vs. Peter Oosterhuis/Tony Jacklin (GBI), halved

Jack Nicklaus/J.C. Snead (US) d. Tommy Horton/ Norman Wood (GBI), 4 and 2

Gene Littler/Lou Graham (US) d. Brian Barnes/ Bernard Gallacher (GBI), 5 and 3

Al Geiberger/Ray Floyd (US) vs. Eamonn Darcy/Guy Hunt (GBI), halved

Afternoon Foursomes
Tony Jacklin/Brian Huggett (GBI) d. Lee Trevino/Bob Murphy (US), 3 and 2

Tom Weiskopf/Johnny Miller (US) d. Christy O'Connor Jr. /John O'Leary (GBI) 5 and 3

Hale Irwin/Billy Casper (US) d. Peter Oosterhuis/ Maurice Bembridge (GBI), 3 and 2

Al Geiberger/Lou Graham (US) d. Eamonn Darcy/Guy Hunt (GBI), 3 and 2

United States 12.5,
Great Britain & Ireland 3.5

Morning Singles
Bob Murphy (US) d. Tony Jacklin (GBI), 2 and 1

Peter Oosterhuis (GBI) d. Johnny Miller (US), 2 up

Lee Trevino (US) vs. Bernard Gallacher (GBI), halved

Hale Irwin (US) vs. Tommy Horton (GBI), halved

Gene Littler (US) d. Brian Huggett (GBI), 4 and 2

Billy Casper (US) d. Eamonn Darcy (GBI), 3 and 2

Tom Weiskopf (US) d. Guy Hunt (GBI), 5 and 3

Brian Barnes (GBI) d. Jack Nicklaus (US), 4 and 2

Afternoon Singles
Ray Floyd (US) d. Tony Jacklin (GBI), 1 up

Peter Oosterhuis (GBI) d. J.C. Snead (US), 3 and 2

Al Geiberger (US) vs. Bernard Gallacher (GBI), halved

Tommy Horton (GBI) d. Lou Graham (US), 2 and 1

Hale Irwin (US) d. John O'Leary (GBI), 2 and 1

Bob Murphy (US) d. Maurice Bembridge (GBI), 2 and 1

Norman Wood (GBI) d. Lee Trevino (US), 2 and 1

Brian Barnes (GBI) d. Jack Nicklaus (US), 2 and 1